THE Wonthaggi Underwater Hockey Club proudly hosted the Southern States Junior Underwater Hockey Development Camp over the weekend.
U15s players from Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania descended on the Bass Coast Aquatic and Leisure Centre to hone their skills ahead of nationals, set to be held on the Gold Coast in January.
More than 30 players took part in the camp, including 20 Victorians – most of which came from the Wonthaggi club.
Australian Underwater Hockey head coach Anton Williams travelled from Queensland and spent the two days going through drills with the aspiring players, showing them different techniques.
“These kids will end up playing for their state team this year or next,” Wonthaggi Underwater Hockey Club committee member Karl Scothern said.
“The good thing about the camp is the kids from these three states will catch up at nationals and they’ll already know each other.”
A referee accreditation course ran concurrently with the camp at the Wonthaggi Tennis Club.
“A lot of our Victorian underwater hockey players who are in the U19s or adults are doing the course at the tennis club over the two days,” Karl said.
“They will use the games the kids are playing as part of their accreditation.”
Around 18 people from Wonthaggi, Geelong and Caulfield took part in the accreditation course.
The youngest referee involved was 15 years old and the course was conducted by Nathan Whelan from Tasmania.
This was the first time Wonthaggi has hosted the camp.
The weekend was largely organised by Michael Milnes.
“Michael worked closely with Anton and worked with a team behind the scenes to look after the players, coaches and refs,” Karl said.
“Victoria needs to put a lot more into junior development to be as competitive as other states. Western Australia and Queensland are very strong.
“There’s a major push at the moment to get Victoria back up to their standard so when we go to nationals, we can actually be very competitive and try to get silver and gold. We normally get pretty close to it.”
The Wonthaggi Underwater Hockey Club has been playing at the Wonthaggi YMCA since the 1980s, with its 45th anniversary coming up in September.
Over the years, the club has produced many Victorian state players, as well as world players.
“We are always growing as a club. The only problem that we are facing is we’ve had a major junior development push over the last two or three years and the pool is getting too small for us,” Karl said.
“On a club night when we have up to 40 U15s in the pool, we are running three games across the pool, and we are at our limit.
“It’s a great place to be in, but it’s preventing us from pushing a little bit harder for development.”
Karl said the club would like to see a bigger pool built in Wonthaggi to accommodate the club and reduce the need to travel out of the region to play the game.
