Water Polo really was a blast. I have wanted to play water polo since high school, so I joined an intramural team as a free agent. The Sun Gods had their first game last Wednesday. The team and sport are perfect for me. I met the other free agent, who did not know anyone on the team either, in the locker room. He had lots of experience playing water polo and helped me out a lot in the game. We met our new team out at the pool. Everyone was super nice and happy to be there. They made it clear that intramural water polo is all about having fun.
The other team we were playing was amazing. They had really good shooters good skills. I only played a little because I got tired really fast. Luckily my team had three substitutes, unlike the other team who did not have any! We played really well, but not good enough to win. It was such a fun experience and I cannot wait for next week.
I would like to talk a little bit about rules and strategy that I picked up. Before the game, the referees checked everyone’s finger nails. During the game there were a couple minor fouls called (which result in a turnover) for roughness. But what I was told is that, on defense when the person you are guarding does not have the ball, put a hand on their shoulder. Once they get the ball take it off. If you push them under with the ball it is bad.
I learned the hard way to watch out if the person you are guarding is a lefty or righty. I got scored on by a lefty. You may only touch the ball with one hand at a time. You can theoretically swim with it, by doing freestyle and it stays in between your arms. I do not think I could pull that off in a game yet.
To start off each quarter, all players on a team have to touch the back wall. The ref blows a whistle and everyone sprints forward. Then the ref drops the ball in the middle of the pool, but along the side, not the exact center. Play is fast, because once a team gets the ball, they have 30 seconds to score or turn it over. There were even a handful of spectators. Hopefully in the future I can get more endurance. It would be cool if my friends came to watch a game and next year we had our own team. Next week will be great, and by the end of the season I want to score a goal.
