Her back facing the goal, sophomore Elyse Colgan's arm sweeps under the water polo ball. She quickly twists her body and whips the ball around towards the net in one swift motion, releasing a beautiful shot — full of technical precision, intense strength and power. The ball hits center net.
"That's one of my favorites, the sweep shot," Colgan says. "Want to try?"
How hard can it possibly be, I think. I'm a varsity swimmer; I've always been reasonably athletic. Why not?
So, just as Elyse demonstrated, I sweep my hand under the ball in oh-so-elegant fashion. Just as she had, I twist my body, release the shot and wait for it to soar through the air.
Plop.
The yellow polo ball hits the gutter and falls back into the pool with a mocking splash.
"Well, that was a good try," she says, hiding a smile.
That's when I begin to rationalize. I am, after all, learning from the Princeton women's water polo team's leading scorer, an honorable mention All-American as a rookie in 2004. Who am I to compare?
Starting with the basics
Before I hopped into the pool with Elyse this week, my water polo experience consisted of a few informal games during swim practice, so we started with the basics.
She begins the "lesson" with something I can handle easily: performing an "eggbeater" kick. Water polo players use the eggbeater kick throughout games to keep them steady and upright when handling the ball. It's basically like doing a breaststroke kick — a frog kick motion — but alternating one leg at a time. Okay, simple enough.
But swimming with the ball is a whole different story.
"You just kind of swim with the ball in front of you, and the ball will move as you move," Elyse explains. "You can kind of hit it with your chin too." When she swims with the ball, it stays a few inches in front of her face at all times.
No problem, I assure myself. I'm good at swimming Tarzan-style — with my head above the water — which is how water polo players swim when moving with the ball. But as soon as I put the ball in front of my face, I awkwardly hit it with my nose and send it floating in the opposite direction of where I'm going. I guess I never was one for those hand-eye coordination sports.
Ready, aim, fire
Regardless, it's time to move on to shooting. I learn how to take a forward shot, beginning with the ball behind me. The trick is placing your hand under the ball, quickly lifting your arm to a bent elbow position and then "faking," pumping your arm back and forth as if you are about to deliver a shot. When you finally decide to let loose, you use your whole body to throw the ball, complete with a shoulder rotation. Elyse compares it to pitching the ball in baseball or softball.
With a few practices, I manage to toss some successful shots. I doubt my form is anywhere near what it should be, but Elyse kindly assures me I'm doing great.
Next up is passing. Water polo requires that you catch the ball with only one hand — no easy feat while trying to balance in the water and keep upright.
But soon enough, I'm getting the hang of it. It seems as though polo isn't too difficult when you're on the offense. Shooting and passing are fun, even if my throws are pretty feeble.
And that's when we get to the tough part: defense.
"I would say it's a pretty aggressive sport," Elyse says.
The back of her black Nike bathing suit is covered in holes.
"Those are from the other girls," she explains.
The words hit me harder than the freezing cold Dillon pool water. I guess I'm used to non-contact sports, but seriously — fingernails ripping holes through a Lycra bathing suit?
Elyse demonstrates some different defensive moves on me, and I realize what makes water polo so tough: it's hard to keep track of the ball with someone constantly trying to push you out of the way to steal it.
War in the water
One defensive tactic involves changing a player's momentum after taking a shot by grabbing the edge of her bathing suit and pushing her aside. Players are also allowed to push and knee each other under the water, although Elyse explains that direct kicks are unacceptable.
"You don't want to hurt the other team — you just want to get the ball," she says.
I'm beginning to think that my assumption that being a good swimmer would make me a good water polo player was wrong.
Then again, Elyse started as a swimmer before making the transition to water polo as a freshman in high school. I can definitely see the benefits of the switch. Water polo is more of a team sport, very different from the individual, private world of swimming.
It has me thinking: if I could get my ball-handling skills under control, and if I had someone really patient like Elyse to teach me, then maybe, just maybe, in four years time I could . . .
Well, maybe not. Even if I could handle it, I'm not sure my swimsuit could.
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