UWH Spain Style

So I decided on a whim to go to an underwater hockey tournament this weekend-or as they say here hockey sub. I'm really glad I decided to go it was an absolute blast. I got to know some of the girls better and play as well.
I played for Castilla y Leon because they needed players and Madrid didn't. I ironmanned the entire tournament...we didn't have any subs. They don't play co-ed here or rather guys cannot play on the girls teams but girls can play with the guys if they need players. It was an interesting change of pace. I was the most experienced player on my team which also made for an interesting tournament. We played with three underwater rugby players two of which have only been playing hockey for a month. The other has been playing hockey for awhile but only occasionally. Another one of girls is from Canada and only in Spain for the year. She's only been playing since September. The last is 16 and has been playing about as long as me. I played center forward the whole tournament without subs and it was very different playing just girls teams. It was also interesting to play where the other players were not significantly physically stronger than me.
Another cool thing for hockey players reading this: they take the colors of the team a lot more seriously than we do in the U.S. For example, we wear dark or light colored caps and use the appropriate colored stick. They all have team suits and they are either reversible or they have two. They change their suits based on what color they are for each game. They also were very amused by my polo ear caps connected directly to my mask strap. None of them have ever seen this before. It is because they all wear matching water polo caps with the team logo and change the head gear depending on color as well. They also do this because each player has a number and they write it on their arms for tournaments. The table then keeps track of who scored the goals.
I also got to see a final sudden death game. The final game for the boys was tied at the end of the alotted time and so they played an extra five minutes. They were still tied so then they did the best of three penalty shots for each team and that decided who one (Madrid). I've never seen a game end like that before and it was very exciting to watch.
I also don't know what they use in the pools here but after twelve straight hours of play it was still crystal clear that you could watch the game from the pool deck.
Anyways, that's enough hockey talk for now.
Hasta Luego