Wait... What?

So everybody knows that I have a huge problem with procrastinating and I really want to just get all my homework out of the way before the weekend. So then I was thinking "let's get this party started" and then it struck me. All of you non-water polo players have no idea what I'm talking about half the time! I mean I have never really explained the whole game rules and stuff. So that's why I have called this post, "Wait... What?" just to enhance what everyone is probably thinking when reading this blog.

Photo Courtesy of: Tails Doll

So I am basically just going to go through the game start to finish... At first, everyone lines up on their opposite walls, and the swimmer is the one closest to the lengthwise wall (I'm one of the swimmers on the team). When the ref blows the whistle he drops the ball right in between the two swimmers, everyone on either team swims towards the middle of the pool. The swimmer goes the fastest to try to get to the ball first, so they can have the advantage.  In higher level games, the ball will be placed in the very middle of the pool, on a magnetic ring.

Next it goes on like any other game, and the offense lines up in a D-shape. Look back at my previous post for a view on how the offense lines up. Your team has thirty seconds to get the ball into the net. A variety of passing and plays happen during this thirty seconds.

If the ball is shot into the net, the ref blows the whistle, and everyone lines up again; this time in the middle of the pool. The ball is given to the opposing team. If the ball misses, and the goalie gets it, then the previous defense switches to offense and attacks the opposite goal. If the thirty seconds has gone up, then the ball is turned over (this is usually a good time to swim as fast as you can).

Photo Courtesy of: Download CNet

Above is a picture of a water polo score board. There are four quarters with breaks in between each quarter and an even bigger break during half time. They are all 6, 7, or 8 minutes long, depending on the age of teams playing. The top number shows the time. The period (actually the quarter) shows what number out of four. The two numbers on the side of the period number are the goals scored for each team. underneath the goals scored are the T.O.L 's which are the ejections for each team. Finally, in between the ejections, is the shot time which counts down from 30. Here is a video (courtesy of YouTube) of the beginners guide to water polo (the video doesn't work on this site, but it will give you an option to watch on YouTube)

I hope you enjoyed learning what water polo is, and your time on this blog isn't just a whole lot of "wait... what?"'s. Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!