Hi, all UW hockey players, officials and volunteers.
Welcome to Underwater Hockey Australia’s third newsletter. We are hoping to continue sharing information with all members in this way.
New Director of Coaching required
Amar has had to stand down from his volunteer role to focus on some business opportunities. We would like to thank him for his efforts while on the committee and wish him good luck in his endeavors
This means we have an opportunity for someone to stand up and help us to finally get a course and program delivered in conjunction with the AUF.
If you are interested, please send a resume to Secretary@underwaterhockeyaustralia.org.au
The PD is attached.
We are looking for someone with strong coordination skills to set up a program to deliver coaching courses. If you have any questions, please reach out to me for a chat.
Development Events
Wonthaggi Development weekend
The first joint Junior Development camp was held in Wonthaggi Victoria on the weekend of 14 and 15 June 2025. The weekend was deemed a huge success with well over 35 junior players attending from Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Anton Williams (UHA Development Officer) attended from Qld to run the player development part of the weekend. Nathan Whelan (UHA Treasurer) attended from Tas to run the concurrent Level 1 Referee training sessions attended by 16 Victorians.
Both Development and Refereeing were heavily supported by others at the event, Gemma Crowther, Julian Clifton, Simon Talbot, Dave McFee, Lucy Perdomo, Kev Chisholm and many others on the ground. The event was organised by the Wonthaggi Club Committee with support from SA, TAS and UHA.
It is hoped that other states will also reach out to us to run similar events in the future on the back of such a successful event.
Margaret River Rumble weekend
The annual WA Margaret River Rumble was held Saturday 21st as a 4 on 4 competition. The indoor venue was a great place to be in the stormy weather. 10 mixed teams competed in the adults division with another 30 players competing in junior divisions on the day. In a potluck format with teams drawn from a hat the winning team was:
- Tom Miller
- Jasmin Mann
- Michalea Dommisse
- Oscar Bailey
Oscar Bailey and Lienke won best and fairest for the day with Oscar Bailey and Kya Digney taking out highest male and female goal scorers for the day.
Sunday was a junior development session with over 40 juniors involved. The groups were split into:
- Under 12s
- Under 15s
- Under 19 boys
- Under 19 girls
Well done to the Margaret River Crew in particular Clare forward for organizing the weekend and all the guest coaches (Amar Samiento, Bronwyn Mackenzie, Shane Blackham, Clare Gleeson, Scott Digney, Gareth Mann, Tommy Miller, Kai Cranfield, Kya Digney, Kurtis Martin and Ty Sloan) for making the junior development day a success.
Referee Events
A referee course was delivered on the Wonthaggi weekend.
Thanks to Simon Talbot for doing the online theory component and Nathan Whelan for delivering the practical component. Other referees to assist were Julian Talbot and Gemma Crowther
The course saw 14 players take their first steps at becoming certified referees.
King’s Cup
Held last weekend, 28/29 June on the Gold Coast, The King’s Cup was again hugely successful, congratulations to the organising team. The UHA Tournament Director, Ben Stepkovitch would like to add a special acknowledgement to AUFQ Women’s Development
Grant for helping with the resurgence of the women’s division for this year.
Results for the weekend:
A Grade – 1st Sydney A
2nd SC Sea Dragons
3rd Scubadorks (Melbourne)
Baby Barracudas
Gold Coast Bullrouts A
Cairns Crays A
B Grade – 1st Wonthaggi Warriors
2nd Gong Gladiators
3rd Cairns B
Gold Coast Bullrouts B
Drop Bears
SA Sharks
Gong Guardians
Morayfield
C Grade – 1st Maribrynong Mako’s
2nd GC Bullrouts C
3rd Grizzlies From Hell
SC Blue Dragons
ACT Megalodons
Brisbane Barracudas
Sydney C
Wonthaggi Sharks
Womens – 1st Gold Coast
2nd Wool-oomba
3rd Sinking Sunsets
Tas-Toria-Territory
Kind Cudas
Some upcoming events:
- Wonni 4’s 06/07 September – registration is now open – Wonthaggi Underwater Hockey Club will also host their 45th Year Celebration Dinner on the night of the 6th September, please consider joining them after a big day of UWH. See their 45th Dinner poster (attached) QR code and let them know you will be attending.
- Bunbury Brawl is 23 August
- Referee Course being further developed and rolled out
- Coaches Course in final stages of ratification
- Nationals 2026 – ‘Save The Date’ January 11th to 19th 2026 – Gold Coast, hosted by NSW
- Reviewing 2025 nationals/current format of nationals in light of 2024-2027 Tournament Strategic Plan
- New SIO Sports Integrity Officer – working in collaboration with SIA and AUF….will be facilitating an MPIO Support Group, education plan and support.
- Age Group World Championship 2026 planning announcement is coming soon.
An EOI has already been sent on Gameday for players to complete.
- Age group determination DRAFT sent to States, currently in final stages of AUF ratification
Australian Underwater Hockey Teams – 2025 Elite and Masters Qualifiers
Australian team training camps
All players are knuckling down to training and three of the teams recently had training camps
The Elite ladies had a successful camp on the 31st May to 1st June in the Gold Coast with 19 team members and development players involved.
The masters men had their camp on the same weekend
The Elite men had another successful training camp on the weekend of 14th/15th June in Perth
The masters Women are meeting weekly to talk about the training they should be doing ?
2026 Age Group World Championships
The age group championships has just been announced as being held in Turkey, dates and details will become available in the next month.
Expression of interests for coaches and managers will be distributed in a similar timeframe.
Ben Stepkovitch and Anton Williams have already sought expressions of interest from players
The first development camp for players will be held in Sept/Oct school holidays (TBA)
GAMEDAY for non-playing volunteers
If you are one of the wonderful non-playing volunteers that help to make our sport what it is, you can now sign up to Gameday for free.
This entitles you to AUF insurance coverage whether you are cooking a snag at Bunnings, sitting on your child’s club committee or manning the door at a State event.
Signing up as a non-playing volunteer is a little different to signing up as a player or renewing a player membership.
NON-PLAYING VOLUNTEER SIGN UP
- Go to the Australian Underwater Federation Membership tab.
- Scroll down to ‘Non Paying Volunteer Membership’
- Find ‘Click here to apply’ (bottom of section) – this will take you to a login/sign up page, called ‘Non-player Volunteer/Life Member Membership’
- If you already have membership, login using those details. If not, please set up a new profile.
- Follow the instructions and submit.
NOTE: For playing members, please set up/renew as you always have. If unsure, these instructions are also on the AUF website under the Member tab, just above the non-playing member information.
We have included links below to several relevant documents for your information, some of which will expand on the information above, others you may already have seen via your state comms or gameday emails.
Want to keep up to date with what’s happening – check out
https://www.facebook.com/uwhoz
Other useful links are:
Underwater Hockey Australia – Official website of the Australian Underwater Hockey Commission
Events – Underwater Hockey Australia
Attachments
Regards
Craig Mackenzie
Director Underwater Hockey Australia
