Have You Ever Tried This One: Water Polo!

Photo: Mariana Servin | Ft. Erik Servin from The Boys Kennedy HS Water Polo Team

Of the 39 recognized aquatic sports, water polo is one of them. Water polo is also considered to be one of the hardest sports in the world due to the players needing high endurance in swimming and upper-body strength. But what is water polo exactly? 

Water polo combines elements of swimming, basketball, and soccer. Making it an intense and physically demanding sport. Despite common misconceptions, while players must move around, water polo is very different from competitive swimming. Competitive swimming is more of an individual sport, while water polo is a team sport. Let’s emphasize the word “TEAM SPORT”. Water polo consists of seven field players: One hole-setter, one point, two wings, two drivers, and a goalie. The goalie is the only one allowed to use both hands as long as they don’t pass the five-meter line. Everyone else must only use one hand to move the ball around and to block passes or steal the ball. 

Fun Fact: Although water polo has been around for almost 175 years, it wasn’t officially recognized by the Olympics until the 1900 Paris Summer Olympics. Women’s Water Polo would not be introduced until the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics (A whole century later!). 

Water Polo History:

From the lakes and rivers of England and Scotland, water polo made a splash in the middle of the 19th century. It was originally considered an aquatic version of rugby. As its popularity grew in Europe, the game underwent alterations before making its way to the United States in the late 1880s. Since then, water polo has completely separated from rugby and is essentially nothing like the original version that was played 175 years ago. The original playing style of water polo was extremely physically aggressive. Players were able to hold, dunk, fight, and wrestle with each other underwater. There were no formal positions, no goal nets, and the ball was made out of pig stomach. Despite their occasional presence, referees did not ensure that the game was safe, as officiating was minimal due to the lack of rules.  

Water polo back then sounds a little scary, right? 

Water polo today is a lot safer due to the strict international rules created by World Aquatics. In order to properly play water polo, players must play in pools either indoors or outdoors, depending on the location. Now, there are colored caps to differentiate the teams, goal nets, and water polo balls made out of rubber. There are official positions like the hole-set, drivers, wings, point, and goalies. The structure of water polo is four quarters, a shot clock of 30 seconds, and exclusions for fouls. The referees also now make sure that the game is running smoothly and safely. Water Polo is also now played globally. 

You may be asking yourself, “Well, what has stayed the same?” and the honest answer is “not much”. Water polo is still an aquatic sport; the objective to score on the opposing team has remained the same, the number of players allowed on the field remains the same, and you still need to be a strong swimmer with high endurance and physical ability. Other than that, not much has stayed the same since its origins. 

Water Polo In The Midwest:

Water polo in the Midwest is very underrated, unlike water polo in California. But why isn’t it popular here? Well, there are many factors that contribute to that. Water polo in the Midwest gets overshadowed by the popularity of football, basketball, and baseball. A major perk that California has is being warm almost all year round, because it gives them the privilege of having indoor and outdoor pools available to them all year round. In the Midwest, however, outdoor pools are only accessible during the summer due to the weather. This limits indoor pools since swimming in the Midwest is more popular than water polo. It would be really fun to see more water polo here.