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paintballimpact.com / Sports / Water Polo
Water Polo
Water Polo is like soccer in the pool. Water polo is a very physically intensive activity, as players must try to make passes, shots on net, and blocks while keeping themselves above water with their legs. Water polo athletes must be excellent swimmers with high endurance and also possess tremendous upper and lower body strength. Like the sport of soccer, the game has two nets on two sides of the playing area, and points are scored when players successfully toss the ball into the opposing team's net. One thing that makes water polo unique is that even when remaining in one place, the athlete is still in constant motion. Even when the water polo athlete remains in one place, he is constantly treading water, with his legs, and he is always ready to block a shot or to take a pass from a teammate. Water is a team sport, like doubles tennis, field hockey, and baseball. Water Polo is one of a number of aquatic sports that also includes swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, and apnea free diving. Water Polo is an older sport that was first played around 1940. The man's water polo has been an Olympic event since 1900 in the Paris Olympics, and it first became an official women's event in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
The Game. Each team has 13 players: 7 in the pool and 6 reserves. Among the 7 players in the game, one is the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper blocks shots on net. The goal is 3 meters wide, by 0.90 meters high. To score a goal, players must launch the ball into the netting of the goal, or at least post the goal line. When a team has scored a goal, they are awarded 1 point. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the other team in a defined time. Like paintball tournament games, the matches are timed and points are recorded for certain objectives being accomplished. A Water Polo match has 4 7 minutes periods. Players must stay in the water, without touching the bottom or holding onto the sides of the pool, or holding onto the boundary floats.
At the beginning of each period and game, the players line up on their respective goal lines. The referee throws the ball in the middle of the pool and the players race to take possession. After each goal, players go to their side of the pool, and the team that was scored on puts the ball in play. Besides the goalkeeper, players may only use one hand when holding the ball, and players may not hit the ball with their fists. From the point where one team takes possession of the ball, they have 35 minutes to make a shot on net. This helps to move the game along so that players do not drag the game along by just swimming around with the ball. The ball is about 71 cm in circumference and weighs about 450 g. The ball is small enough to be held in one hand, and light enough to be thrown hard at the goal. Some of the player positions include the left winger, center forward, left guard, center guard, goalkeeper, right guard, and right winger.
Paintball and Water Polo are both team sports. Paintball games like the NPPL Super 7 are also 7 on 7 matches that feature a fast pace games and a lot of action. Paintball, unlike water polo, does not have games that are exclusively for females.
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