College water polo and
highschool water polo differ greatly. In highschool, the "
coaches" (which, in any state other than
California, were varsity swimmers and
P.E. majors at low quality universities) basically teach you
how not to drown. The common practice is to use a skill called the
eggbeater, in which you
tread water by using your legs as
propellors in an eggbeater-like fashion. It is difficult to learn, but once mastered is quite powerful.
After having made sure that you do not
die in the freezing water (which sometimes makes you want to die), highschool coaches instruct you in basic water polo
strategy. The typical
offense resembles an
umbrella with one man two meters in front of the goal, the
two meter man, while five other players surround him in a semi-circle with a
radius or approximately 10 meters. At this point, the coach will tell players that getting the ball in the goal is good. Do it often. And, ala
little league soccer, the kids play kill the cow in the pool.
College water polo is much more
brutal and requires a lot more skill than could be acquired in most highschool programs (with the exception of schools in Southern California because they have programs the equivilent of some colleges). Offense is much more strategic and
clever in that most teams have designed plays and many skillful players that will work very hard to embarass the other team's
goalie.
Good college players usually try out for the
U.S. National Team, a group of elite players from all over the country that competes with other national teams from all over the world. And, of course, the best of the best is the
U.S. Olymic Team, a group of players that range in age from 18 to 38. The eighteen year old player is
Tony Azevedo, a product of
Long Beach's
Wilson Highschool and a player for
Stanford University. He will most likely be one of the best players in the world once he develops more and gets more
experience at the Olympic level.