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<DOCID>LSSU_athletics_-_compost.doc.txt</DOCID>
<AUTHOR>Andrew Hooker</AUTHOR>
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The Lake Superior State University Athletics Department is proud to announce two new intercollegiate sports. Because of Title IX, there was a delay in announcing the new sports to avoid any possible ramifications from the NCAA. Elephant Polo, the new men's sport, promises to be very exciting, especially because of the weather. Elephant Polo is played much like horse polo, only with the mallet duck-taped to the end of a bamboo pole. The playing area is smaller (due to the limited velocity of the pachyderms), and there are two people riding each elephant (a driver and a player). The NCAA and WEPA (World Elephant Polo Association) are proud to announce this new sport, and the schools which will be piloting the program: LSSU, Yale, University of Phoenix, Valpraiso, the University of Toronto, Texas A&M, the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska, and the University of the Witwatersrand. More information about Elephant Polo and the upcoming season can be found at http://www.elephantpolo.com/ and http://www.ncaasports.com/



The female sport, to counter Elephant Polo for Title IX requirements is Underwater Ice Hockey. Unlike Underwater Hockey, a sport formerly seen played at LSSU, Underwater Ice Hockey is played upside down underwater on a 6 meter by 8 meter field. The puck, made of wood and foam, floats on the ice. Each team fields only two players, and they share a stick, alternating between stick handling and breathing. The ice averages between 1  and 2 feet thick (not unusual in Lake Superior) which poses interesting challenges for communication. Officiating staff is a major challenge, with six staff monitoring the four players. The two teams play three 10-minute periods, with substantial enough intermissions to zamboni the ice and for the players to warm up. For more information check out this feature: http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=17587





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