Underwater hockey (also called Octopush) is a non-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into goals.

Players wear a diving mask, fins and a snorkel for play.^[1] Safety gear includes a water polo style cap, a mouthguard, and a glove for the playing hand (to protect against pool-bottom abrasion and, in some designs, knuckle protection against puck impact). Because current rules permit a player to switch the stick between hands mid-play, players may choose to wear a protective glove on both hands. The stick is quite short (according to recent rules, not more than 350mm. in length, including the handle) and is colored white or black to indicate the player's team. In tournament play, the color of the stick and cap are randomly assigned to each teams before every game. The puck is approximately the size of an ice hockey puck but is made of lead or similar material (Adult size weighs 3 lb 1.3-1.5 kg, Junior 1 3/4 lb 800-850 gm) and is surrounded by a plastic covering, which is usually matched to the pool bottom to facilitate good grip on the stick face while preventing excessive friction on the pool bottom. The puck's weight brings it to rest on the pool bottom, though can be lofted during passes. The goals are three meters in width and lie at opposite ends of the playing area.

Play

Two teams of up to ten players compete, with six players on each team in play at once. Substitution happens continually from a substitution area, which may be on deck or in the water outside the playing area, depending on tournament rules. Before the start of play the puck is placed in the middle of the pool, and the players wait in the water, touching the wall above the goals they are defending. At the start-of-play signal, in-play members of both teams are free to swim anywhere in the play area and try to score by sending the puck into the opponents' goal. Play continues until either a goal is scored, and players return to their wall to start a new point, or a break in play is signaled by a referee (whether due to a foul, a time-out, or the end of the period of play).