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Wellness Wednesday for November 9, 2022

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

  • Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.

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This past weekend I played Underwater Rugby for the first time. I regularly play underwater hockey and there were some players in both sports that convinced me to come out and try it.

I ended up not liking it for reasons that I thought would be the case all along. But I still liked it more than I expected. The main reason for liking it was that it was an insanely good core workout. When you are underwater and changing directions or pushing against people you have to use your whole body as leverage. For about two days afterward I felt tired just standing and keeping my body straight. It wasn't a particular muscle soreness, and that felt pretty weird.

The reasons I didn't like it:

  1. I'm not a fan of wrestling and didn't like grabbing and pushing other people very much. I didn't shy away from it in the moment, my competitiveness kicked in enough to get over any squeamishness. But it just feels strange to me.

  2. There were some dumb dominant strategies. The defenders would just shove their whole back over the basket/goal and block the offense from scoring that way. You couldn't grab them to move them. And I'm not sure if even shoving them off was legal. If you were on offense and didn't get a breakaway at an open goal/basket then it basically became a waiting and coordination game.

  3. The parts of the game I did like, the strategy with positioning, the added challenge of a 3d playing space, being the water, etc, are all part of underwater hockey as well. So I'll probably just stick to my current sport.

If either are available in your area and you like swimming or snorkeling, I'd suggest trying them out.

Yes, Finally something that I can reply to. I tried underwater hockey. I swim fairly regularly. But the first sessions were fraught with me being afraid of the depth of the pool. I think the game was played in the deep end about 10 feet. I needed to swim regularly in a pool of that depth for me to be comfortable with the game. Maybe when I do that, i will be able to go back and play properly. But underwater hockey is really a fun sport.

First two or three games are really rough. I felt like I was drowning every time. Comfort on the pool bottom is really the main skill in my mind that separates "rookies" from "non-rookies". Once you can get down there quick and stay in the play for about ten seconds you have graduated.

Ten feet is on the deeper side for a typical underwater hockey match. I personally think 8 feet is best, but it's not always easy to find the perfect pool.

On the other hand underwater rugby is much deeper. I played in a pool that was 14 feet deep, and that is apparently the preferred depth.