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Mahurangi College deputy head girl Charlotte O’Connor, 17, has won a place in the New Zealand women’s underwater hockey squad, which will compete at the World Championships in Australia in July.
New Zealand will be defending the title it won at the championships in Quebec, Canada in 2018.
As the youngest member on the squad, O’Connor says she is looking forward to consolidating her place in the side.
The selection process started with trials last August. Over successive camps, numbers were whittled down to the final team of 12, plus two non-travelling reserves, which was announced at the start of this month.
While normally a goalie in the school team, O’Connor will play on the wing in the NZ side.
The elite women’s team is coached by underwater hockey veteran Rebecca Brosnan.
Most of the players are either from Wellington or Auckland, and are in their late 20s or early 30s.
O’Connor says training with the NZ squad offers more room for improvement.
“It’s easy to get into the habit of playing in set ways,” she says. “Our coach challenges us to think of other formations, bring better precision tactics to our game and to strategise. It keeps the game interesting.”
O’Connor started playing underwater hockey in 2018 after watching her brother Ryan competing.
“I love it. Playing seemed to come naturally; it seemed to draw on the skills I’d learned from other sports like netball. Underwater hockey is also a small community of players, so it’s a bit like being part of a big family.”
O’Connor has two more training camps before leaving for Australia. She says her preparation also involves a lot of fitness training out of the pool, including strength training three times a week.
“Height is an asset in the game, but the really good players are the ones who can surface and dive quickly to be as effective as possible under the water.”
Underwater hockey involves teams of six, pushing a puck to a sunken goal at the end of the pool, “a bit like ice hockey but under water”. Each player is armed with a stick, as well as fins, mask, gloves, mouthguard and snorkel.
NZ will be up against teams from Australia, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia, but O’Connor thinks Great Britain will be their toughest rival. They finished second behind NZ at the last world championships.
The World Championships will be held at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, from July 18 to 30.
