I've had a fair bit of experience running coaching clinics for young girls at a high school age. The majority of them have never heard of underwater hockey. The make-up of the groups (an average class size of about 25) are normally 20% not confident at swimming, 60% confident at swimming, but not at snorkelling/underwater work, 20% confident swimmers/confident snorkellers.

Initially I pass around a puck, stick and glove - it always gets a good reaction - and briefly explain the sport, i.e. 6 players in the water for each team, basic rules, etc... I've always found that its good to have sets of gear laid out and ready for the students as it can eat away a whole heap of the class time if you're not organised. At this point it is great to get the help of the class teacher. You can also expect a couple of girls to have conveniently "forgotten" their bathers.

Once the gear is on, jump in and go through basic snorkelling techniques (its amazing that some people are convinced that wearing a snorkel means you can breathe underwater!). This will also include how to duck dive and pull down. Let the kids muck around for about 5-10 minutes with the snorkelling aspect, and then introduce them to the stick.

Just a tip - give the teacher on the side of the pool a whistle which they can blow when you indicate to them you need the student's attention - there's no need to lose you voice!

Most importantly is to show the students how to correctly hold the stick, I always say it should be like you're giving the thumbs up witht the hook pointing towads your thumb. At this stage its ideal to run them through a few basic relays of swimming the puck - nothing fancy. After 5 minutes of this, show them how to spin the puck on the front of the bat - explain to them that this is how you start to learn how to flick the puck/pass. With those two basic skills under their belts its enough to start a game. At this age its important to keep them stimulated and interested so at this stage a game will do the trick!

A lesson in this format would probably take about 1hr, you may be able to squeeze it into 45 minutes if you luck out with a class of angels though.

Also make sure that you take along with you any promotional information, such as where they can get a game should they wish to have another go! If you're a natinoal rep it also helps impress if you tell the students how you got into the sprt, what you have done and wear your national uniform... maybe even take a World Championship gold medal with you too!

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