Hi I’m Willow. I am 18 years old, and I play underwater hockey for Team South West in Dawlish. For those of you who don’t know much about it I’d love to tell you about why this fast and exciting sport has become my happy place and passion.

I've been playing UWH (or Octopush) since 2019 and it just began as a fun hobby. Very soon I became addicted to the challenge that the games brought and wanted to keep improving. Soon after Covid I was invited along with other team mates to trial for Team GB. I was fortunate enough after 2 years of training camps to be selected for the U19 Women's team to compete at the 2024 World Championships. It was an incredible experience and one I will never forget.

2 years on and my sporting journey continues. I am thrilled to have been selected to represent the country again, this time as part of the U24 women’s team and the youngest player on it. It has taken a lot of dedication, training, hard work and Leeds trips to get to this point. I can’t wait for this amazing opportunity to play alongside my new teammates and show the World that GB can produce awesome players.

Underwater Hockey is an underrepresented and niche sport and as such is entirely self funded. To achieve my goal of representing Team GB at the World's I need to raise £3000. So far I have been saving my money that I have earned in my part time job and have started some fundraising activities. If you are able to support me reaching my goal by donating anything at all I would be so grateful.

Anything is appreciated no matter how big or small and I'm very happy to volunteer for any tasks or fun raising opportunities that you may have.

Also I'd love more people get to know the sport so please get in contact if you'd like to know more about UWH or would like to know how you could try it out yourself.

Thank you, Willow xx