|
Water
polo is an excellent all-round physical exercise as well as a game of
strength, speed and endurance. Water polo is a great team sport similar
to soccer or basketball involving speed, agility and good ball-handling
skills. Players of this sport increase their swimming ability and
endurance since both are especially important with this mobile,
fast-paced game. HRH Prince
William and the R&B singer Sean Paul are famous faces that play the
game.
Brad Cardinal, Ph.D., co-director of the sport
and exercise lab at Oregon
State
University
cites water polo as a sport that combines all
the elements of fitness--cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength,
endurance, and flexibility. “This game requires non-stop churning
of the legs to stay upright and move around the pool, while defending
and throwing the ball tax the upper body and abdominals. The 63 to 88
calories you burn up during each of the four intense seven-minute
periods of a polo game will feel like a lot more than that
aerobically”.
|
 |
 |
Cardinal
compares Water Polo (636/885 calories/hour) for its fitness requirements
to Soccer (636/885* calories/hour), Basketball (509/709 calories/hour),
Rugby
(636/885 calories/hour), Football (509/709 calories/hour).
ABOUT THE
SPORT
Water polo is a highly physical team sport in which
the players of each squad try to score as many goals
against the opposition as they can, while preventing
their rivals from scoring goals at the same time. It
requires fast reactions and finesse as well as great
endurance, as players can swim up to five kilometres in
a match.
|
|
Each team
consists of seven players (one of
whom is the goalkeeper), and six
substitutes (one of whom may be a
second goalkeeper). None of the
players may touch the bottom of the
pool. It is also forbidden for
players to hold on to the ball with
both hands or to strike it with the
fist, except in the case of the
goalkeeper.
A match consists
of four periods (or ‘quarters’),
each of which features eight minutes
of playing time. Whenever the
referee whistles, the clock stops.
There is a two-minute break between
periods one and two, five minutes
between periods two and three, and
two minutes between periods three
and four. Possession time was
reduced to 30 seconds per team after
the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
A goal is
scored when the whole ball
passes the goal line. The winner
is the team that scores the most
goals at the end of all four
periods.
International FINA Water Polo Rules
|
 |
|
