City of Hereford Swimming Club started its junior water polo section in 2014. Water Polo has not been played at Hereford for 20 years, before that, Hereford had a thriving senior team and rumour has it that a game of water polo was played in the river Wye to celebrate the opening of the Victoria foot bridge.
As we are a fledgling club, our players born 2000 or later have joined with their colleagues at Worcester to enter a team in the Midland Water Polo League for 2015.
According to the ASA website Water Polo is an incredibly physical sport and it is regarded as one of the most demanding of all team games. A water polo player can cover up to three kilometres in a game so they need to train very regularly to maintain their fitness. Water polo is a fast-paced sport played by two teams in a swimming pool. There are goals at each end of the pool and the winner is the team that scores most goals by getting the ball between the posts.
Each team is allowed to have seven players in the water at any one time (six outfield players and a goal keeper). Other than the goalkeeper, you will see the other players moving continuously around the pool playing in both attack and defence. Players are not allowed to touch the bottom of the pool and must tread water the entire time- they use a movement called egg beater which is more efficient than the normal action of treading water and it allows them to jump up out of deep water without touching the bottom.
Players can move the ball by throwing it to a team mate or swimming while pushing the ball in front of them. They can only hold the ball with one hand, other than the goalkeeper who is allowed to use both hands.
Water polo players need remarkable stamina because of the considerable amount of holding and pushing that occurs during the game. Because it’s such a fast game and can be exhaust each team is allowed a maximum of six substitutes and players can return to the pool after a time on the substitute bench.
Under FINA rules a water polo match is divided into quarters. Each of the four quarters is seven minutes long but because the clock is stopped when the ball is not ‘in play’ the average quarter in fact lasts around
12 minutes.
Each team is only allowed to hold onto the ball for a maximum of 30 seconds before shooting for the goal. Timers on the side of the pool show the players how much longer they may have possession and a hooter will sound if 30 seconds elapses and possession passes to the other team.
Water polo is a very physical sport as players jockey for position or aim to knock away or steal the ball from the other team Fouling is very common and free throws are awarded whenever the referees see a minor foul. There is also a lot of activity under the water that the referee doesn’t see as each team tries to dominate the opposition.