UHA Announcements Archives - Underwater Hockey Australia

The UWH community is built on the passion and commitment of many volunteers. Today Underwater Hockey Australia would like to share an important update to all our valued members.

After 3 years of service to UHA - including the past year as our Executive Director - Craig Mackenzie has stepped down from the role. Craig's contribution to our sport has been impressive, and we are very grateful for the time, energy and commitment he has given to UHA and the broader underwater hockey community..

The good news for us is that Craig is not going far. He will remain involved as an Associate Member, supporting the incoming Executive Director and continuing to work alongside our Coaching Director, Stewart Parkinson as we roll out new coaching and development courses. Craig's knowledge and experience will continue to be an asset as these initiatives take shape.

We are also pleased to announce that Nathan Whelan has been appointed as Executive Director until the next AGM. Many of you will already know Nathan through his work with UHA and the broader UWH community.

Nathan has been an important member of the UHA executive for the past 3 years and brings extensive experience volunteering and serving on committees at local, state and national levels. His current roles include:

- Executive Director - UHA

- State Team Coordinator - Tasmanian Underwater Hockey Association

- Australian Team Manager

- Interim Treasurer - UHA

Nathan's passion for the sport and its community make him a fantastic person to guide UHA through its next chapter.

In saying this, Nathan can't manage both Executive Director and Treasurer for the long term. This brings us to an important call to our community.

Treasurer Role - UHA Need Your Help

We are now seeking a Treasurer for UHA, and we'd love to hear from anyone in our community who has experience in accounting, bookkeeping, or financial administration.

Nathan will continue to be available to support anyone stepping into the role. The commitment is typically around 2-3 hours of volunteer work per week, with opportunities to be more involved in other aspects of the sport and UHA if you should wish. The Treasurer Position is an executive position in the UHA.

If you are interested in contributing to the future of underwater hockey in Australia, please reach out using UHA Committee Position Application via:

secretary@underwaterhockeyaustralia.org.au

Our sport runs on the strength of volunteers and every contribution helps to keep UWH growing.

Looking Ahead

We will soon be sharing more information about our upcoming strategic planning work and our recent workshop weekend, which will help shape the next phase of UHA and the development of UWH across the country.

It's a busy and exciting time for UHA, and as always, we welcome any support from members who would like to get involved.

Thank you all for being part of a supportive underwater hockey community.

Warm regards,
Underwater Hockey Australia Committee

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 21^st 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 11^th to 19^th 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 14^th/15^th 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

UHA Announcement 2026

UHA ANNOUNCEMENT – JUNE 2025