Water Polo, an Impressive Team Sport – Info, Rules, How to Play
Water polo is formally played between two teams containing six field team members and one goalkeeper at each side. The team that scores the most goals wins the match. This game involves swimming, passing the ball to other team members, and throwing a ball into the net to make a goal. It is like the land-based game of handball. Its power play frequency has similarity with Ice hockey. Only seven team players of each team are allowed in the game pool area. Caps’ colours are a good source of identification in water polo. Players visiting side field typically wear blue caps with numbers, whereas white caps are put on by home team field players, and both goalies have number 1 red caps. Both teams can only replace their team members when the ball is under their control. While game play, players can only enter and make their way out from the corners of the pool.
Players’ swimming skills are significant in water polo. All field players have to swim 20-25 meters at a time, while attacking and defending positions of game. Players have to tread water and wrestle for controlling opposite team members. Their heads remain out of the water to watch the ball in the field. Team players usually swim with front crawl stroke during game play. Backstroke swimming is followed by field members at defensive positions to follow advanced attacking field players. Backstroke swimming is also unique, because the field members sit up a bit in the pool water and apply short arm strokes along with the eggbeater leg movement. This style of swimming lets the field players easily catch an oncoming pass.
Goal point is considered if the ball entirely passes in between the two goalposts and is beneath the crossbar. Shot clock has to be reset when a ball is shot past a goal post, outside the field of play. Defence needs to recover a ball if it crosses the boundary of playing filed. If the ball goes outside by touching defenders, then the opposite team’s offence receive the ball to restart at the 2 meter line with a corner throw. Field players usually move with sea gulling technique. The goalie passes the ball to the defenders, and they place a long pass to the offensive end to score a quick goal.
Water polo field players are trained to develop an ability to catch the ball with one hand, as they are not allowed to catch the ball with both hands. However, they can grab an oncoming ball from any direction. Skilled water polo players perform the activity of catching and forwarding a pass or shooting with a single motion. Water proof manufacturing material of the water polo ball makes it remain buoyant on the water. Its specific texture prevents the ball from slipping from the hands of the players. Children cannot easily hold this ball with a single hand, so water polo is suitable only for elders. However, substandard balls of small size can be used for children to play this sport.
In water polo, ‘eggbeater’ is the most general form of water treading which is practiced at large. Eggbeater is named so because of the egg shaped circular movement of players’ legs. It prevents players from touching the bottom of the pool. With this, field players can easily uphold a steady position and unlike the scissor kick, it consumes less energy of the players. Eggbeater water treading can be applied either horizontally flat or vertically up and down. For opposing attackers’ forward movement, horizontal type is applied. A vertical style of eggbeater is used to remain higher than the competitor players. Field players can push themselves high out of the water for a few seconds with fast kicking. Field players’ quick reactions and awareness are most important in water polo sport. In professional matches, the pace of the game swiftly increases, so mental preparation is vital. Players can even take advantage of field sense, even with less speedy field efforts.
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