A Guide to Understanding Water Polo

What is water polo?
Water polo is a game of strength, quickness and endurance. Ball handling skills and exceptional swimming ability are especially important with the mobile, fast-paced style of game play.

The Game

The playing area is 30 X 20 meters (25 X 17 meters for women) with a minimum of 2 meters (6 1/2 feet) of depth.

Each team is allowed 13 players, with seven (a goalkeeper and six field players) participating at any one time. Players tread water the entire game and cannot touch the bottom or sides of the pool. Players may only handle the ball with one hand, except for the goalkeeper.

There are four periods in a game. Each period is seven minutes in length. There is a two-minute interval between periods. Each time the whistle blows, time is stopped. So, each game consists of 28 minutes of playing time.

Each team has two time-outs that can be used at any time during the game. The team must be in possession of the ball to call a timeout.

In a game that requires a definite winner, if there is a tie, two three-minute periods of overtime are played. If the score is still tied, one sudden-death overtime period is played.

Substitutions can be made after a goal is scored, between periods, during timeouts, for an ejected player, or during running time. For running time substitutions, players swim to their re-entry area and exit the playing field. The substitute can enter as soon as the head of the exiting player breaks the surface of the water in the re-entry area.

Physical contact is common, as players maneuver for position. The referee indicates fouls by blowing a whistle and using hand signals to point out the direction of the attack and where the ball is to be put in play. Unlike most sports that stop on a whistle, action in water polo is initiated by the whistle.

A goal (1 point) is scored when the ball is thrown or pushed completely past the face of the goal.

Fouls
There are three types of fouls in water polo: ordinary fouls, exclusion fouls and penalty fouls.

Common ordinary fouls include: impeding an opponent who is not holding the ball; pushing or pushing off an opponent; touching the ball with two hands; taking the ball underwater when tackled; and stalling. When the referee calls an ordinary foul, the offended team is awarded a free throw. The free throw is to be taken at the point of the foul or the location of the ball if the ball is behind the line of the foul. A free throw must be taken within three seconds by releasing, swimming or passing the ball. A player may shoot the ball directly on goal if the foul occurred outside 7 meters.

Common exclusion fouls include

holding, sinking or pulling back an opponent who is not holding the ball
an ordinary foul committed by the defense during dead time (after a foul occurs but before the offended player has put the ball into play)
kicking or striking
Interfering with a free throw
deliberate splashing in the face

Exclusion fouls result in a player being excluded for 20 seconds. The excluded player (or substitute) may not return until the 20 second exclusion time expires, a goal is scored or a change of possession takes place, whichever occurs first.

Penalty fouls are committed within the four-meter area where a goal probably would have resulted. An attacking player fouled while in control of the ball and facing the goal inside the four-meter line is usually awarded the penalty throw. Any player in the game (excluding the goalkeeper) from the offended team can take the penalty throw. The shot is taken from the four-meter line, with only the goalie defending. The award of a penalty throw most commonly occurs in the following situation within the four-meter area when:

any player, including the goalkeeper, pulling down or pushing away the goal;
any player, except the goalkeeper, playing the ball with both hands or a clenched fist;
the goalkeeper or a defensive player taking the ball underwater when tackled inside the four-meter area and near the goal;
when an attacking player facing the goal who is in control of, but not holding, the ball is fouled by holding, sinking or pulling back.

Both exclusion and penalty fouls are personal fouls. They are recorded by the game secretary. A player with three personal fouls is removed from the game, with substitution.

One special class of exclusion fouls is major fouls. Players who are assessed major fouls are immediately removed from the game, with substitution. Major fouls include:

misconduct or disrespect to the referee;
any foul language;
violent play.

Deliberately kicking or striking with intent to injure (brutality) results in ejection of the offending player for the remainder of the game, without substitution.

Time Clocks
As in basketball, two clocks are used to time a water polo game. One indicates the time remaining in the period and the other, called the possession or 35-second clock, indicates how much time remains for the offensive team to shoot the ball (the team is allowed 35 seconds to shoot the ball).

Starting
Each period is started with the teams lined up on opposite goal lines. On a signal (whistle) from the referee, the teams sprint toward center pool where the referee releases the ball into the water. In some competitions, the ball is placed in a floating ring in the center of the pool. The team gaining possession of the ball advances it toward its offensive end of the pool by swimming, dribbling, or passing the ball.