CHANGING THE GAME - CONTACT SPORTS
YELLOW TAPE USED TO IDENTIFY PLAYERS WHO WANT TO PLAY A MINIMAL CONTACT GAME
Yellow tape is part of a long-term retention and recruitment initiative by Rumblefish UWH Club.
It is for the safety and enjoyment of all players when playing recreationally in non-competitive games.
It is for the safety and enjoyment of all players when playing recreationally in non-competitive games.
We will often explain the game of underwater hockey as no-contact, soft contact or minimal contact. On this theory we play all ages, skills (innate and acquired), sizes, weights and genders in one magnificent but often murky pool of equality. Except, of course, that equality is mostly a myth.
The game is rightly “full contact” when the contact is initiated by a player’s stick connecting with the game puck. The vector of force transferred is called momentum; (P = MV) which is the mass of the player combined with their velocity (speed & direction). In other words, a 140lb slower moving player being tackled by an energetic 180lb fast moving player will feel smashed. A secondary issue is that the amount of hard contact that a player is subjected to is controlled by the player who initiates contact not the player receiving the contact.
The physics involved can be offset by acquired skills (most often curling) and avoidance, but these responses create learned skills that culminate in many new players curling to protect themselves and the puck from the inbound freight train that will not only smash their hand but also remove the puck from their possession. While the curl is an integral and beautiful part of the game, it was designed to quickly lay-off the puck to a teammate without loss of forward momentum. When it is used for protection, the play comes to a stop which results in a scrum for possession.
Personally, I am an older, bigger player with a lot of experience and mostly slow twitch muscle. I use weight and angles to slow the game pace and will happily smash in a competitive game; however, I understand the difference between a recreational, socially supportive and physically demanding scrimmage versus a competition. An easy way to identify the difference is that if there are no referees in the pool and the score is a point of discussion, then it is not a competitive game and all efforts should be made to ensure both the safety and enjoyment of all players.
Most clubs lack the resources or numbers to tier players by skill or gender and this results in a large mismatch between the comparative abilities and advantages of different players. This issue is further compounded because each player has a slightly different view of how they should deal with the rookies in the pool. Many veteran players believe they have seniority rights and the new players will need to earn their spots because that’s the way they did it. The range of experience is vast as is the criteria that a player uses to measure success. Not all are willing to compromise their own successful game in order to support the growth and retention of a new player.
The game is rightly “full contact” when the contact is initiated by a player’s stick connecting with the game puck. The vector of force transferred is called momentum; (P = MV) which is the mass of the player combined with their velocity (speed & direction). In other words, a 140lb slower moving player being tackled by an energetic 180lb fast moving player will feel smashed. A secondary issue is that the amount of hard contact that a player is subjected to is controlled by the player who initiates contact not the player receiving the contact.
The physics involved can be offset by acquired skills (most often curling) and avoidance, but these responses create learned skills that culminate in many new players curling to protect themselves and the puck from the inbound freight train that will not only smash their hand but also remove the puck from their possession. While the curl is an integral and beautiful part of the game, it was designed to quickly lay-off the puck to a teammate without loss of forward momentum. When it is used for protection, the play comes to a stop which results in a scrum for possession.
Personally, I am an older, bigger player with a lot of experience and mostly slow twitch muscle. I use weight and angles to slow the game pace and will happily smash in a competitive game; however, I understand the difference between a recreational, socially supportive and physically demanding scrimmage versus a competition. An easy way to identify the difference is that if there are no referees in the pool and the score is a point of discussion, then it is not a competitive game and all efforts should be made to ensure both the safety and enjoyment of all players.
Most clubs lack the resources or numbers to tier players by skill or gender and this results in a large mismatch between the comparative abilities and advantages of different players. This issue is further compounded because each player has a slightly different view of how they should deal with the rookies in the pool. Many veteran players believe they have seniority rights and the new players will need to earn their spots because that’s the way they did it. The range of experience is vast as is the criteria that a player uses to measure success. Not all are willing to compromise their own successful game in order to support the growth and retention of a new player.
THIS PROBLEM AFFECTS PLAYER RETENTION IN SEVERAL WAYSROOKIES: Many players enjoy the advantages, and in many cases perceived power, of being higher up the skills/ability pyramid and while they will not smash through a complete rookie, after 3 to 4 months they believe they can stop ‘babying’ the rookie and will start to hit harder and add force to those tackles. We all have different perceptions of learning curves and I think the curve is much longer than we believe it is. To graduate from non-rookie status, it can take 2-3 years of club play, the investment in good quality necessary equipment, and participation in at least 3 travel tournaments.
ELITE PLAYERS: Many of our better players resist any change to the game that has the potential to remove their hard-earned advantages in the pool. It is difficult to explain to them that we must retain players in order to have enough in the pool to create A and B game nights. They don’t realize that practicing the removal of the puck at speed without force will improve their game. Over time, the game will become faster as more players swim and pass rather than stop and curl because they fear being crushed. There are also a few elite players who don’t give back to their sport; they are happily on the top of the heap and will only invest in things that improve their elite status on their own teams. VETERANS: In a sport where retention is vital to survival, it is important to care for every level of player. We lose players every year who no longer want to endure the physicality of the sport. It is one of the more disappointing aspects of a sport where we could all be playing until we are 90. Veterans don’t want to support the removal of contact from the sport because they don’t want to self identify as weak, or risk many of their teammates crying ‘unfair advantage.’
WOMEN: In theory, underwater hockey levels the field between men and women and if the sport was truly non-contact, that would be an arguable statement. Unfortunately, the average underwater hockey scrimmage is rarely non-contact, which means women not only have to contend with a speed disadvantage, but also a physical size disparity. It does not matter how skilled or fast a woman is, they can be destroyed by an overly enthusiastic club player who uses their physical mass to offset the skill of the female player. The number of hardy women who are willing to endure this physical onslaught on a weekly basis are few. This is further compounded by the egos of the existing women who have strived and found success in our sport. Many women (and men alike) believe that not allowing players to use physical force to remove the puck from another player creates an unfair advantage for women, when the reality is, it would just remove contact from the game. SPORT FOR ALL |
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ADVANTAGES
ACUTE INJURY RECOVERY |
The yellow tape method enables players with an acute injury to return to play earlier without having to worry about being taken out by one of the overly unaware and enthusiastic smash brothers.
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NON-CONTACT PLAY |
Allows individual players who prefer not to get beaten up every game to play on a regular basis without fear or hesitancy. It allows individual players to visually demonstrate what kind of game they want to play
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CHRONIC INJURY MANAGEMENT |
Players with chronic wrist or elbow issues can identify themselves with yellow tape (YT) and extend their playing careers by many years. Probably a pretty useful way of avoiding chronic issues in the first place
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GENDER INCLUSIVITY |
We can clearly identify pool sessions that use this system as non-contact and greatly increase the number of women playing the sport. Although some women don't mind contact sport we lose the many who prefer non-contact
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GAME IMPROVEMENT |
Playing against players with yellow tape requires all club members to look up and make fast decisions. Players learns to cleanly pick pucks without smashing, which improves the overall skill level of each club who uses it.
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RECRUITMENT & GROWTH |
New players can develop without more experienced players using their physical dominance to remove the puck. This would retain more players, and not just the select few that can handle the physicality and rough play.
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IN SUMMARY
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We have an aging and eclectic group of players, some of who resist any changes that might possibly lessen the current advantages they have over others. The reality is that the sport does not have enough players. This is worsened by the culture of being unwilling to adapt to ensure the game survives after they no longer choose to play or are unable to play. If you care about survival of a sport you have been passionate about for many years, then the time to adapt and care about longevity of the sport is now. |
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