Water polo: no horses, plenty of action for all
Observer Staff Report
Contrary to popular belief, water polo does not involve horses. The most basic explanation of the sport is that the four seven-minute quarters of each game combine both the hard-hitting brutality of hockey and plays similar to basketball with swimming to form a unique, demanding sport.
Instead of dribbling down a court, players swim with the ball down the pool; however, when they pick up the ball to shoot or pass, they can only touch the ball with one hand at a time. They never get to stand up or stop treading water. Players must always keep their nails and toenails short because otherwise they will become weapons.
There are seven players in the water for each team at a time: one goalie, a hole-set, a defensive hole-set and four field players.
The hole-set is similar to a basketball center because nearly all of the offensive plays revolve around her. The goal of the defensive hole-set is to do anything within its power to stop the hole-set from shooting at the goal.
There are limits. If a defensive player is a little too aggressive and the referee sees it, that player gets kicked out for 20 seconds, similar to a penalty in hockey. During this time, the defense has to play man-down.
After three kick-outs, the player is ejected from the game completely.
Referees cannot see everything that goes on underneath the water and that is where the game can get rough. Some players will grab their opponent's suit and just hold it, making it much more difficult to tread water. Picture playing basketball and getting your shorts pulled on throughout the game.
Other players prefer to simply push off their opponents to get a head-start down the pool, like checking someone against the boards in hockey.
All Sports Stories for Friday, February 16, 2001
