WWP 101: Basic Water Polo (or: Not just California Dreamin' anymore)

Water polo. Although most people have heard of the sport, many have little concept of what it looks like, or how it is played. Although still played primarily on the west coast — especially in California — water polo is slowly becoming more popular in the rest of the nation, particularly in the Northeast.

Whereas Californian and Hawaiian teams used to occupy the top tier of collegiate programs, now some midwestern and northeastern universities have created highly competitive programs. In recent years, Indiana, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Princeton have started moving up in the polls. With eastern schools heading up the charts, eastern fans will have the chance to watch high caliber water polo in the coming years, so they ought to know what they're looking at.

Played in a pool of uniform depth over seven-minute quarters, water polo involves two teams of seven players apiece, each attempting to throw a ball into the opposing team's goal. The ball is slightly smaller than a soccer ball, able to be palmed fairly easily by players, and the goals float at opposite ends of the pool.

Water polo, unlike many other sports, has very little official position designation. Each team has a goalie, but the other six players are often interchangeable. Usually the tallest woman will occupy the two-meter — or whole set — position, two meters from the mouth of the opposing goal. Much like a basketball center in the Princeton offense, who sets up just above the free throw line directly in front of the basket, a water polo team's offense flows around the whole set. In any given game, most of the scoring comes from this position.

Conversely, one member of the team will be designated the two-meter defender, who is in charge of preventing the opposing two-meter player from getting off a shot. Although in basketball, one center usually guards another, in water polo the two-meter player is rarely the two-meter defender. Since the two-meter defender must be able to quickly return to her side of the pool and defend, the role is often taken by one of the players farther away from the opposing goal on offense.

In a basic offensive set, on either side of the whole set are two deep wings, followed by two more players on the five-meter line and by one player on point at the seven-meter line. The entire offensive setup thus looks like a five-person umbrella surrounding the two-meter man.

The offense, once set up, then attempts to create either an opening for a pass to the whole set, or a mismatch, in which any of the players has a significant size advantage over her defender. The tools used to do this resemble those of basketball: picks, drives with kick-outs and fakes. Again resembling basketball, water polo relies upon the philosophy that passing is the key to success.

The only defensive player with a specific task is the two-meter defender, whose job is somewhat obvious: guard the opponent's two-meter man. The other five players operate in a loose zone defense, while occasionally dropping back to help cover the goal if necessary. The defense thus waits for the opposing offense to make a bad pass, which then would create a scramble to get back down to the other end of the pool in what is called a "counter-attack" situation. Thus every water polo player must be able to shoot, defend and swim quickly, since all players are potentially both scorers and defenders.

The dual nature of these positions demands a high level of endurance. The players must be able to tread water continuously for the entire game, while also staying alert to what is going on around them. Though this may seem difficult, the average collegiate water polo player is used to it.

"Most of these kids have been swimming since they were six," said men's and women's water polo head coach Louis Nicolao, "so they've been training or practicing for a good part of their lives."

In order to shoot, a player must elevate herself out of the water above her shoulder, allowing her to put enough force into hurling the ball past the goalie. The constant passing and movement is designed to give a player enough time for this rise and ensuing shot.

But women's water polo, for all its strategic nuances, remains a surprisingly physical sport. One referee patrols each side of the pool, but fouling remains an integral part of the game.

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"Girls will elbow, kick, scratch, and grab your suit," said junior Cassie Nichols. "And most of the stuff goes on underwater, so it's basically up to the ref's discretion as to what's a foul and what isn't. They have a lot of control over the game.

"If a girl is grabbing your suit you have to be willing to tread water and basically flash the ref in order to draw the foul."

A certain amount of fouling is considered part of the game, though, as in basketball. During the first quarter, each team will usually foul slightly more often, testing the referee's leniency. After that has been established, the teams will commonly foul only harassing the ball-handler or in pushing off of an opponent, since this type of foul only results in a free pass for the offense.

However, more serious crimes such as pulling suits or throwing punches can lead to temporary or permanent ejection from the game, giving the fouled team a power play.

"In general, stuff is accepted, as long as it's not obvious," said Nichols. "We're no different from any other team. In order to compete, you have to foul."

And compete the Tigers do. They recently won the ECAC Championships and move on next week to the Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern Divisional Championships, where they are also favored to come out on top.