Water polo is essentially like
soccer, using your
hands, in a
pool that you can't
stand in. Fine, so maybe
waterpolo is not like soccer. It's played with a
ball about the same
size and
material as a
volleyball, but with enough
texture that you can easily
hold it. The
goals are probably about 10 feet wide and 5 feet high (estimate).
Water polo is actually an
Olympic Sport, which is not too
surprising considering the other
esoteric sports that are out there. Some people were able to play
water polo in highschool (thereby skipping out on other
sports
*grin*) and it's often offered as an intramural college sport. However, often as such, it is played with
inner tubes. This, although it can be
fun, and less
physically demanding than "
real water polo", can be
derided by people who play the sport. Playing in an
inner tube is almost as
kludgy as playing in a
banana boat.
Water polo is actually an incredibly tough sport, and requires an amazing amount of
body strength and
endurance to play.
Goalies, which in a
regulation-sized pool have no bottom to stand on, must use their
legs to tread and
propel themselves
upwards with
at least half of their body out of the water to block the
ball.
Fouls are generally encouraged, because it stops the person with the ball, and allows
play to continue down the
pool. Only
fouls from behind, or
using two hands on a player are call for a
kick out.
The main difference between water polo and other
sports is that due to the
water slowing
play down, there is a lot more emphasis on
raw ability,
endurance, and
strategy as opposed to
pure speed.