Jolly hockey sticks on a unicycle—Australia’s hockey championships

Most people would find just getting on top of a unicycle challenging, let alone actually maneuvering it. However, some athletes are not only doing that but also playing hockey competitively whilst doing so. Some of Australia’s best players in this unusual sport compete in one of the rounds of the Australian Unicycle Hockey championship. Players from teams across Australia, from Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney are battling against each other as the remaining teams get whittled down. “I love how it's so high energy and everybody is so into it. And you've got to be here in one place and focusing on this spot and it's so, chaotic,” says player Hannah Sheperd. Player Michael Watson says interest in the game is growing following a fall during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Before COVID, we had 6 or 7 of these interstate competitions in a year. It was bigger, we had more teams, but at the moment we're recovering numbers,” says Watson. Unicycle Hockey shares much of the same rules as traditional hockey. Balance, speed and accuracy are all necessary skills for the sport, which is particularly popular in Europe and the United States. “Same as standard hockey games, the nets are the same, we use ice hockey sticks and tennis balls and the rules are pretty much the same, but you can't come off,” says player David Buchanan. Players of all ages can be seen participating─from teenagers to old-timers in their 60s. “Age doesn't matter. It's just the best because it doesn't matter how old you are. It's just what you can do,” says Watson. While the rules of the game do not allow for contact between players, contact with the ground is inevitable, even for the most skilled players. However, it doesn’t take long for competitors to get back in the saddle. “It probably doesn't take much longer to learn to ride than a bike, you really just have to get a unicycle which is very cheap and a wall, and find some YouTube videos and just stick at it,” says player Steven Hughes. This article was provided by The Associated Press.