The Most Violent and Exciting of Pool Sports

Here is a brief introduction to water polo.

Water polo, essentially, is like a combination of soccer and basketball except it's in a pool. Not only do players need to tread water, they must be able to lift themselves to waist level in the water to gain enough leverage to launch the ball at the net.

And the pacing is much faster.

A match consists of four seven-minute periods. The shot clock lasts 30 seconds. Each team has three time outs during regulation and one during overtime. If there is a tie at the end of regulation, they have two three minute overtime periods. If the score is still locked, there is a sudden death overtime where the first team to score wins.

The best water polo players can dive into any position. The drivers are fast swimmers who move the ball down the pool. The two-meter, hole, or set player plays closest to the goal. Like the center in basketball, they are big guys close to the net. The offensive set players in theory have the best chance at scoring. It is also the most heavily defended position, and the players defending at set have a high risk of being excluded for fouls. Utility is the most versatile position, with players switching from offensive to defensive roles. The goalie is clearly a key defensive player, but he also calls out information to the offense at the other end of the pool.

Water polo is a fierce and intensely physical sport, especially under the surface of the water. Most of the fouls that occur are never called by the refs. One key skill is to be able to look as innocent as possible.

For fouls, think basketball in the pool. There is a good deal of contact, but only serious holding or kicking are grounds for exclusion. Three personal fouls and a player is red flagged and out of the game. Fouls can also lead to free throws and other penalty shots, usually if the refs feel the shot would have gone in if not for the foul. Offensive fouls are possible too, when the offensive player holds, hooks or pushes off of his defender.

And are the caps with the ear guards really necessary? Consider how the refs would be able to tell who was on what team. The caps are it uniform-wise. Every team has two sets of caps, one light, one dark. The home team always wears dark caps.