^Good points

I should mention that I have never played water polo so all my assumptions are based on pre-conceived notions of watching it on TV.. I think only the people who play the sport can get a real appreciation for how difficult it is.. That is probably why you know from first hand experience that it is very difficult

It was probably not given as much consideration in the ranking system since it isn't a mainstream sport and many of the writers could not relate..

What are the rules anyway? What restrictions do the players have onto what they can do to the opposing team? I think that would determine the difficulty level a lot.

 

You can do anything you want except punch the guy in the face obviously to the referree on purpose, or if after play stops the guy kicks you on purpose he's kicked out. Anything else underwater is pretty much legal. Punching the guy in the ribs, pushing off him with your legs, wrap your arms around his waist and turn him.

I think high school referrees are a little harder on the people who play really physical. but at the national level, a guy got LITERALLY punched in plain site 11 times and he got nothing.

Fouls are not like basketball fouls, you can get as many as you want. But you have to give the guy a free pass unless he puts the ball in play. He cannot shoot unless he is outside 7 meters and shoots immediately.

Kickouts are more like the basketball fouls. It happens when the offensive player gets ahead and gets the guy on his back (an advantage) and a ball is thrown in his vicinity. Of course this is all up to the referee. most of the time they should call that. Then you go 6 on 5 (man up), which is like hockey's power play. the player kicked out can come in after his team gets possession of the ball or after 30-40 seconds. 3 kickouts and you are majored, cannot play for the rest of the game.

a free 4 meter shot usually happens when a foul is commited when the offensive player has an advantage within a 4 meter box of the goal.

there are a bunch of other stuff too but I need to get some stuff done.

 

Well yeh but I'm trying to say a team of just awesome swimmers going against a good swimmer team (not the best)with good passing skills and strategy will win. True a good team will have both.

 

LOL, maybe if they play retards.

Speed is a small aspect to the game -- as is endurance given that you are constantly pulling guys in and out. What's more your average swimmer is not an endurance guy, quite the opposite.

We once took the football team and had them go through a routine practice session with us -- not one made it. The kicker there is most of us had already done a 2 hour USS session that morning and then did another 2-3 hours after the water polo practice was over.

I have broken ribs, fingers, toes and countless gashes and bruises to attest to the fact that WP is the most brutal game out there.

 

you missed my point. speed/endurance is an awesome swimming team. So an awesome swimming team has huge endurance. If you don;t have endurance then you're going to get left behind and can't defend or swim back and play offense etc.

 

#11 isn't that bad. This list gives favor to the most popular sports of today. I saw a few sports (such as track: long distance and middle distance) that were way too low for me to believe.

 

My swim team played water polo after practice occasionally. I have a hard time seeing where talent and skill are not more important in water polo than other sports. Do people really think anyone can maneuver in water with no bottom for half an hour or more without being good at it or having a talent for it? Is being totally at home in water a universal quality? Fear of drowning is very high on the list of things humans fear.

Water polo sucks when you first start. Especially when you learn they will hold your head under water until you die, then pry the ball from your cold grip and score After a few years of this, my favorite part of playing water polo was when an opponent would shove me under to get me to let go of the ball, and I would grab their hand and pull them under with me. You wait for the frantic struggle as they run out of air, then you let them up They are not so aggressive with the whole dunking thing after a while Non-swimmers generally don't have the breath control and muscles trained on limited oxygen levels of a competitive distance swimmer.

You can play pick-up games of water polo, and 1-1 water polo is fun - dunno why one would insist on having everything just right before calling it a game. You can play water polo in shallow water to even the odds - running through thigh or chest high water is a sport in and of itself, IMHO

 

Just a comment,

I played in middle school through college (University of Michigan). We had a few football players (1990 to 1994) join us so they could increase their conditioning. These players included people like Jason Alexander (WR). What was interesting is that they could swim but couldn't even try to keep up after 2 changes of possession. After more conditioning, they could, but as soon as you added a ball, they were back to square 1.
What people don't realize is that swimming with your head down, and swimming with your head up and arms above water are 2 completely different things. Also, at that level you half to be able to pass and shoot with both arms. I don't know of many other sports out there that you have to be able to use the right and left arms at an elite level.
Try to stand on a free throw line and be just as accurate with both arms.

 

man, the head up thing is so true. i could swim but man, i almost barfed after an hour of swimming head up at my first practice

 

yes but not being able to defend or get ot the ball and puking after a few min of hard swimming sucks. I agree on the puking and swimming. I run alot also and after my first few practices I would just feel like puking after working out hard. Running didn't even do that to me!

PRactice were always fun. One time we had to lift up chairs over are heads while treaing water to the other side of the pool a few lanes in the diving pool 15 feet so no way you could touch the bottom