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Nominations open for Elite Women’s team

March 25, 2012 by

Due to the withdrawal of a player selected in the original squad, Underwater Hockey Australia (UHA) is calling for nominations from interested players for the Australian Elite Women’s team which will participate in the forthcoming Trans Tasman Competition to be held on the Gold Coast 9-13 July 2012.

All nominations should outline:

  • Name
  • DOB
  • Contact details (email and phone)
  • Detailed outline of relevant playing history
  • Preferred position

Nominations should be sent to the Australian Women’s team coach David Lambert (david.lambert@innovation.gov.au) ASAP.

The nominal deadline for the submission of nominations is 30 March 2012. Following that date applications will be considered by the UHA selection panel until the selection of a suitable applicant.

Filed Under: News, Teams, Women

Nominations open for 2012 Australian Women’s team

February 2, 2012 by

Australia will field Women’s team(s) at the 2012 Southern Hemisphere Championships (which are likely to be held in Australia in July – details will be confirmed shortly).

David Lambert was recently named Australian Women’s Coach and a training squad was selected at the recently completed Australian Underwater Hockey Championships held in Perth.

The final team will be selected by David and a panel of UHA approved selectors at a training camp to be held in March/April.

Players interested in nominating for selection should contact David Lambert (david.lambert@innovation.gov.au) ASAP.

The criteria for selection to the final team(s) is as follows:

  • Adequate base level of fitness
  • Ability to follow instructions and direction
  • Ability read the play
  • Puck control and skill set
  • Ability to maintain control of the puck
  • Team oriented play and the ability to bring team mates into the game
  • Flexibility and adaptability
Filed Under: News, Teams, Women

Nationals 2012 in review

January 29, 2012 by

Details

The 2012 Nationals were held  22 – 26 January 2012 at Challenge Stadium, Perth, Western Australia. View the full results, competitor details & daily schedules.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Nationals, News Tagged With: ,

Vale Vaughan Solomon (24/04/70–02/01/12)

January 22, 2012 by

Vaughan died while walking the Puffer Track in the lower Tararuas Nth of Wellington, NZ, an area he knew well and loved. He had returned with his family to his childhood home in Whitby, NZ for Christmas. He is survived by his fiancée Susan, Heather 4 and Ryan 2.

Vaughan represented NZ in UWH at an elite level, the ACT and NSW in Masters and was hoping to represent Oz in Masters at the next worlds (despite being a Kiwi at heart).
Vaughan was a very active member in NZ UWH and more recently in Canberra with a strong dedication to developing new (and old) players. He was heavily involved in the NZ schools program. Fitness and Underwater Hockey were strong focuses, competing annually in the Lake Taupo 160Km bike race, and was active in Softball both in NZ and ACT.
He had been training for the upcoming Perth UWH Nationals with a short term goal of being “Super Fit” for the Wollongong 4’s.

His legacy and memories will remain, from cracking an underwater window at the Huia Pool in NZ (closing the pool), to losing yet more points while having fun driving, to the love he had for his family and children.

We will all miss him enormously in Canberra, not least his great smile, sage advice, enormous flicks, bristly shaved body and stupid split fins. Vaughan’s enthusiasm was infectious and his personal drive inspiring, always thinking of others first.

In memorial of his dedication to assisting and encouraging new and developing players, the ACT Club will establish a memorial award for improved and budding hockey players.
He was a great friend of mine and it’s hard to believe he is not there anymore.

I still look for his car in the car park at the pool and think about things we were going to do in the future.

James Harris

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

Committee Update from the Acting Executive Director

November 11, 2011 by
The 2011 AGM saw the conclusion of Jane Gilligan’s two-year term as Executive Director. Unfortunately for the organistion she decided not to re-nominate. Jane brought a calm, no nonsense enthusiasm to the role that reinvigorated the organisation and its committee. Jane’s term also delivered great success for our representative teams. Gold and silver for the Men and Women at the recent CMAS world championships in Portugal and a fourth placing for the U19 boys in the Age Group tournament in Holland unequivocally demonstrated that Australia remains a force in international Underwater Hockey. Jane’s work over the past two years will hold Australian Underwater Hockey in good stead for the coming years. On the upside, Jane is not leaving the UWHA committee completely, she has assumed the role of Records Officer. Unfortunately, no nominations were received for the Executive Director position so the position remains vacant and applications are welcome.After numerous terms in the Chief Referee role, Simon Talbot also steps aside. Thanks to the countless hours he has put in over the past ten plus years the quality of refereeing in Australia and internationally has improved out of sight. Simon has played a pivotal role in the evolution of the rules of the game, has trained hundreds of referees and overseen numerous national and international tournaments as Chief Referee. Simon’s contribution has directly and significantly contributed to improvement of the international game, a massively amazing achievement. Lena Plambeck steps into the revised role as Director of Refereeing.After a number of years, Joe Tindal is also stepping down from the Records Officer position. Thanks to Joe’s diligent work Australia has a far improved record of the history of Underwater Hockey in Australia and our participation at an international level.The other committee positions up for election at the AGM included the Director of Coaching role and the newly established Secretary role. I was re-elected into the former and UHA welcomes Eden Brown as our new Secretary.Craig Proctor has also stood down from the Communications Officer role. During his time on the UHA Committee, Craig has been instrumental of establishing an extensive online presence for the organisation. His humour and level-headedness will be sorely missed. Jodie Miners steps into the role to build on the foundations laid by Craig.

On the Australian team front there was also some substantial changes. Most notably, Tommy Solopotias did not seek re-appointment as Australian Women’s team coach. In his ten plus years in the role Tommy has overseen one of the most dominant eras in the sport. His dedication and innovative approach delivered World Championships in 2000, ‘02, ’06 and ’08 and silver in 2011. During his time as coach Tommy has played a major role in the development of a generation of women underwater hockey players. His coaching record is the envy of all and testimony to the enormous contribution he has made to underwater hockey in Australia. As no nominations were received the Australian Women’s team position applications are welcome.
In the other coaching positions, Arnold Piccoli was reappointed as Men’s team coach and will be pursuing back-to-back World Championships in 2013. Nick Martyn and Kirsteen Reid were also re-appointed in the U19 divisions. As our international results indicate all of our coaching staff in 2011 (Tommy, Arnie, Nick and Jason Miezis) did an amazing job and represented Australia with aplomb.

In the team management roles, following her fantastic work at the Age Group Championships in Holland Sandra Milner was reappointed into the junior management role while Kirsteen Reid was appointed to the Elite team management role.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work and fantastic organizational skills of our Australian team managers over the past years. Sandra has done an amazing job on a number of trips with the junior teams. While for the Elite divisions Lucero Perdomo Cruz has also done a fantastic job over the past couple of years. She made an enormous contribution to our recent success at the CMAS World Championships in Portugal. Her work is much appreciated by the UHA committee and the players who traveled.

On behalf of the UHA and as a player involved on the trip I would also like to express gratitude to the Australian team Physio, Nick Stepkovitch, who accompanied us on our trip to Portugal. Nick did a power of work on the trip and his knowledge and magic hands played a vital role in the success of both teams.

Next year will be an exciting and challenging year for the UHA: we have two sub committee and coaching vacancies that need filling but the National Championships in Perth are bound to be fantastic.

In terms of our international commitments over the next couple of years: indications are that Worlds will be held in South Africa for all divisions in 2013. This is a major shift from what had been previously stated and as such we are in discussions with our international partners about or plans for 2012. Hopefully there will be more news on that front shortly.

See you in the water.

Rees Quilford
UHA Acting Executive Director & Director of Coaching

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ,

2012 Trans Tasman Discussion Paper

February 20, 2011 by

International Hockey, Including a new Trans Tasman Agreement

Discussion from UHA AGM held in Melbourne on 5 December 2010
Prepared by Jane Gilligan 30 December 2010

The purpose of this document is to seek feedback from Australian UWH players about a new approach to the Trans Tasman tournament.

Proposal:

  • A more flexible Trans Tasman Agreement will be proposed with New Zealand
  • Australia and New Zealand would take it in turns to organize competitions. Australia will organize competitions in 2012. A competition summary for 2012 is below.
  • The agreement will include a Trans-Tasman in the elite category.

Objectives:

  • Create a flexible tournament agreement with New Zealand
  • Continue with the tradition of the Trans Tasman series competition
  • Continue with a bi-annual international competition
  • Create competitions that are non-profit, run in the best interests of players, well planned and no obligation.

Key drivers for change:

  • There has been much discussion about an altered international schedule from, CMAS but we know that major tournaments will happen every two and four years, and there will still be a requirement for development competitions in the ‘off years’.
  • The current trans tasman agreement is regularly being updating or adapted for each competition (the rules that are currently agreed are creating constraints rather than opportunity)
  • The current bi-annual competition is viewed by the players as a little bit ‘stale’

How to have your say:

  • Talk to the Underwater Hockey Australia Rep for your state  –  Lena Plambeck (NSW), Kirsteen Reid (Vic), Russell Cox (Qld), Craig Proctor (Tas), Joe Tindal (SA), Craig MacKenzie (WA).
  • Discuss with Australian team coaches and players
  • There will be an opportunity for general discussion at Nationals in 2011

International Tournaments and the Trans Tasman, 2012

In 2012 Australia has responsibility for hosting and organising the trans tasman competition between Australia and New Zealand. Australia would like to propose a new Trans Tasman agreement that provides flexibility for the host country to design the tournament each year. This competition summary assumes that this agreement is put in place.

Elite underwater hockey, 2012

Australia Cup / Trans Tasman
A competition will be held on the east coast of Australia. Any country can enter teams, and as many teams as they like. Countries entering multiple teams should select even teams with a focus on development. These teams will play for the Australia Cup. Barbarians teams would be considered on application. Teams will play a maximum of three games a day (with some players also playing a fourth – the trans tasman game).

Australia and New Zealand will select their best teams from the pool of players attending. A trans tasman game will be held once a day over three days during the round robin tournament. A trans tasman series game will be held for:

  • Elite women
  • Elite Open
  • U23 women
  • U23 Open

Junior underwater hockey, 2012

Australian Junior Nationals / Trans Tasman
New Zealand teams would be invited to attend the Australian Junior Nationals, to be held in Tasmania. Teams should be regional, not national strength teams. New Zealand teams will be unable to compete for finals in the Australian Junior Nationals.

Australia and New Zealand will select their best teams from the pool of players attending. A trans tasman game will be held once a day over three days during the round robin tournament. A trans tasman series game will be held for:

  • U19 women
  • U19 Open

Masters underwater hockey, 2012

Asian Cup / Trans Tasman
Australian proposes that New Zealand and Australia send masters teams to the Asian Games in 2012. Australia sent masters teams to Manila in 2010 and found that it:

  • Was a good level of competition to take to the Asian games (elite would not be appropriate)
  • Build good team morale for the masters
  • Was affordable
  • Is an important contribution to underwater hockey in our region.

Teams would enter as per the competition requirements. In addition, Australia will negotiate pool time for the trans tasman competition to be held in conjunction with the Asian Games.
Australia and New Zealand will select their best teams from the pool of players attending. A trans tasman game will be held once a day over three days during the round robin tournament. A trans tasman series game will be held for:

  • Masters women
  • Masters Open
Filed Under: Committee, International, News Tagged With:
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