Played by two teams consisting of six players and one goalkeeper each, water polo is a popular team water sport. The main rule of this sport is that the players have to shoot a ball into a netted goal. The team that scores the most emerges as the winner of this exciting sport. Water polo originated in mid-nineteenth century in the lakes of England. It was earlier played using an inflated rubber ball from India, known as a “pulu”. The game took its name from “pulu” and came to be known as water polo.
Both the teams wear different colored caps in a game of water polo. One team wears >white caps, while the other wears blue caps, and then there are red caps for the goalkeepers of both the teams. Team players can handle the ball using only one hand, while the goalkeeper can use both the hands to save a goal. Two referees, two goal judges and two timekeepers are the other people involved in water polo besides the two teams. This game is divided into four periods of seven minutes each and in between there are two minutes break.
Some of the basic skills that are required to play water polo are swimming, ball handling skills, treading water skills, reflexes and awareness. In water polo there are three different positions, namely, the offensive positions, defensive positions and the goalie or goalkeeper's positions. Offensive positions as the name suggests are the positions through which a team member tries to shoot a goal towards the opponent's team. While, the defensive positions are the ones, through which the other team tries to defend the goal from entering in their goal net. Lastly, the goalie positions are the ones that a goalkeeper uses to defend his team's goal. |
