The DC Devilrays from the Washington DC area, are hosting for the first time an Underwater Rugby event and for such especial event they secured a brand new pool, the Long Bridge Aquatic & Fitness Center, which seems to be a promising and amazing venue for the sport on the Northeast.
Eight mixed teams and four women’s team will compete for the USA National Champion titles.
The new UWR club Florida Inter organized the 2022 Florida Cup, event parallel to the USA Finswimming World Cup that took place at the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex in Florida.
Eight teams in the Mixed division and three from the Women division competed along two USA men teams and one USA women team as preparation for the 2023 World Championships in Montreal Canada.
The US national teams participated only in the group stage while only the club teams follow to the semifinals and finals of the competition. Teams from abroad where invited but the current political situation around the world have impacted the appointments for visas and only a few players with previously issued visas where able to travel, most of them reinforcing the local teams.
In the mixed division the top seeded club team in group A, NUWR from New Jersey had a smooth classification defeating all the other club teams ( Boston, NJ hammerheads B, Fl Inter B) and only loosing to the USA Red team. On group B, and the current USA National Champion NJ hammerheads won all the games against the club teams in their group (FL Inter A, Tallahassee, SF Pulpos) and also the USA Blue team.
Semifinal matches had NUWR playing against the hosts Florida Inter A were NUWR got a 4-0 win and advanced to the finals later on Sunday. The other semi-final had for the first time two teams from the same club, NJ Hammerheads A and NJ Hammerheads B who make history qualifying to semi-finals after a tie in points to Boston and only one goal on the differential gave them the spot to play against their A team. NJ Hammerheads A got a well fought game and victory of 10-0.
The final game had the top two teams from New Jersey, NUWR and NJ Hammerheads on which Hammerheads got the lead 1-0 on the first half, and early on the second half got and advantage of 2-0 which at the end lead the Hammerheads to win the gold and keep the momentum on top of UWR in the US.
On the women’s division, The NJ Hammeheads Women got their first gold medal after several tournament participations on the young ladies tournaments in the US. On the group stage, the Hammerheads lost only to the NUWR team 0-2, the getting a tie 1-1 on their second round robin game, and finally meeting again on the final game for the gold on which the teams got a goaless match that ended up on a series of penalty throws that also ended in a tie 2-2. Later going to the one round penalty throws, the Hammerhads finally defeated NUWR with a 0(3)-0(2) score.
1st Place Mixed Division – NEW JERSEY HAMMERHEADS A2nd Place Mixed Division – NUWR3rd Place Mixed Division – Florida Inter A1st Place Women Division – NEW JERSEY HAMMERHEADS W2nd Place Women Division – NUWR W3rd Place Women Division – CT Makos W
The USA UWR committee decided that the following tournament will be the 2022 USA National Championship to take place in New Haven Connecticut in September. This event will serve as the qualification event to participate on this year’s Champions Cup in Berlin late in November.
Congratulations to all USA UWR Athletes who completed and assisted in the 2021 UWR National Championships in Thornton, Colorado on November 13-14, 2021. Thanks to the huge effort by Katrina Finlay and the Colorado UWR club, USA UWR Nationals was an outstanding success. As you know, the 2020 Nationals were cancelled and it required some heavy lifting with short notice by Colorado UWR to ensure the 2021 event was to happen. The facility was outstanding and Colorado also ensured that CMAS Qualified referees were on hand which is always desired.
There were 12 teams total: 8 teams in the Open Division and 4 teams in the Women’s Division. We also had 2 new UWR Clubs competing at the Tournament (Colorado and Tallahassee). The level to which the new teams played was immense and bodes well for USA UWR going forward. Both the Women’s and Men’s USA National Teams had tryouts the Friday before which will help in the effort for the 2023 World Championships.
The women’s teams who competed were the Amazons, Colorado, Hammerheads and Makos, with Colorado winning the 2021 Women’s National Champions. In the Open Division, the competing teams were Colorado, DC Tallahassee, Hammerheads, Hammerheads B, Krakens, Narwhals, Newark, and Sea Bass, with the Hammerheads as the 2021 National Champions, We look forward to 2022, with tournaments in Newark and Coral Springs already being scheduled!
1st Place Open Division – NJ Hammerheads3rd place Open Division – Boston Narwhals1st Place Women Division – Colorado UWR2nd Place Women Division – CT Makos3rd Place Women Division – NJ Hammerheads
In the past couple of years some videos and pictures have surfaced from the underwater world in the north of Florida. A new team called TURC (Tallahassee Underwater Rugby Club) have started practices, and more and more players are joining the club after the Covid Pandemic break.
UWRUGBY.ORG contacted their organizer Mischa Steurer for a quick interview and introduce Tallahassee Underwater Rugby to the rest of US and Canadian Clubs.
UWRUGBY.ORG: It was a great surprise to find that a new Florida team has joined the UW Rugby world! How did Tallahassee UWR started?
Mischa Steurer: I played UWR for 15 years in Austria and Switzerland. After coming to the US in 2001, I lost track of the sport for a long while. In the spring of 2019, I ran into Joerg Hess, a fellow from Germany who also played there for several years prior to coming to the US. We instantly connected and started the club. Joerg knew the coach of the aquatics program of the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) who offered us time in the pool to get stated. So we stretched out feelers and found some folks interested to try it. Of course, we needed baskets and balls. So Joerg ordered balls from Germany and I constructed baskets from PVC pipe and rubber mats I had left over. The team steadily grew and after about 1 year we had around 12 folks on the list most of them playing regularly once a week. We even planned to attend a tournament organized by the Florida Krakens in the spring of 2020. Then, the pandemic hit. After a year of pause we could finally restart again about 2 months ago. By now, we have 16 players on our list of which around 10 play regularly twice a week.
UWRUGBY.ORG: Who is the organizer?
M. S. Me, my wife Maria, and Joerg. The “oldies” from Europe J.
UWRUGBY.ORG: Where is Tallahassee located?
M. S. Almost exactly between Jacksonville and Pensacola, Florida, about 5h drive south of Atlanta and 4h drive north-west of Orlando. It is actually the capital of Florida.
UWRUGBY.ORG: How many days a week does your team practice UWR?
M. S. Two (Monday and Thursday)
UWRUGBY.ORG: Having the real UWR goals is a big milestone for clubs. Does Tallahassee have them yet?
M. S. We have goals. But not the “real” ones you may be referring to. Our goals are the proper size, though.
UWRUGBY.ORG: How many players do you have? How do you see their future in UWR?
M. S. Currently, we have 16 players on our list. Most of them just started in the last 2 months. Only four remained from the bunch who played before the pandemic. As for aspirations, right now we are just happy to have some quality training time and full body workout twice a week. As we train the team we may consider seeking tournaments in the future. However, we have a significant disadvantage with our pool being only 10 ft. 3 in deep.
UWRUGBY.ORG: How did you find out about Underwater Rugby? What’s your experience?
M. S. I played UWR for 15 years in Austria (Vienna) and Switzerland (Zurich). I came to know the Vienna UWR club after I asked my scuba instructor at the university how I could improve my swimming with fins technique. Then I got hooked on UWR. It was a big part of a long period of my life. Back then I played tournaments but never aspired to make it into the national league. I would say I am a fairly experienced player, though.
UWRUGBY.ORG: US and Canadian clubs started a collaboration to develop the sport in both sides of the border through the North American League (NAL) Do you see your team going to tournaments in the US anytime soon?
M. S. As I said, we are still far away from attending tournaments. Whether that will ever become a driver for us we shall see. First, we need a set of players who stay for a long time and learn the sport really well.
UWRUGBY.ORG: A couple of years ago the US clubs started a big effort to start the ladies UWR league. How do you see the interest of ladies on UWR? How many girls are in your team?
M. S. We are so lucky to have five ladies on our team, including my wife Maria J. They are doing very well and have a lot of fun chasing us boys through the pool.
UWRUGBY.ORG: What are your plans for Tallahassee UWR in the near future and on the long run?
M. S. Near future: keep on growing in numbers so we have a more solid base of long term members for sustainability. In the long run I hope to attend the occasional tournament.
UWRUGBY.ORG: What are the dimensions and characteristics of your pool?
M. S. Depth: 10’-3” (3.1 m)
Width: 42’-7” (13 m)
Length: 83’-4” (25.4 m)
UWRUGBY.ORG: Having UWR clubs nearby is a great help for UWR development. Have you been in contact with the Florida Krakens in Pompano Beach or the keys?
M. S. Yes. As I said we actually planned to attend at tournament in Pompano Beach last year but then Covid hit.
UWRUGBY.ORG: Do you want to send a message for the US and Canadian UWR teams?
M. S. I would send greetings to the SFO team. I had a pleasure to be guest player with their awesome team while on a business trip in 2019. Also a shout out to Angela and Nicole from the FL Kraken. I hope to finally see the Kraken team in person in the not too distant future.
Photo: Tallahassee Underwater Rugby Club partial Team – Mischa Steurer
This past weekend, the New Jersey Hammerheads Club had the honor to host the first UWR event of 2020. The 27th North American Tournament and USA round of the North American League for UW Rugby.
Two new records were set on North American tournaments, the first one, five clubs participated with A and B teams, and also this was the tournament with the most number of teams on the open division, 12 teams. Unfortunately, the women’s division didn’t take place as only two women teams registered (CT Makos and NJ Hammerhead Ladies) although they had an exhibition game, won by the current US Champions, CT Makos 3-0 over the Hammerheads Ladies. Their second exhibition game on Sunday was canceled due to time constraints.
The 12 participating teams were divided into three groups: Group A: with Boston Nw, DC Dev, NUWR A, NJ Hammerheads B; Group B: NJ Hammerheads A, Camo, CT Makos A, NUWR B; Group C: Florifornia (mixed team from California and Florida), DC Adv, Boston Fw, CT Makos B
Group A was led by NUWR A team winning all their games and followed by the Boston Narwhals FW team. The Narwhals participated this time with two even teams rather than an A & B team. The NJ Hammerheads B team secured the 3rd place in the group after defeating the DC DEV team.
Group B was dominated by the NJ hammerheads A team winning all their games and followed by the Canadian club, CAMO. The Makos B won over Newark B getting 3rd place in the group
Group C had the mixed team Florifornia on 1st place over Boston Narwhals FW. qualifying both teams to semi-finals. DC ADV team got 3rd place over the CT Makos B team.
Final Game – NJ Hammerheads A (white) vs NUWR A (blue) The Hammerheads won over NUWR by 2-1
The semifinals had three games that qualified their respective winners to a Final triangular round for (1st-3rd place) and their losers to a final triangular round for (4th-6th place). The rest of the teams on 3rd place and 4th place on their groups qualified directly final triangular rounds for (7th-9th) and (10th-12th) respectively.
Semis started with very exciting games. SF1 had the host team NJ hammerheads A defeating Boston narwhals FW by a clear 4-0. SF2 was won by Florifornia over Boston Narwhals NW by 2-0 on a more disputed game. SF3 was decided on the favor of NUWR A over CAMO by a clear 3-0 score. With these results, NJ Hammerheads A, Florifornia and NUWR A teams qualified for the final games for 1-3 places
On the first final game NJ Hammerheads was dominating the game by 2-0 and NUWR A managed to score with a few minutes left to attempt the equalizer at the lend NJ hammerheads led the game getting their first 3 points. On the second game, NUWR A met Florifornia and got a very exciting victory 3-1 over the mixed team. Then NUWR A had to wait for the final round game between NJ Hammerheads A and Florifornia to see their final position on the tournament. This last game came closer and more disputed than expected only decided by a penalty throw in favor of the Hammerheads on which their forward and coach Juan Riomaña were able to score for a final victory 1-0 over Florifornia.
The final positions of the 27th North American Tournament and US round of the North American League were:
NJ Hammerheads A
NUWR A
Florifornia
CAMO
Boston Narwhals NW
Boston Narwhals FW
DC Devilrays ADV
CT Makos A
NJ Hammerheads B
NUWR B
CT Makos B
DC Devilrays DEV
Top Scorers:
Daniel Lopez (NUWR A) 18
Juan Riomaña (NJ Hammerheads A) 15
Mike Picot (Boston Narwhals FW) 8
Timmy Burke (Boston Narwhals NW) 8
Cesar Florez (CAMO) 7
Top Scorer Team:
NUWR A 37
NJ Hammerheads A 32
Florifornia 25
Best Defense Team:
NJ Hammerheads A 1
NUWR A 4
Florifornia 7
This event was the first of the US round of the North American League UWR for 2020. The Canadian round will take place in the second semester of 2020 in a city TBD soon.
For full results of this tournament and stats of the NAL 2020 Click HERE
The 2018-19 US Underwater Rugby Season continued during the weekend of February 15-16 in Quincy, Massachusetts hosted for the second time by the Boston Narwhals.
Its been a while since the Boston Narwhals hosted the 2nd North American tournament back in 2012. US UW Rugby has grown since then, where only 4 US clubs, a mixed (orphan) team and 2 Canadian clubs participated. The mixed orphan team surprised everyone winning the tournament.
This time 8 teams on the open division and 5 teams in the women’s division (including a Canadian female team for the first time!) met to compete in what became a very exiting UWR weekend.
The open division was divided into two groups on which the runners-up from the last tournament the NJ Hammerheads met the CT Makos, Toronto UWR and Boston Narwhals B. Group B had the defending champions Boston Narwhals A, CAMO RS, Florida Krakens and SF Sea Bass.
Group A was dominated by HJ Hammerheads followed by the CT Makos. Group B was very competitive and games came with very tight scores, qualifying the Boston Narwhals A and Florida Krakens to semifinals.
The open division semifinal games had Boston Narwhals A beating CT Makos by 6-0 and on a close game the NJ hammerheads beat Florida Krakens by 1-0 in the last minute of the game
The final was again a very disputed game between the hosts Boston Narwhals A and NJ Hammerheads. The Narwhals took the lead early on the game with a quick counter-strike by Mateo Galeano, followed by a second goal five minutes later by the other Galeano brother, Tomas for a 2-0 lead. The Hammerheads responded 30 second later with a quick goal before the end of the first half and the score of 2-1.
The second half was extremely disputed and time-penalties affected both teams performances but at the end it was the Boston Narwhals that were able to keep the score to their advantage and winning the Second Round of the 2018-19 Season.
On the ladies side the CT Makos participated with 2 teams, along with the Boston Narwhals, DC UWR and for the first time a Canadian team (CAMO RS) participated on the women’s tournament on a big effort to have a first step towards the development of a Canadian Women’s team and future league.
The very young CT Makos A team dominated the round robin with only a tough and disputed game against the Boston Narwhals ladies, that the Makos won 4-3. On the final game these two teams met again but with a very clear superiority on the game by the CT Makos winning easily by 5-1.
The top Scorer player on the Open Division was Juan Pablo Riomaña from the NJ Hammerheads and on the women’s division Charlene Carmona from the CT Makos A
The US Underwater Rugby committee met earlier in October to decide the new 2018-19 Underwater Rugby Season which came with some changes affecting the North American League and the US National competition.
The US UWR Committee decided to have a US UWR season consisting on three (3) National Tournament Rounds that will award points so at the end of the season the club with most points will be the National Champion for the Season that ends in September 2019.
Points awarded will go now 5 pts. for 1st Place, 3 pts. for 2nd Place, 2 pts. for 3rd Place and 1 pt. for the rest of participating teams.
The previous National League UWR will continue now with only two (2) events throughout the year one in the US and one in Canada and will be decided with the system of points. The NAL event in the US will be one of the National Tournaments mentioned above, that will be valid for both NT & NAL.
The first National Tournament of the 2018-19 Season was hosted by the NUWR club from Newark, NJ. Eight Club teams and 5 Women teams competed on the weekend of October 20-21, 2018 with the highlight of this event becoming the tournament with the record number of women’s teams, five (5) in total.
The club teams were divided in two groups Having the defending champion Boston Narwhals as head of GRoup A along with NUWR A, DC UWR and Hammerheads B. The top seed for the B Group was the NJ Hammerheads A team along with CT Makos (formerly East Haven Makos), Florida Krakens and NUWR B.
Boston Narwhals and NUWR A dominated their group easily with 10-0 scores over DC-UWR and Hammerheads B. The match between these top teams came in favor of Boston by a 2-0 win over NUWR A.
Group B was a bit more challenging to the top teams NJ Hammerheads A and Florida Krakens who had met on the first game of their group and was decided in favor of Nj Hammerheads over Florida by a close 1-0 final score.
On semifinals Boston narwhals defeated Florida 4-1 while the NJ Hammerheads A beat their counterpart NUWR A on a close game by 1-0. On the third place game NUWR A defeated a surprising Florida Krakens team by 1-0 on a very strong and close game.
The highlight of the Club tournament was the final game between Boston Narwhals and NJ Hammerheads A. These two teams met on the 21st NAL in Pompano Beach on a breath taking final in favor of Boston 2-1. This time was not the exception. The first half ended with a 0-0 score and early on the second half the NJ hammerheads surprised Boston wit a goal from Daniel Naujoks. The game seemed to end in favor of the Hammehreads but a very quick pass by Filip Mundt left Mateo Galeano in perfect position to score the equalizer. After the 1-1, the Hammeheads were closer to score but ran out of time.
The penalty shoot-out ended tied again after each team missed one of the three shoot-outs per team. Then on the one to one series the Boston Narwhals won after three more chances being this the closest and breath taking tie break.
The women’s tournament had a Round robin with 5 teams on which The Connecticut Makos A (former East Haven Makos) dominated the group followed by Boston Narwhals.
The third place game ended up in favor of the DC UWR team over NJ Hammerheads by a clear 5-0 while the final game between CT Makos A and Boston Narwhals was also a strong game but dominated by the fast players from CT Makos with a final score of 4-1.
The final results on this tournament confirm the excellent level of the teams previously qualified to represent the US at the Champions Cup later this year in Berlin.
We wish the best to the Boston Narwhals and the Connecticut Makos on their Champions Cup participation.
During the weekend of August 18-19 the 22nd. North American Underwater Rugby tournament was held at the Donald D. Summerville pool in downtown Toronto.
The second time of this summer tournament in the city of Toronto, Canada brought four (4) teams from the USA and four (4) from Canada. American teams from Washington DC (DC-UWR), New Jersey ( NJ Hammerheads), Boston (Boston Narwhals), and the USA women team participated on this edition. Canadian teams from Montreal (CAMO RS), Brantford (Brantford UWR), Toronto (Toronto Raccoons) and Timmins, a brand new Canadian team that made its debut in the North American League.
The New Canadian Club Timmins Torpedoes
The Timmins Torpedoes with the nice logo and uniform, came all the way from far North Canada to play their first tournament. They are a great example of sport development in the community, willing to learn and grow.
All 8 teams played in 2 groups to define the ranking to play the semifinals. After the first round of games the top 4 teams were decided to play the semifinals (Boston and Toronto from group A) and CAMO and Hammerheads from group B.
Two really intense and even final matches were played. Boston vs Toronto for played for the bronze on a second game after having played previously during the group round. Toronto beat the current NAL Champions Boston in a dramatic way after being twice under 0-1 and 1-2 on the score and finally winning 3-2 . A similar dramatic final game for the gold happened between Montreal and the Hammerheads. During the group round both teams played the first game and the Hammerheads won 3-2 after a half time in favor of CAMO by 0-2. The final game was even more competitive and only a small mistake by the Hammerheads at the end of the 2nd half allowed Montreal to take the gold with a final score of 1-0.
1st Place – CAMO RS
2nd Place – New Jersey Hammerheads
3rd Place – Toronto Raccoons
The Toronto Raccoons appreciate the participation of all clubs to this event and hope to see you in the next competition.
This was the last NAL tournament of the 2017-18 Season on which Boston Narwhals secured the 2017-18 NAL Championship title despite showing a mixed team and making no points under the NAL rules on this round. The Narwhals secured the NAL Championship title for the season with the points earned during the previous rounds of this season.
On the top scorer player Juan Pablo Riomaña from the New Jersey Hammerheads won the top scorer player award for this tournament with almost 10 goals over the second top scorer Marco Cardona from CAMO, and this difference helped him get the Top Scorer Award for the 2017-18 NAL Season
USA Underwater Rugby - NAL LEAGUE 