Water Polo History & Olympic Water Polo Tickets

The history of water polo 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, United States, Canada and Australia. The present-day game involves teams of seven players (plus up to six substitutes), with a water polo ball similar in size to a soccer ball but constructed of waterproof nylon. William Wilson, Scottish aquatics pioneer and originator of the first rules of water polo.

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 (the Club was founded in 1870), with a ball constructed of India rubber. This "water rugby" came to be called "water polo" based on the English pronunciation of the Balti word for ball, pulu. 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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Water Polo Fouls and Olympic Water Polo Tickets

Ordinary fouls occur when a player impedes or otherwise prevents the free movement of an opponent who is not holding the ball. The most common is when a player reaches over the shoulder of an opponent in order to knock the ball away while in the process hindering the opponent. Offensive players may be called for a foul by pushing off a defender to provide space for a pass or shot.

The referee indicates the foul with one short whistle blow and points one hand in the direction of the attacking team standing roughly in line with the position of the foul, which retain possession. The attacker must make a free pass without undue delay to another offensive player. If the foul has been committed outside the 5 meter line, the offensive player may also attempt a direct shot on goal, but the shot must be taken immediately and in one continuous motion. Because of this rule the hole set will often set up at or beyond the five meter mark hoping to get a foul, shoot, and score. If the offensive player fakes a shot and then shoots the ball, it is considered a turnover. If the same defender repetitively makes minor fouls, referees will exclude that player for 20 seconds. To avoid an ejection, the hole defender may foul twice, and then have a wing defender switch with him so that the defense can continue to foul the hole man without provoking an exclusion foul. The rule was altered to allow repeated fouls without exclusions, but is often still enforced by referees.

Exclusion fouls are committed when the defensive player holds sinks or pulls back the offensive player away from the ball before the offensive player has had a chance to take possession of the ball. This includes dunking, intentional splashing, pulling back, and swimming on the other player's back, stopping the other player from swimming or otherwise preventing the offensive player from preserving his advantage. A referee signals a major foul by two short whistle bursts and indicates that the player must leave the field of play and move to the penalty area for twenty seconds. The referee will first point to the player who commits the foul and will blow the whistle, and then they will point to the ejection corner and blow the whistle again. The player must move to the penalty area without impacting the natural game play. If the player does not leave the field of play, the player will be kicked out for the remaining time of the game with substitution. The remaining five defenders, to cover the six attackers on a man up situation, usually set up in a zone defense in front of their goal. The attacking team can expect to score, by adopting a 4–2 or 3–3 formation, and moving the goalkeeper out of position. A player that has been ejected three times must sit out the whole match with substitution, much like the six personal fouls in basketball.

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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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