Underwater rugby in the United States
Underwater Rugby started in the USA in 1979.
History
Nick Caloyianis started the first team at Catonsville Community College (now called Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville). He is a famous underwater filmmaker and director, with several televised specials. Catonsville Community College is just south of the Baltimore Beltway, and south of the city limits. Anne Arundel Community College had a competing team for several years. It was also played for a while at the YMCA pool in Severna Park, Arundel Olympic Swim Center pool in Annapolis, and briefly in a pool in Columbia and at Howard Community College. There weren't any players from Colombia, S. America for several years after the start of UWRugby in the USA, although they did participate in the 1990s and had players on the men's team at 1999 and 2003 worlds and women's team at 2003 worlds. Voting representatives for the international CMAS rules changes were sent to the CMAS 1987 Underwater Rugby Worlds in Zurich, Switzerland, and to the worlds in 1991 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Boston started a team a couple years later than Baltimore and Boston still plays both Underwater Rugby and more recently underwater hockey.
USA clubs
| Club name | City | State | Active |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego | San Diego | CA | No |
| San Francisco Giant Sea Basses[1] | San Francisco | CA | Yes |
| East Haven Makos | East Haven | CT | Yes |
| Demolition URC | Fort Lauderdale | FL | No |
| University of Illinois | Urbana-Champaign | IL | No |
| Baltimore | Baltimore | MD | No |
| Quincy Nahrwals UW Rugby[2] | Quincy | MA | Yes |
| Newark Underwater Recreation | Newark | NJ | Yes |
| New Jersey Hammerheads Underwater Rugby | Newark | NJ | Yes |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas-Fort Worth | TX | No |
| Killeen Underwater Club | Killeen | TX | No |
| University of Texas[3] | Austin | TX | No |
International competition
A combined team of players from Baltimore, Boston, and some Colombian immigrants went to the Worlds in 1999 in Germany and in 2003 to Fredericia, Denmark. A combined women's team also went to Worlds in 2003. Underwater rugby as a team game came to light in 1999 when US sent for the first time a men's team to a World Cup (Essen, Germany).[4] In 2003, both women's and men's teams were assembled for the World Cup tournament hosted in Fredericia, Denmark.[5] Underwater hockey players, scuba divers, and former players from Europe (mainly Germany) and Colombia have been key for the development of the game. The USA National Team has only been involved 4 times in CMAS world tournaments as described above. The team for the 2003 World Cup was assembled with players from different states with a base pool set in Massachusetts.
References
- ↑ "SF Underwater Rugby". SFUWR. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
- ↑ "Boston Underwater Rugby". underwaterrugby.com. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ↑ "U. of Texas Underwater Activities Team". U. of Texas Underwater Activities Team. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ↑ Results from the 1999 Underwater Rugby World Cup. "". International Underwater Rugby Commission
- ↑ Results from the 2003 Underwater Rugby World Cup. "". International Underwater Rugby Commission