worlds 2008

The next Worlds to the best of my knowledge will be held in 2008 in Durban South Africa.
An aunreal visiting destination, have been twice for hockey, beautiful pool complex, fast bottom and about 2.2mt deep.
The last 2 Visits by the Aus Team we stayed place to stayed at Umsulunga (poor spelling) Rocks, 15min north drive from the pool, big stretch of holiday accomadation on the beach. sensational.
hope to see you all ther!
Belle

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Underwater Hockey Rules!

I was chatting to Atapene the other day and he said they CMAS were thinking about changing the next worlds to be in Italy to coincide with come Underwater Championships (including free-diving etc). Does anybody know more about this?

I vote with Belle... South Africa is a great destination (I lived there for a number of years!). It would almost tempt me out of retirement to play (masters) maybe, possibly, almost :lol:

yeah this is a issue being worked out at the moment...

looks like cmas have actually said yeah we're going ahead with an underwater games in Bari, Italy, in July 2007. This is supposed to include other water sports like finswimming and freediving... here's the link.

http://www.cmasbari2007.org/

however, there is a lot of work for them to do to get it up and running and opinion is divided amongst those that think about these things as to whether they can do it properly or at all.

main problem down this end of the world is the late notice and the fact that for us kiwis at least it's too soon to travel back to Europe, we're still broke from worlds!

so i guess we'll see how many countries come out of the woodwork when or if more event confirmation comes out.

liam

Apparently it was decided at the Worlds in Sheffield by country reps that UWH would keep to our current worlds rotation regardless of what CMAS do with the 07 thing in Italy...

wow, had not heard any of this! yeh I think we all over this side of the world will be paying of Sheffield for a while yet, go the VISA!
I think Italy would be fab, shopping, shopping, shopping! With woulds potentially being less than 2 years away now, it would be great to have it confermed so we can all plan, save, save, and save. I love south Africa as well, 2 great destinations!
When will we all know the plan?

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Underwater Hockey Rules!

I hadn't heard any of this either, guess that's what happens if you take a year off from World's. Hopefully this site can keep people informed of these sorts of issues.

In my opinion I don't think World's should be moved just to coincide with what CMAS is doing. I think the World UWH community is who should be making these decisions for the benifit of our sport. Any comp in SA is good for the sport given the support and following that the country has, both for hockey and as a travel destination. You can see this by the numbers that Interclubs attracts.

So I'm all in favour of Worlds 2008 to be in SA.

from the latest post on hockeynet, nz, sa and aus have officially confirmed they wont be going to Bari... i know from the nz perspective that officially, nzuwh approves of the idea of the games but the timframe and lack of notice is just too tight to make it practical for us, financially (and in terms of player burnout, in my own opinion).

hendo says he's expecting similar confirmations of non-attendance from another handful of countries soon.

i know that nzuwh is happy to consider going to the next one if they have one in 2009 for example, but in the meantime expect to go ahead with shc in chch and what was going to be the next worlds in durban...

apparently the durban worlds could be officially recognised by cmas as a continental championship... if everyone treats it like a worlds then maybe it will be treated as a worlds by the countries themselves.

maybe we'll end up with euros being the bari thing every year, the shc rotating as it usually does and a "continental championship" every 2 years that cmas calls continental and everyone just treats like a world champs?

that way perhaps the euro countries that rely on cmas for their insurance issues in order to book pools and for sponsorship and funding can keep what they need there and things will be the same for the rest of us?

or, maybe if it happens that way it'll force a split with cmas in the end.

i guess we'll see as it unfolds.

liam

Oh my God... I'm away from the net for three days and the entire world of underwater hockey has turned on its head! This is pretty juicy stuff... I think the concept is awesome, it is a sign that CMAS is trying to get its act together (not trying to offend anyone) and bring the underwater sports together. FINA does the same for its World Championships - all of the sports under its umbrella compete at the same time - synchronised swimming, diving, water polo, and swimming. I suppose its showing a united front (strength in numbers!)....

However, what is disappointing is the unrealistic time frame set... 7 months notice in which countries will be required to: select teams, coaches and management; fundraise; train; organise travel. This time frame will affect the quality of teams and players competing, even the number of teams. What would be beneficial for everyone is if CMAS announced that this first year will be a "trial" year, effectively not taking away any value from the following 2008 Worlds in Durban, and allowing countries an additional two years to prepare themselves for a change in the International UWH Calendar.

Oh, but.... if this all goes balls up, I agree with Liam... perhaps we should jump ship, abandoning the spread-eagled mermaid and join FINA... it would be nice to be part of a supportive and progressive governing body that has a strategy for raising the profile and promoting the sports which it represents... but thinking positively, I hope this is CMAS's first step in moving towards that goal

Just had a better read of every thing now, I get it, thaught Italy was instead of Durban in 2008.
Italy 2007 is way to early for me personaly, need some recovery time from worlds.
you have some great input alex and liam.
Guess we will all stay tuned, crazy stuff!
Belle

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Underwater Hockey Rules!

yeah, i never said jump ship tho! i'm trying not to go one way or the other... once everyone knows whats going on then we can have proper opinions.

i just hope it doesnt really balls up and kill both comps.