Octopush has been described as underwater hockey.  Two teams of players, wearing mask, fins and snorkels, armed only with a wooden "pusher" (see right) attempt to score "Gulls".  A Gull is scored by pushing the squid (see below) into the opponents gulley.

The only restriction on how far you can push the squid is how long you can hold your breath.  Octopush is therefore a great way to improve your snorkelling and general fitness.

The "squid" (see left) is a lead weight wrapped in black tape to protect the pool tiles.  More elegant clubs have plastic coated squid's.

The squid may only be propelled with the pusher, not hands or fins.  It is also forbidden to stand on the squid to hide it from your opponents!

The gully is marked out in the centre of each end of the pool and is three metres wide.  So long as the squid completely crosses the line, a gull is scored, even if the squid bounces out again.

Played properly, octopush teams have ten members of which any six may be in the water at once.  Any of the six, at any time, may swim to their end of the pool, climb out and be replaced by one of the four substitutes.

With the constant changing of team members, it can be hard to keep track of who is on which team.  To prevent tackling one of your team mates by mistake, the pusher is marked, plain for one team and X for the other (see right)