Concept in Definition ABC

East sport Aquatic is practiced in a pool and has similar characteristics to handball. Both disciplines are carried out with the same number of players and the objective is identical: to score more goals than the rival team.

Bases and main rules

The measurements of the pool are different for the masculine and feminine modality (30 m long by 22 m wide for men and 25 m long by 22 m wide for women).

There is a color marking system (the red signals mark the side area, the white ones mark the goal line and the center of the pool and the yellow ones establish a distance 5 meters from the goal line).

It is played with seven players (six plus the goalkeeper). The ball must be yellow in color and can only be caught with one hand, except for the goalkeeper who can use both. On the other hand, the ball cannot sink and in doing so results in a foul.

The team is made up of the seven athletes who are in the water plus six who are in reserves.

Player changes can be made at any time and unlimited.

Like basketball, each team has a maximum ball possession time (30 seconds). A total of 4 times of 8 minutes each are played and with two-minute breaks between time and time.

To control the incidents of the game there is a referee and some table managers who assist him. So that the teams can be distinguished, colored caps are used, but the goalkeepers wear a red cap.

A complete sport

It requires a great endurance physics and a remarkable skill with the handling of the ball. In this sport the skills of others are mixed: technique and the force of the swimming and the strategy in soccer or handball team.

A little history

Like many other sports, water polo began to be practiced in the United Kingdom in the 19th century. Before the first regulations, it was practiced in rivers or in the sea with an indeterminate number of players and without goals (the objective of the game was to bring the ball to the opponent's line, which was marked with small boats).

In 1870 in the city of London the first association and it began to be practiced in swimming pools. It is an Olympic sport since the second edition of the Olympic Games, specifically in Paris in 1900.

Fotolia photos: Kuco / Halfpoint

Topics in Waterpolo