“The first round of the first Hungarian Underwater Rugby Nationals were held today!
I. place: PFBSE Dolphins
II. place: The Mayfly
III. place: The Current
We were happy to see so many participants playing exciting matches, leaving behind the previous, long era! But this is just the first step, we’re preparing for more rounds!
For the unique medals, we’d like to thank:
Dolnay Norbert and www.otletbazis.hu for manufacturing
and Rozovics Éva for designing them!”
“PFBSE Delfinek – UWR Tiszavirág SE 4:0
Scored: Pásztor István (11), Somogyi András (1) x 2, Somogyi Péter (63)
PFBSE Delfinek – Új Hullám UWR SE 8:3
Scored: Kis Dávid (4), Janik József (14), Szűrös Márton (89), Somogyi Péter (63), Kis Zoltán (2), Végh Zsolt (87), Páli Bendegúz (29) x 2, ifj. Kis Zoltán (3), Somogyi András (1)
UWR Tiszavirág SE – Új Hullám UWR SE 6:1
Scored: Bódis László (7) x 2, Klima András (8), Barta Béla (69), Soltész Tamás (15), Nagy Balázs (83), Kuna Máté (5)”
OK, duties done, here comes the story!
All started with the shared trainings. We needed pool time badly, and having an opponent to play with came handy for the youth and for us alike. We’ve found these sessions are not only useful but pleasant, and there is no sign of distress between the clubs in the water. Then we got an invitation for the 19th of May, what if we pulled a match together in a couple days? Sure! Cause it could be an official meeting then, since the rounds of the Nationals were cancelled due to the pandemic. Nope, we’d be not OK with that, but a Norbi-Sofi-Kala delegation went to the Tiszavirág training anyway, and we started planning together from then on. There were some obstacles to overcome, apart from finding a suitable date, but Norbi kept cutting the gordian knots. From mid-June, we were looking forward to 06.27 being a huge day for Hungarian UWR! Moby prepared the event in the most professional manner, the Hajós’s staff approved the date, and we took the plans to the Federation. They not only said yes despite learning about our plans at the last minute, but gave financial support as well!
We needed to make compromises here and there, but the will to play overcame everything. The wall was up, so exchanges were done in the playing area instead of the exchange lane, we had just one UW referee on breathhold, no signals, just a whistle and 2 rods, and the lack of a clock meant we needed to shout to know the remaining time. Several camera mounts were made out of a reborn blinder, but only 2 old SJCAMs were present, one of them even decided to float away once. So the matches weren’t captured, but I’ve tried to record as much as possible, even did a live stream of the first match simply holding my phone in hand as the surface referee. Also included our team meeting, cause I was so happy I got the stream working, I didn’t want to turn it off. YT reported 34 viewers, not bad for some splashing and surfacing heads.
But what was going on underneath the surface?
We had 3 teams with players who turned the event into an all-stars gala, such as the Kis-family, Bódis László, Kuna Máté or Nagy Balázs, who visited from San Francisco.
We had 3 matches with awesome gameplay and such results that made everyone happy. The Dolphins acquired not only form, but the first place of the round. They started with beating the Mayfly 4:0 at the first match. It seemed like a heavy battle from above, and Norbi stated the same, watching the game as the UW referee. Yet the youth showcased an elegant, fluid style, only 2 calls were made due to rule infringements. A free throw against the virág was awarded for holding back, another one because of an early start. The game ended 4:0, the Somogyi-brothers scored 3 goals, Andris scored twice. The fourth goal belongs to Pásztor István, making it clear he deserves a spot at tournaments.
Meanwhile we handed out the caps – let me tell you about those. We were lacking gear, caps, mostly. Thanks to coach Mátyás Zoltán, our team played in the caps of the pro water polo team of Honvéd. We are much obliged!
As usual, team lists became final only as the players entered the pool. Hisyam was M.I.A. I prepared for that, but I was far from confident. This was the first time the Current played at a tournament, also the first time we were doing exchanges. I was making tactics last night, and instead of coupling players for the regular positions, I ventured in an unorthodox direction trying to create a responsive system of formations, focusing not on the roles but the players. This way we could gain advantage from having 2 families on board, they tend to have great awareness of each other in the water. A complex system without testing could’ve had catastrophic results, but last night Ádám also dug into the rules and tactics and figured my concept out real quick. I was surprised by how well it worked! There was one occasion, when we screwed it up. Ádám hissed me from the bench not to follow our counter as we were one man short outside. Luckily, nobody noticed. Communication was good and aligned the exchanges like clockwork. I think we got the most out of the team and ourselves! We started both matches with powerplay, and exchanges were done depending on the situation needing defense or attack.
We scored first against the Dolphins, but most of their players managed to score against us, Bende twice. The Kis-family packed a goal each, resulting in a 8:3 score.
After a 15 min break, we played against Tiszavirág. Their defense was strong, consumed too much of our energy, we started getting goals, and I wouldn’t say we panicked, but there was definitely some stress in the air that we were not showing our potential. We got lucky in lots of risky situations, but Bódis Laci managed to score twice, and we let Balázs score one all watching him from above. I was in exchange a lot, as I figured Petra is worth more in defense, Sofi is worth more in attack and I am worth more doing the captain’s work. First I thought 2×12 minutes were long, but as the end was drawing near, I made up my mind and wished the matches were longer. We were playing for an hour by then, were indeed exhausted but found our “we can do this all day”-pace. We wanted to score, I called for a time-out, Kis & Dolnay families went in, except for Gergő, replaced by a more fresh and focused Máté. And bamm, Máté honored that with a score in the last minute, 6:1!
The matches were over like a dream, the happy players lined up for the handshakes with the widest smiles again.
Last half an hour was for the award ceremony. We went outside to take photos, but as Moby stepped through the door, spontaneous cheering broke out, so the ceremony was on. Of course, the first minutes are missing on Yt and sunbathers interrupted the scene, but hey! This is how legends are born. The remarkable awards were designed by Rozovics Éva and manufactured by Dolnay Norbert, and everyone was glad to get them – after all, all players came in Top3 at the first round of the first Hungarian Nationals with beautiful games.
What’s ahead? POTY selection turned out to be great. With the tiniest effort, we could capture all games from the first to the last second without losing the ball out of sight for a second. Some would like to expand the championship with foreign teams, and it would make sense to have separate womens and youth championships along the mixed (general) one. Luckily, it was natural to have mixed teams allowed, as the results show, this is the good call.
2021.06.27. turned out to be an awesome day, a real milestone for Hungarian UWR. Kudos everyone!
