“The players should have good breath-holding skills” (Topendsports). Players typically stay underwater for 30–60 seconds before swapping with a teammate, much like they do in hockey when switching from offense to defense. With each breath of a player is to swap with a teammate. Players do not typically come up for air then go back down. Instead, they swap with their teammate every 30 to 60 seconds to allow them to recover. Both teams will generally swap players at the same time in order to keep the game competitive. A well-trained team would know when their teammate needs to switch out. “Determining the optimum stick – switching interval is quite tricky. A shorter interval assures the player enough air for a power play, on the one hand, but on the other hand it increases the time during which both players are under ice, since the stick shift is done during play and in extreme cases, far away from the breathing hole” (deeperblue).