Water Polo Basics: Rules, Shoot, Draw a foul

Learning Water Polo: Three Simple Things to Master

To learn to play water polo, there are only three really simple things you need to figure out:

  • Rules
  • Shooting
  • Drawing a Foul and Protecting the Ball

1. Rules

Well, what are the rules? Rules are:

  • If you're swimming down and someone grabs you, prevents you from swimming, prevents you from moving through the water, that's an exclusion. You'll hear two whistles, the referee will hold up some fingers, and those fingers correlate to your cap number. You have to swim towards your team bench, sit in the box for 20 seconds. Then you get to come back in. You get three of those. In 12 and under and 10 and under, you just touch the corner and come back.

2. Shooting

How to shoot?

  1. Instead of using two hands, use your left hand to sweep the ball, move the ball, pick it up underneath with the right hand
  2. Get your elbow's next to your head
  3. Big kick (try breast stroke kick first)
  4. Throw as hard as you can

Repeat the steps above.

If you're square to the goal, imagine a baseball player, they would never throw standing square to their target. They always have their leading foot, right? You put your foot up, then you step and you throw just like that in water polo. An easy way to do that is just take a stroke with your off hand. In this case, your left hand moves in front of your body (pointing towards the goal). Your right elbow's up high with your right hand holding the ball, pinky and thumb gripping it if possible. Take a little stroke. That'll put your left hand in front of you, use that left hand to scull. You have three tripod "legs" working: your two legs and your left hand sculling really hard. That gives you stability in the water, allowing you to throw the ball.

3. Drawing a Foul and Protecting the Ball

How to protect the ball and draw a foul?

  1. You're on offense, you have the ball. Player comes up to you. If you're holding it, they can grab you.
  2. Instead of keeping the ball up in the air, put the ball in the water so that it's in a line, your head, their head, and the ball.
  3. Keep that line, put the ball in the water. As soon as they touch you, keep treading water. Let go of the ball. Show that they're touching you by making a slight movement towards them.

Tips for this:

  • Create contact with your left shoulder into their body
  • Eggbeater (treading) against them
  • Let go of the ball
  • Show that they're grabbing you (any contact)

You make a quarter turn, pretty advanced to make the quarter turn as a novice. So all you need to do is keep your head up, protect the ball, you'll be good. Those are the three things to learn to play water polo.

Jesse Smith