History UsefulNotes / WaterPolo

The basic game changes slightly between men, women, and youth teams. All water polo is played in four quarters, with shot clocks, a yellow (though now yellow-and-some-other-color) ball, two goals, six field players, and a goalie. The players wear those weird wrestling looking caps to protect our ears, and we can't wear goggles. And we play in a pool. A deep one.

** Youth teams (twelve-and-under) play with a very small ball that is always colored green. There are no definitive sizes for these players. In most tournaments, youth teams play with women's balls (that's what she said). They play five-minute quarters, making a 20-minute game that goes by faster than your summer vacation did.

** Boys' High School teams (listed first because they traditionally play in the fall) play with a dude's sized ball (that's what she said) that is 28" in diameter. It is yellow-and-black striped, though that's a new addition. (There was a big rule change about five years ago to make the sport more watchable.) Girls' teams play with a ball that's 26.5" in diameter, and yellow-and-pink striped. JV teams play six-minute quarters, and varsity teams play seven achingly long minute quarters.

Like other sports, water polo has a 30-second shot clock, which means that each team can only hold onto the ball for 30 seconds. On national and collegiate teams, this means at each possession you'll have about 22 seconds to run an offense and shoot. On high school teams, this means you'll have about 18 seconds to run an offense and shoot. I have seen this (rarely) be set at 35 for JV and 14-and-unders, because unless you can get from the two to the two (more on that later) in under 12 seconds, you're screwed.

The shot clock--and game clock--is stopped during fouls, and starts again once the pass is made. You'd think this wouldn't affect the game time, but because water polo relies heavily on fouls, it can stretch most games out to 40 minutes. The shot clock is ''reset''--giving the offensive team 30 more seconds--when a player is ejected, the ball goes out of bounds (and goes to the other team), or the people controlling the clock are retarded. If one team gets eight or so points up (and I don't know if this is a legit rule or if it's just something high schools do) it's called "running clock", because the ref takes pity and just keeps the clock running through fouls, shortening the game. It is a lifesaver, running clock. Especially when you have games on spring tolo.

Exclusion fouls are when the player is physically being held from doing something. Like regular fouls, these can be faked (you just pretend you are drowning). They result in an ejection for twenty seconds, and the team moves into "man-up" or "power-play" situations.

Every time the ball goes in the net and nothing stupid happened, you get a point. Yay! Water polo is a low-scoring game; the best games will end 2-3 or something like that.

In water polo, players set up in an umbrella/rainbow (for the girls, you know) shape. Twelve players are in the playing area at a time, six on each team, and two goalies. Each position has a number and a name, but typically I've never heard the drivers be called anything but their numbers. Here is a picture:

In water polo, the sides are referred to by their number--the 21 side and the 45 side.

The 21 Side Drivers are ''always'' right-handed, fast, and shooters. They run drives from the 2 down to the 1, with the two either receiving the pass and making a straight shot, or the one wrapping up around the back and taking a more traditional shot. The 21 side runs more drives--and faster drives--than the 45 side, unless a team has two really good left handers and two really terrible right handers, in which it would be switched. Rarely do players only go to one spot (say, 1), instead they will just play a side, because drives will always switch things up.

The hole player is the closest to the goal and has the best shooting range. These players are typically the best on the team--they are fast, strong, and big. Most ejection fouls come from hole-set because the hole-guard (coming up next) will guard heavily. It is the most brutal spot in water polo. The good thing is, though, that hole set is rarely involved in drives, so if you've got a really good but really stupid player, stick her in here. This position is so vital that often the defenders at the two and four will "drop off" and help guard set.

''Goalie''

The goalie blocks the ball. She also yells out "yellow!" when the shot clock gets under ten seconds, and "RED!!!!!!!" when it gets under five. She is vital in a counter-attack.

''Random Rules''

Water polo players don't get to wear goggles (they could break and cut our eyes). Instead, we get ear goggles. I am dead serious. Girls wear suits that are four sizes too small, zip up either the back or the front, and chafe like crazy. Guys wear speedos. Most players--men and women--wear two suits. Outside of the caps, there is no padding. The game starts with six players lining up--three on each side of the goalie--and a sprint for the ball, though sometimes the sprint comes from inside the cage.

If you haven't figured out by now, water polo involves a lot of swimming and treading ("egg-beater"). However, unlike competitive swim team, water polo is ''not'' at all based around a specific time. There is no magic number for how fast a swimmer must be, though I've heard most coaches say they would be wary about putting in a player who couldn't break 30 seconds in the fifty free.

-> '''[[Creator/MarilynMonroe Sugar]]''': "Water polo? Isn't that terribly dangerous?"
-> '''[[Creator/TonyCurtis Junior]]''': "I'll say. I had two ponies drowned under me."

* The {{manhwa}} ''My Heart is Beating'' is all about a boy blackmailed into joining the girls' water polo team.

** Youth teams (twelve-and-under) play with a very small ball that is always colored green. There are no definitive sizes for these players. In most tournements, youth teams play with women's balls (that's what she said). They play five-minute quarters, making a twenty minute game that goes by faster than your summer vacation did.

** Men's High School teams (listed first because they traditionally play in the fall) play with a dude's sized ball (that's what she said) that is 28" in diameter. It is yellow-and-black striped, though that's a new addition. (There was a big rule change about five years ago to make the sport more watchable.) Women's teams play with a ball that's 26.5" in diameter, and yellow-and-pink striped. JV teams play six-minute quarters, and varsity teams play seven achingly long minute quarters.

** Collegiate teams follow the same rules as high school, except club teams play seven minute quarts and varsity teams play eight (!!!) minute ones. That is thirty-two minutes of actual game time, but as will be explaned below, this often stretches out to almost forty-five minutes at least.

** Eight minute quarters, 30 second shot clock. There is one big difference here, though--men play in 30 meter pools instead of the traditional 25. This is sometimes observed in high school and collegiate levels, but because most pools are only twenty-five meters, the rule gets fudged a bit. This is also one of the reasons why the Beijing pool was called "the cube."

Like other sports, water polo has a 30 second shot clock, which means that each team can only hold onto the ball for 30 seconds. On national and collegiate teams, this means at each possession you'll have about 22 seconds to run an offense and shoot. On high school teams, this means you'll have about 18 seconds to run an offense and shoot. I have seen this (rarely) be set at 35 for JV and 14-and-unders, because unless you can get from the two to the two (more on that later) in under 12 seconds, you're screwed.

The shot clock--and game clock--is stopped during fouls, and starts again once the pass is made. You'd think this wouldn't affect the game time, but because water polo relies heavily on fouls, it can stretch most games out to forty minutes. The shot clock is ''reset''--giving the offensive team 30 more seconds--when a player is ejected, the ball goes out of bounds (and goes to the other team), or the people controlling the clock are retarded. If one team gets eight or so points up (and I don't know if this is a legit rule or if it's just something high schools do) it's called "running clock," because the ref takes pity and just keeps the clock running through fouls, shortening the game. It is a lifesaver, running clock. Especially when you have games on spring tolo.

There are three types of fouls: regular, exclusion, and dude-what-the-fuck. Regular fouls happen ''all the time.'' This [[MindScrew really messes with people,]] especially that fat guy with a handlebar mustache up in the stands yelling at the ref, because they don't understand that, when the ref calls a foul, nine times out of ten if was the ''offensive'' person "drawing a foul," which means pretending to be unable to break away.

Every time the ball goes in the net and nothing stupid happened, you get a point. Yay! Water polo is a low scoring game; the best games will end 2-3 or something like that.

In water polo, players set up in an umbrella/rainbow (for the girls, you know) shape. Twelve players are in the field at a time, six on each team, and two goalies. Each position has a number and a name, but typically I've never heard the drivers be called anything but their numbers. Here is a picture:

In water polo, the sides are refered to by their number--the 21 side and the 45 side.

The 21 Side Drivers are ''always'' right handed, fast, and shooters. They run drives from the 2 down to the 1, with the two either receiving the pass and making a straight shot, or the one wrapping up around the back and taking a more traditional shot. The 21 side runs more drives--and faster drives--than the 45 side, unless a team has two really good left handers and two really terrible right handers, in which it would be switched. Rarely do players only go to one spot (say, 1), instead they will just play a side, because drives will always switch things up.

If a coach is lucky, the 45 side drivers will be left handed, but they typically aren't. The four spot is sometimes the quarterback of water polo, and most big drives (as in, opposed to just the 21 or 45 players switching) start from the four. The four spot is where a coach sticks his best passer. The five spot is where he sticks his worst player, unless they are doing something funky like posting up (putting two people in center), in which this person would be a good player.

Case in point (and I know this will turn into a sort-of troper tales like thing but it's the best example I have): My fastest fifty freestyle time is 30.12 seconds--that's pretty damn slow. I also happen to be five feet tall and weigh probably half of what a typical hole set would weigh. These all put me at a disadvantage compared to the typical six-foot-tall-26-second-fifty-players out there. In warm up, I trail behind our other starters, in fact, I trail behind JV players. However, the moment we switch to doing whistle drills (switching directions on a whistle) and counter-attacks, I beat out the fastest players. This is solely because my turn-around times are faster and my first three strokes are faster. I have a better understanding of the game than the JV players who are faster than me do and I have better reactions than most of the other varsity players, which is why I'm able to keep up despite being the slowest varsity starter.

In college, at least [[MemeticMutation in AMERICA]], collegiate water polo comes down to four schools: Stanford, USC, UC, and UCLA, in that order. They make water polo. Seriously--we do drills called "the Stanford drill" and stuff like that. Internationally, water polo comes down to a bitch fight between Hungary, Italy, and the US.

->''If water polo were easy, it would be called football.''
-->--Phrase that ends up on every single water polo related shirt ever.

--> [[Creator/MarilynMonroe Sugar]]: "Water polo? Isn't that terribly dangerous?"
--> "Junior" (Tony Curtis): "I'll say. I had two ponies drowned under me."

'''Water Polo'''--It's hockey...[[InSpace minus GRAVITY!]]