When far from home, it is common for many people to remember old passions and to find a place in which to create a new sense of belonging.
This is, broadly speaking, what underwater rugby has meant for a group of Spanish-speaking women in Australia, five of whom come from Medellin, on the Colombian Caribbean coast, and one who is from Spain, and who are preparing to represent the country that adopted them, at the Underwater Rugby World Championships in Canada next year.
For Nathalie Solano, an industrial engineer from Medellín: “...this (the underwater rugby ) community is very united and when you are a migrant, you need to start creating your (new) family.”
Spaniard Carmen Montejo says that “...being selected is an honour. I'm about to receive my citizenship, but being part of the Australian team has been like getting my new nationality early!”
Highlights:
- Six Spanish-speaking women competed against 40 others for a spot on the Australian underwater rugby national team, demonstrating their dexterity and competitiveness.
- The 15 chosen women who now make up the national team will compete at the 2023 Underwater Rugby World Championships in Canada.
- Underwater rugby is a high-contact sport played with a ball filled with saltwater that must be placed in a metal basket attached to the pool floor in order to score "tries".
Vanessa López, a food engineer from Montería, Colombia, says she is grateful because “...I have had an opportunity to meet wonderful people from different countries, and even from my own country, whom I assure you that I would never have met while there."
Catalina Chica, from Medellin, adds that “...we (the team) has a large majority of Latin-Americans, and that gives the team a good energy both in and out of the water.”
Cuarenta mujeres de todas las procedencias se reunieron en Brisbane para competir por un cupo para la selección australiana de rugby subacuático. Source: Instagram / Instagram / australianladiesofuwr
The women say not many people know about underwater rugby.
“When you tell people that you play 'underwater rugby', people ask: 'What is that, water polo?' They always confuse it with something else, and they don't have a clue what it's about,” Ms López says.
While the sport shares its name with its field cousins, rugby union and rugby league, it is vastly different.
Both may be contact sports involving a ball with which to score however there is a substantial difference.
“The difficulty is increased to 100 per cent, because in traditional rugby and in other field sports, you can talk or shout to the person next to you, let them know that you are there or that you are ready for them to pass the ball,” Ms Solano says.
In underwater rugby, you completely take away verbal communication with your players, and it's all about trusting the person beside you, knowing that there will be a person (instinctively) in the right place and at the right time.
She points out that this lack of verbal communication helps to develop what is known as the “hive mind”: that is, team members know each other so well that they can predict the movements of their teammates, before they score.
Spanish-speaking women who have been chosen to represent Australia at next year's underwater rugby championship in Canada. Credit: Archivo personal de las jugadoras
This means that this is a sport in which specialised equipment is needed to stay underwater. And while clashes in water are not the same as on land, things get quite intense.
“Adrenaline is something that every player has to feel, and to feel it, you have to have snorkel fins (snorkel), mask, swimsuit and a cap... and to feel the adrenaline of the game and feel the passion for water,” Ms Castaño says.
And this also implies a high level of physical conditioning and endurance, which was put to the test by judges when choosing the new members of the Australian national team, according to coach, Lyle Taualai.
There is a lot of skill, especially in the movement of the ball, and intelligence in creating formations and passing paths for what are the critical parts of how we build our attack. There is a tenacity that is well known in our Latin American players.
The coach highlights the value of having such a multicultural team, which represents the diversity that characterises a country like Australia.
El equipo para jugar underwater rugby incluye gorro, aletas y esnórquel (tubo respirador) Credit: Jennifer Acosta / archivo personal
Not only are the cultures diverse, but also the personalities and the experiences lived by the team members who work as food engineers, software developers, architects, doctors and academics with doctorates.
Some have already arrived with extensive experience in water sports, such as Ms Chica, who started swimming at age 13 and then played water hockey.
Others like Ms López were introduced to the sport by her husband, who was also in the Australian national team and hopes to be selected again this year.
In the end, what they all share is the same passion.
“The feeling that I can achieve so many things underwater and seeing how each of us has something unique and special to contribute results in a very beautiful shared outcome apart from achieving our own progress. This fills the team with passion,” says Jennifer.
For me it's the place where I can be free. You can't fly, but you can go in any direction... in all dimensions.
“There (in the pool) I can express myself and get rid of everything that burdens me, that stresses me out, it's really the place where I'm happy,” says Ms López.
She adds that the possibility of going to the world cup and sharing the stage with people from all over the world who have the same passion, “...sounds magical and is ultimately very exciting”.
En 2019 la selección australiana también asistió al mundial de rugby subacuático, en Austria. Source: Facebook / Facebook / Underwater Rugby Australia
“The economic investment is great. Just seeing the cost of tickets for Canada, I'm already scared about what we're going to have to pay... but it's the sport I love, it's given me a lot," Ms Solano says, who jokes that the team lives off “sausage sizzles” and other fundraising activities.
"It has given me friends and it has given me new experiences.”
These six women, together with their nine teammates, will be training hard this year in the lead up to the world cup in Canada, where they will be competing for a place on the podium, and hoping to place Australia and the Spanish-speaking community here on a high note.
