MWP 103: Water Etiquette

Seven swimmers hear the whistle from the pool deck, and the race is on. Sprinting towards each other from opposite sides of the pool, a flurry of splashing moves from each end of the pool to the center where a bobbing yellow ball awaits the fastest swimmer. The game of water polo has begun.

A thrilling and fast pace game to watch, and an incredibly rigorous sport to play, water polo at Princeton is a sport that not everyone understands. So a broad overview of the game may help us all appreciate the water polo players on campus for their victories in a game we are not so familiar with.

Water polo, in a sense, is played much like the game of soccer. Players dribble, pass, shoot and score. The obvious difference is that in the game of water polo, a full-sized pool is needed — however, there are many more intricacies of the game that are unique to the sport.

Who would have thought that one game involved an eggbeater, ejections, sloughs and wet shots!

For the entirety of the game, consisting of four, seven-minute quarters, water polo players are required to tread water using a technique called the eggbeater.

Eggbeating is a very specific style of body support accomplished by alternating legs underwater. Swinging beneath the excitement on the surface, players are able to keep steady above the water while eggbeating furiously below.

Much of the game depends on the relative fitness of the players and their ability to multi-task to the max, by staying afloat, carrying a ball and sprint swimming.

The object of the game is simply to throw the ball into the net and score more goals than your opponent.

There are five positions in water polo — goalkeeper, drivers, center forwards, two-meter defense, and utility players.

A goalkeeper guards a net and tries to prevent the opposition from scoring. A defender's primary job, as one of the biggest players on the team, is to block holes and keep opponents away from the net. Often the flow of the game requires defenders to leave their respective posts to help guard another area of the pool. This switch of the defenders' assigned men is called a slough.

The drivers are quick swimmers with great hand-eye coordination for effective shooting, and often help out on defense as well. Center forwards specialize on offense and because they are a major threat to the opposing team, are always heavily guarded.

Common to the game of water polo and soccer are one-touch pass-and-shoot oportunities. One player passes to a teammate, often the center forward, who then rockets, with little hesitation, a shot at the net. If the shot originates from the water, it is named a wet shot. Similarly, a wet pass between players is a shorter pass that lands on the water close to the receiving player.

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Finally, the utility players manage all positions and are usually the best shooters. Utility players take advantage of plays from all over the pool in order to score.

Fouls play a major role in the strategy of water polo. There are three distinct fouls — ordinary, exclusion and penalty.

Ordinary fouls consist of touching the ball with two hands, taking the ball underwater, splashing and other minor offenses during a game. The referee may blow the whistle to alert the players of an ordinary foul, but the clock never stops and play continues.

Penalty fouls are given for interference or acts of brutality within the four-meter line of the goalkeeper or for improper substitution, among other things. After a penalty foul is called, the offended team is rewarded with a penalty throw.

Exclusion fouls are of a more malicious nature and lead to automatic ejection when called. They include kicking or hitting, misconduct and other similar brutalities.

Everything is game under the water, however, so right up there with the more blatant brawls in hockey and football, water polo involves a fair amount of violence — including underwater scatching, slashing, and kicking.

Only the best athletes can become champions of the pool in water polo, where keen coordination, impeccable strength and endurance are absolutely necessary. The sport is more popular on the West Coast, but the Tigers know how to hold their own in the Ivy league. Make it down to DeNunzio pool and you too will realize that water polo is not your average game.