U.S Women Water Polo team and Olympic Water Polo Tickets

USA Olympic Water Polo is proud to announce the U.S. Olympic Teams for Men's and Women's Olympic Water Polo that will compete at the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China starting August 8. The squads each qualified for the Olympics via Gold Medal victories at the 2007 Pan American Games and both are fresh off Silver Medal finishes at the 2008 FINA World League Super Final.

Leading the way for the women's team, the current FINA World Champions is captain Brenda Villa who is headed to her third Olympic Games. Joining her is another three time Olympian in Heather Petri and two timers Natalie Golda. The rest of the squad is made up of 10 first time Olympians who despite the fact are rich with experience having all spent at least the last two years with the national team.

Moriah van Norman, Lauren Wenger, Patty Cardenas, Brittany Hayes, and Kami Craig round out the Southern California contingent, as the five former college teammates will suit up for Team USA. Joining them is two of Michigan's finest in Alison Gregorka and Bestey Armstrong along with the other non-Californian in Elsie Windes. Last but not least are a pair from Central and Northern California in Jaime Hipp and Jessica Steffens.

When we name the team it's a great time in our program, there is excitement and for some there is also relief. It's the last part, we got our team and this will be the team that will represent us at the Olympic Games. Guy Baker, Head Coach U.S. Olympic Team for Women's Olympic Water Polo On the men's side two athletes also return for their Olympic Games in the form of team captain Tony Azevedo and veteran center Ryan Bailey. Joining those two are five returning Olympians including Layne Beaubien, Adam Wright, Jeff Powers, Jesse Smith, and Brandon Brooks. Concluding the roster are six first timers including Rick Merlo, Merrill Moses, Peter Hudnut, Tim Hutten, Peter Varellas, and JW Krumpholz.

Alternates for the men's team are Brian Alexander and John Mann while Erika Figge will serve as the alternate for the women. The men's team begins competition August 10 against China while the women start August 11 also against China.

"The last six months a big part of it was evaluation and selecting the team, and today we also are honoring the guys that didn't make it. Now we focus on these 13 guys and I think we have the potential to continue to improve and grow and make Team USA even better." Terry Schroeder, Head Coach U.S. Olympic Team for Men's Water Polo.

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Major Water Polo Matches and Olympic Water Polo Tickets

Men's water polo at the Olympics was the first team sport introduced at the 1900 games, along with cricket, rugby, football, polo with horses, rowing and tug of war. Women's water polo became an Olympic sport at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games after political protests from the Australian women's team.

The most famous water polo match in history is probably the 1956 Summer Olympics semi-final match between Hungary and the Soviet Union. As the athletes left for the games, the Hungarian revolution began, and the Soviet army crushed the uprising. The Hungarians defeated the Soviets 4–0 before the game was called off in the final minute to prevent angry Hungarians in the crowd reacting to Valentine Prokhorov punching Ervin Zador. Every 2 to 4 years since 1973, a men's Water Polo World Championship is organized within the FINA World Aquatics Championships. Women's water polo was added in 1986. A second tournament series, the FINA Water Polo World Cup, has been held every other year since 1979. In 2002, FINA organized the sport's first international league, the FINA Water Polo World League. There is also a European Water Polo Championship that is held every other year. Professional water polo is played in many southern and eastern European countries like Serbia, Croatia, Russia, Italy, Spain, etc. with the LEN Euro league tournament played amongst the best teams.

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Water Polo Skills and Water Polo Tickets

Water Polo is a team water activity requiring swimming skills. Players must play both offense and defense, treading water or wrestling before turning back for the opposing team's possession.

 The front crawl stroke used in water polo differs from the usual swimming style in which water polo players swim with the head out of water at all times to observe the play. The arm stroke used is also a lot shorter and quicker and is used primarily to protect the ball. Backstroke is used by defending players to look for advancing opponents and by the goalie to track the ball after passing. Water polo backstroke differs from swimming backstroke; the player sits up a bit in the water, using eggbeater leg like motions with short arm strokes to the side instead of long arm strokes. This allows the player to see the play and quickly switch positions. It also allows the player to quickly catch a pass. As all field players are only allowed to touch the ball with one hand at a time, they must develop the ability to catch and throw the ball with either hand or also the ability to catch a ball from any direction, including across the body using the momentum of the incoming ball. Experienced water polo players can catch and release a pass or shoot with a single motion. The size of the ball can overwhelm a small child's hand making the sport more suitable for older children. There are also smaller balls that can be used by younger children when playing.

The most common form of water treading is generally referred to as "egg-beater", named because the circular movement of the legs resembles the motion of an egg-beater. Egg-beater is used for most of the match as the players cannot touch the bottom of the pool. The advantage of egg-beater is that it allows the player to maintain a constant position to the water level, and uses less energy than other forms of treading water such as the scissor kick, which result in the player bobbing up and down. It can be used vertically or horizontally. Horizontal egg-beater is used to resist forward motion of an attacking player. Vertical egg-beater is used to maintain a position higher than the opponent.  At higher levels of the sport the pace of play rapidly increases, so that anticipation and mental preparation is important. "Field sense" is a major advantage in scoring, even if a player lacks the speed of an opponent.

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Water Polo Pool Dimensions

Dimensions of the water polo pool are not fixed and can vary between 20×10 and 30×20 meters. Minimum water depth must be least 1.8 meters, but this is often waived for younger age groups. The goals are 3 meters wide and 90 centimeters high. Water polo balls are generally yellow and of varying size and weight for juniors, women and men. The middle of the pool is designated by a white line. Before 2005, the pool was divided by 7 and 4 meter lines distance out from the goal line. This has been merged into one 5 meter line since the 2005–2006 seasons. Along the side of the pool, the center area between the 5 meter lines is marked by a green line. The five meters line is where penalties are shot and it is designated by a yellow line. The two meter line is designated with a red line and no player of the attacking team can receive a ball inside this zone. In other words you cannot be in the red if the ball is not.

One player on each team is designated the goalkeeper, assigned to block any shots at goal. The goalkeeper is the only player who can touch the ball with both hands at any time, and, in a shallow pool, the only player allowed to stand on the bottom.

Players can move the ball by throwing it to a teammate or swimming with the ball in front of them. Players are not permitted to push the ball underwater in order to keep it from an opponent, or push or hold an opposing player unless that player is holding the ball. Water polo is an intensely aggressive sport so fouls are very common, and result in a free throw during which the player cannot shoot at the goal unless beyond the "5 meter" line. If a foul is called outside the 5 meter line, the player is either able to shoot, pass or continue swimming with the ball. Water polo players need remarkable stamina because of the considerable amount of holding and pushing that occurs during the game, some allowed, some unseen or ignored by the referees. There are two types of fouls one only results in the "fouler" giving up the ball and backing off. The other results in an ejection or kick out Ejections are usually given if someone is being a little too aggressive; i.e. drowning or smacking someone. A player can only have 3 ejections before being majored and cannot play for the rest of the game. If a player gets a brutality he or she is also not able to finish the game. An example of a brutality would be excessively cruising or intentionally punching someone. Water polo is a physically demanding activity; action is continuous, and players commonly swim 5 kilometers or more during four periods of play.

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Hungary Water Polo Team and Water Polo Tickets

The Hungary men's national water polo team represents Hungary in international men's water polo competitions and friendly matches and is controlled by Magyar Vizilabda Szovetseg. They are considered to be the best national water polo team in the history of the sport, having won 15 Olympic, 9 World Championship, 5 FINA World League, 8 FINA World Cup and 21 European Championship medals. Bela Komjadi coached them to a number of Olympic and world medals, primarily in the 1920s. Bela Rajki was the team's technical director and coach from 1948–67. It was the first time a country had won three consecutive Olympic titles in Water Polo and Hungary's ninth crown in all. It is the third time six players have visited the top of the podium  Tamas Kasas, Zoltan Szecsi, Tamas Molnar, Peter Biros, Gergely Kiss and captain Tibor Benedek. Their coach Denes Kemeny has also been with the team for the past three gold medals.

The game started at a crazy pace with the US team jumping to a 2-1 lead before Hungary scored two late goals for a 6-4 lead at the first break. The second period slowed a little; with Team USA captain Tony Azevedo twice leveling the scores with his third and fourth goals of the game. Biros received a pass on a short drive to score his third and give Hungary a 9-8 lead on the half-time horn, but he limped from the pool to receive treatment on his left leg and had to sit out the second half. Layne Beaubien leveled the scores for the United States early in the third quarter but Hungary had an 11-9 lead going into the final period. The final quarter was all Hungary until US player Jesse Smith drilled a shot with one minute 23 seconds remaining, but by then Hungary had already clinched the gold.

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Water Polo Injuries and Water Polo Tickets

Water polo is a contact sport, with little protective gear besides swim suits and caps with ear protectors. Among the most common serious injuries are those affecting the head and shoulders. Those induced to the head are usually caused by elbows or the ball itself. One case would be when the defense guards the offense, the defense is right behind offense trying to steal the ball or trying to stop the ball from scoring or being passed. So as a result of the offense trying to shake off the defense to either score or pass the ball, a lot of elbowing and forceful removal from the defensive grab is needed. Many times the head being the main body part out of the water is injured in such a way. Many times these injuries are intentional and can sometimes anger many players to take revenge. Another common injury would be in the shoulder. Throwing or shooting the ball with a "cold arm" can strain the shoulder if not warmed up properly. Also occasionally, the defensive player will sometimes pull the arm to foul the offensive player. This can also injure the shoulder. With the arm, fingers are also usually harmed, due to not catching the ball right or blocking the ball. Many sprained fingers or on a more serious scale, fractured fingers have resulted from water polo. One of the most injured players on the field is the goalies. They have to endure the ball thrown at them at a fast speed and are expected to either catch it or "throw it down" to prevent the ball from going into the goal and scoring. When blocking shots the ball can hit the fingers instead of the whole hand causing fractures and strains. Goalies have also been known to suffer nosebleeds. Other injuries take place underwater as many things cannot be seen from above the surface and not much padding is used to protect the players.

Sunburn is a common minor injury. The irritation of the sunburn can be restrictive because of the sheer amount of movement involved in the sport. Players will often neglect applying sunscreen as this will impair the player's ability to grip the ball and rapidly deteriorate the ball's physical grip due to the oily nature of sunscreen. Having large amounts of sunscreen on during an official match is banned by FINA and most other state/national governing bodies.

Eye irritation from pool chlorine is also common because players cannot wear goggles. They are regarded as a safety hazard because they may cause cuts, bruises or suction injuries during player-to-player contact or if the player is hit in the face by the ball.

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Water Polo Introduction

Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water, players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a net defended by a goalie. Water polo, therefore, has strong similarities to the land-based game of handball.

Seven players from each team are allowed in the playing area of the pool during game play. Visiting team field players wear numbered and usually White caps, and home team field players wear usually Blue caps; both goalies wear red caps, numbered "1". Both teams may substitute players while the ball is in their possession. During game play, players enter and exit in the corner of the pool, or in front of their goal; when play is stopped, they may enter or exit anywhere. There are 7 people in the field including goal keeper.

Water polo history as a team sport began as a demonstration of strength and swimming skill in late 19th century England and Scotland, where water sports and racing exhibitions was a feature of county fairs and festivals. Men's water polo was among the first team sports introduced at the modern Olympic Games in 1900. Water polo is now popular in many countries around the world, notably Europe, with a water polo ball similar in size to a soccer ball but constructed of waterproof nylon.

The rules of water polo were originally developed in the late nineteenth century in Great Britain by William Wilson. Wilson is believed to have been the First Baths Master of the Arlington Baths Club in Glasgow. The first games of 'aquatic football' were played at the Arlington in the late 1800s, with a ball constructed of Indian rubber. Early play allowed brute strength, wrestling and holding opposing players underwater to recover the ball; the goalie stood outside the playing area and defended the goal by jumping in on any opponent attempting to score by placing the ball on the deck.

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