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Burnside Students with coach Alexa Reid
 
Photo by Alexa Reid

Underwater Hockey

Alexa Reid —

After ten long years Underwater Hockey is back and competing for the first time since the earthquakes!

The Christchurch earthquake in 2011 decimated all the high school underwater hockey teams. This was due to many of the pools being damaged, leaving no place to train or play. In 2004, I played for Burnside High School in underwater hockey and now I want to bring it back to schools as a competitive sport. This year Burnside has re-established the only team within Canterbury. 

In May 2021, BHS competed in their first competition - South Island Championships, placing 4th. The New Zealand Underwater Hockey president Tony Colquhoun, was so impressed he extended an invitation to Burnside to play in Wellington - Central Secondary Schools Championships. A competition only reserved for the Central Zoned Schools. 

On July 2nd - 4th, 2021, Burnside along with 36 other teams, competed in Wellington. Initially lacking the numbers to go, Marlborough reached out and we joined with Marlborough Girls' and Boys' Colleges to form two teams - Junior Opens (Mixed) & Senior Girls. 

All the teams competing had a minimum of at least a 1-2+ years experience, with our students only having two months experience. However, this did not stop them from rising up to the challenge and giving their all! The skills demonstrated and knowledge gained in this short amount of time was phenomenal. The dedication and effort shown by these students and their parents was truly outstanding. I believe they all have bright and successful futures in underwater hockey. 

Junior Open:

Kaleb Brown, Peta Dunnings, Ethan Pursey, Tate Southgate, Hamish Kelly


Senior Girls:

Maddison Tranter