FOUR players from the Wonthaggi Underwater Hockey Club have been selected to compete in the 21st Underwater Hockey World Championships on the Gold Coast.
Underwater hockey teams from around the world will converge on the Gold Coast from July 18 to 30.
With 15 countries to be represented – Argentina, Turkey, USA, Germany and China, to name a few – the Australian teams have selected players from almost every state.
Wonthaggi’s representatives are Dave Barry-McCaulay, Kirsteen Reid, Kevin Chisholm and Kasey Hoskins.
The Wonthaggi Underwater Hockey Club is immensely proud of these players and their link to the 43-year-old local club.
All four players have had an exciting lifelong journey with underwater hockey, starting as youths in Wonthaggi.
These journeys have involved representing Victoria, Australia, travel, and leadership and coaching roles.
Given her age of 20, the club is particularly proud of and wish to showcase Kasey Hoskins.
Kasey will play in the Australian Elite Women’s team as the youngest player, to gain her pair of Aussie bathers.
She is not only the youngest in her own team, but the youngest female across the entire Australian squad, clearly reflecting her outstanding skill and achievement at such a young age.
Kasey started at the Wonthaggi Underwater Hockey Club in 2016 under the guidance of coach, club legend and co-founding member Steve Dunn.
From competing with other state teams in the early days, when Victoria did not have the player numbers to register a team, she has gone on to represent Victoria many times over the years in U15, U19 and elite teams.
Kasey and her teams have won many competitions, including but not limited to a gold medal in the Perth Nationals in 2018.
During this time, Kasey started to further develop her skills, stretching her comfort levels while playing her first U19 game at 14 years old.
As nervous as she was, Kasey’s desire to be better and ‘go all the way’ in the sport won out as she was welcomed with open arms and excelled.
For Kasey, 2018 was a big year.
She gained a spot in the U19 Australian Women’s team, dreaming of glory in the Trans-Tasman Competition played in New Zealand.
Unfortunately, the team did not win a game, but the experience gained has well and truly set Kasey up for a massive future in the sport.
This competition helped Kasey to continue improving her skills, build her resilience and get name out in the underwater hockey community.
With the usual post competition blues, Kasey continued to play and train at club level under coach Caleb Berry every Thursday night.
Kasey has now played at national level every year since, often in the captain role, leading her teams to many victories.
She also played in the Victorian Elite Women’s team at the same time as the Age Teams, often in back-to-back games at the same competitions.
In 2022, Kasey made the decision to move to Western Australia for university and has played for the WA Elite Women’s team since, furthering her skills and visibility in the sport.
With an intense training schedule that involves all aspects of polishing your mind and body to withstand the gruelling game of underwater hockey at this level, the club wishes all the successful Australian team members good luck.
Their involvement provides inspirations for up-and-coming hopefuls at local level, particularly those players that are currently training hard to attend trials for ‘The Age World Championships’ Australian teams to be announced soon.
COME and try underwater hockey this Thursday night (July 13).
The Wonthaggi Underwater Hockey Club invites children of all levels of experience to give the sport a go.
Children from eight to 15 years old will have a training session at the Wonthaggi YMCA from 7pm to 8pm.
Those 15 years and above will have their opportunity from 8pm to 9pm.
At this time, the senior players will have a game, which all participants are welcome to watch.
Club president Karl Scothern was thrilled with the turnout to the come and try night in term one and is hoping to see similar numbers on Thursday night.
“Our aim is to bring more juniors into our club,” he said.
The club builds up the skills of its young players, who then play for the U15s side. The club also have a successful U19s team.
Currently, the club has 50 members. Eighty percent of these members are aged 10 to 18 years old.
“We have quite a young club. We find once our players reach 18, they’ll leave the area, but we know a lot of them have gone on to do amazing things with their underwater hockey,” Karl said.
“You get to know a lot of people through the sport, so some have gone on to play games at places like Monash Uni and MSAC (Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre).”
Wonthaggi Underwater Hockey Club also have four representatives heading to the World Championships on the Gold Coast later this month.
All equipment including fins and snorkels will be provided on the night.
The new players will be shown how to use the equipment and basic skills in the pool, in hopes some will return the following week.
“We had around 30 people attend our term one come and try night, and of those 30, 20 joined our club,” Karl said.
“We were rapt with that turnout. Our club is the biggest in Victoria and we supply 95 per cent of the Victorian team, so it is important to use that we keep building on the skills of our juniors.”
Karl said the Wonthaggi Underwater Hockey Club is inclusive and encourages participation from anyone interested.
“Everyone is welcome. We’ve seen kids come through who hadn’t found their sport yet and discovered they loved being in the water,” he said.
“It’s a safe, inclusive environment, and it's a lot of fun to be a part of it.”
All entrants will be required to pay a $10 fee to cover the pool hire for the night, and are asked to arrive early to be fitted for the equipment.
Current members will be on hand to talk to parents and answer any questions.