Water Polo explained!

Water Polo is considered by exercise physiologists to be the most physically demanding of all sports, requiring top performers to cover up to 3 kilometres in the pool over the 1 hour 15 mins it takes to complete a game. This exertion is quite apart from the physical contact, both above and below the surface of the water that player must endure; despite this, the sport is almost totally devoid of injury from personal contact. Through the use of subtle small tugs and pushes on an opposing players hips, thighs and arms, good players attempt to gain a small advantage, and also tire the opposition.

People view water polo as a tough sport, and even though this is not generally the case, water polo players command a respect reserved for few other athletes. The typical player is tall, well built, powerful, and possessed of outstanding endurance. This may be due to a mixture of the mystique of the game, and the recognition of the qualities of power and fitness required.

A water polo player requires the technique and endurance of a champion swimmer, plus a football player's finesse in passing, dribbling and shooting for goal and a rugby player's strength to battle for the ball.

Football

There are two types of 'frees':

Indirect frees (called ordinary fouls): no shot at goal is allowed

Penalty throws: for any foul inside the penalty area that stops a goal being scored. A direct shot at goal is allowed with only the goal keeper to beat.

There is off-side - however, the offside rule only applies when players are within two meters of the goal. Players are off-side if they are in front of the line of the ball when they are 'inside the 2 meters'. Of course a player cannot be offside if he or she has the ball.

Unlike football, where a small amount of luck/error can win/lose a game 1-0 against the flow, in water polo small differences, often as little as one player out of position by a foot or two can result in an easy goal, resulting in a higher goal scoring rate. It is uncommon for there to be fewer than ten goals in a full-length game.

Basketball

Teams must shoot at goal within a certain time after gaining possession; in water polo it is 35sec, in basketball it is 30sec.

There are two types of fouls;

* Ordinary fouls which are like Violations in basketball,and punish minor breaches of the rules, and

* Major fouls which are like personal fouls in basketball, and punish actions which are bad for the flow of the game.

If players get 3 Major fouls awarded against them, they must be replaced, and cannot re-enter the game (in basketball it is 5 fouls)

The clock is stopped every time the referees whistle is blown, extending the game further than the 4 periods of 7 minutes allowed (usually about 1hr).

In basketball, certain large players take up a position close to the basket (called the high or low posts). The function of these players is to score, or absorbing sufficient defensive attention and effort to weaken the protection on another player, and then distribute the ball to other players who will attempt to score. Water polo has an equivalent position called the `centre forward'. This player tries to occupy a space directly in front of the goal.

Water polo, as Basketball also uses set moves called picks and screens between two or more players in an attempt to out manoeuvre and confuse the defence and leave one or other attacker slightly less well protected.

Players are sin binned if they are caught major fouling ( the only exception to this is when a penalty is awarded).

Players are sin binned for 20 seconds or until a goal is scored or the defending team regains possession .

The `sin-bins' are in the corners of the field, on the opposite side of the pool to the timekeepers.

Rugby

Water polo is a physical contact sport, and a player who is holding a ball may be tackled.

The rules only protect players from excessive violence. However, there is no `completion of the tackle' as in Rugby. Water Polo referees are quite strict, and many fouls are awarded in tackles because defenders must be very skilled to tackle without fouling.

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