3D team sport

Diving on its own? Far too boring for some of the members from the Tauchclub Octopus (TCO) diving club in Weinheim. They don’t just hop into the pool, they also play rugby while down there. They fight for the ball submerged at depths of up to five metres, using their whole bodies.

The Tiergartenbad outdoor swimming pool in Heidelberg is almost deserted. It’s Wednesday evening and the official swimming hours are over. The evening sun is reflecting off the water. Only that there’s something strange going on in the diving pool. Several people are bustling about in it. Equipped with snorkels and fins they glide along slowly on the surface of the water. Lurking. Or searching? Suddenly, there is a flurry of activity. A white ball briefly appears. Water splashes, fins kick. Then everyone submerges into the depths again.

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The diving pool is five metres deep. And if you want to know what goes on here on Wednesday evenings, you have to dive down too. Because only below the surface of the water does it become clear what is being played here: rugby, underwater rugby to be more precise. “The only three-dimensional ball sport in the world,” as player and coach Klaus Jaquemotte emphasises. The game is played throughout the entire pool. “Forward and backward, but also up and down. That’s what makes this sport so fascinating.” A 3D team sport played with a ball may sound crazy. However, the twelve people splashing about in the water actually seem quite normal.

The underwater rugby team from the TCO diving club in Weinheim is a colourful mix. Men and women play here, regardless of whether they are old or young, tall or short, fat or thin. The oldest member of the team is Ronald, who enjoys diving even at over 70 years. “But we also have 17- and 18-year-olds in the team,” Klaus explains. Many came to underwater rugby through diving—or completely by chance. Just like Stella. She actually wanted to go to swimming training scheduled by the university, but got the day wrong and ended up at underwater rugby training. “They persuaded me to join in,” she says. She was already wearing her swimsuit and just had to lend a snorkel and fins from someone. “It was so much fun that I came to the swimming pool on the wrong day the following week again.” She laughs.

It is not known who first came up with the idea of playing rugby underwater. There are several legends surrounding the question. “Presumably, several people independently came up with the idea of incorporating a ball into diving training. Who knows whether the myth is true that it originated as an exercise for combat divers, or whether it was more to escape counting tiles during distance diving,” says Klaus. “And at some point, it developed into a proper discipline.” One thing is certain: the first official underwater rugby match took place between DUC Duisburg and TSC Mülheim-Ruhr in 1964, with Duisburg winning 5 to 2. Since then, more and more diving and water sports clubs around the world have included the game in their offer.

You dive down, and your head is clear straight away!

TCO-Player Sebastian

Klaus played underwater rugby for the first time in 2006. He was 13 at the time and had already tried many things that can be done on and in the water. He started swimming, kayaking and canoeing, diving, sailing and surfing. Klaus says he inherited his enthusiasm for the water from his father. Later, he also tried freediving—diving without oxygen equipment. He didn’t like diving just straight down into the depths though. “My favourite route is in Malta—40 metres down, 38 metres through a wreck and back up on the other side.” He can hold his breath for up to six minutes. Which is helpful, of course, when you want to chase a ball at a depth of five metres.

Six players compete against another six players in a match. Ideally, a team consists of twelve players—who can swap places on the fly if someone runs out of air. The playing field varies depending on the size of the pool, but is no more than 22 metres long and at least 3.5 metres deep. The heavy metal goals look like slightly oversized wastepaper baskets and are sunk into the wide sides of the pool. The ball is filled with salt water to prevent it from always floating to the top. The aim is to sink it into the basket. “This is not so easy because there is usually a goalkeeper sitting on the basket to prevent exactly that,” as Klaus explains. Luckily, underwater rugby allows pulling, grabbing and pushing. Sounds brutal, but the sport is low risk in terms of injuries. “The water cushions a lot of the impact.”

When the teams fight for the ball, a tangled mass of human bodies swirls through the pool. Nevertheless, the sport never seems aggressive. Probably because it takes place underwater in almost complete silence. Tactical discussions usually take place at the surface before the match. Underwater, this is only possible with loud clapping. The sport is fast and technically demanding, requiring strength and stamina. A match therefore lasts just 30 minutes, divided into two halves. While it is advantageous for defenders to be slightly more strongly built, more petite players like Stella can play to their strengths in attack. She moves quickly and nimbly through the water.

The team from Weinheim trains three times a week, some days in Heidelberg, some in Mannheim and some in Dossenheim. The players come from across the region. “Most of them go to training once or twice a week, only the players in the first team are almost always there,” says Klaus. Currently, this team is playing in the second Bundesliga South. That’s not enough for the enthusiastic water sportsman, however. He also plays underwater hockey in the club. This team trains in the sports pool of the outdoor swimming pool at the same time. It looks a little more orderly, less wild. “The puck glides along the bottom of the pool so that there is no third dimension here,” Klaus explains. But it seems to be just as much fun.

“It simply is the ideal balance to my job,” says Sebastian, who has been playing underwater rugby since 2006. “You dive down, and your head is clear straight away!” And everyone raves about the family atmosphere of the sport. In fact, many players bring their families along. Some have been with the club since its inception in the 1970s. It also happens that training is put on hold and everyone ends up chatting at the edge of the pool while the children do their first diving exercises. “The fact that we have such a diverse mix of teams makes this sport really special,” says Klaus. If you want to join, all you need is a love of water—and be a little crazy.

For more information, including training hours, go to:

https://tco-weinheim.de/unterwasserrugby-beim-tco-weinheim/