[Uwh-announce] RE : Launceston Report

[Craig.Proctor at csiro.au]

Hi All,

See Garry Davidson's report below on the first night of games at the the new Launceston Aquatic Centre.
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First regular night scratch game at Launceston judged a success (Tuesdays 7-8pm)

The hardy, the curious, the dedicated, and the sentimentalists all came out for the first scratch game session at the Launceston Aquatic Centre (9th March 2010). The numbers started rolling in well before the scheduled start, and by 7.10 pm or so, we had 18 people ready for action. About 6 of those had never seen a hockey bat in their life, 4 or 5 had plenty of experience of past hockey in Hobart, and the rest were old Launceston players, including Geoff and Sarah Stubbs, from when they played games at the Mowbray and Maritime College pools ( a full list is still being compiled). One of those, I think his name was Simon, had tales of a shameful incident from the long dead past, when a Launceston team came down and whipped all comers in a Hobart competition (I think this has fortunately been expunged from Hobart underwater hockey records). Melissa Carlton, the centre manager, and Kate Mauric, our underwater hockey contact on the pool deck, were on hand to get things underway.

The ex-Hobart players included Matty Reid, Robyn Holmes, Simon Frost, Rob Maver, Jon Bryan, and Halina Steane. Remember them? Jonno Findlay and two mates came down to help too, but injury will keep him out of the water for a few weeks yet. But they weren't the only people who could play, by far, so the scratch game that ran 7.30-8.00 pm was moderately skillful. It really bodes well for the future competition. Before the game, people mucked around on the new bottom, and some of us showed the beginners a few basics, and mentioned a few rules they could attempt not to break. This skilling is going to need to be an important weekly ritual if the game is to grow in Launceston. I (Garry Davidson) took up the basic gear for playing scratch games, adding to stuff Pieter Van der Woude prepared for them late last year, so they now have, courtesy of TUHA and all you members, 2 string-line walls which are mounted with the stainless steel screws, 7 pucks, 50 plastic bats, an umpires glove, and 4 sets of movable float goals. We are working on getting a couple of decent containers to move this stuff around; it was too much for the one I took up last night. Each week they will have access to a large set of water polo caps supplied by the LAC, including some red ones to really confuse people.

In the coming weeks we will be trialling the following procedures for running the scratch game sessions. People pay entry of $6.75 to the pool, and probably need to get there around 6.45 to get full value in the water. A rostered person will liase with the desk staff and duty attendants to get the bats, the hats, and the court gear over to the pool side and distributed to players who need them. If there are enough people, a beginners and an experienced level game will run, prefaced by skill sessions. Some experienced people will still need to play in the beginners game to keep the skill level rising. The rostered person will then make sure all the gear is collected from poolside after 8, and return it to the pool desk. These rostered people are our developing leadership group for Launceston. Alongside this, we will keep promoting the game to potential new Launceston players by e-mail, by advertising at the pool (they have us on their web page too ( http://www.launcestonaquatic.com.au/laquatic/index.php?c=8), advertising at Scuba Centre Tasmania (organised by Angus Piercey), and (soon) advertising around the uni and colleges. It would be useful to develop a Launceston-focussed section of the TUHA web page too. If Hobart players are going up during the week, plan to get a game in at the LAC, and pass on some skills.

The next thing of course, is to find a decent pub.

Garry Davidson