Everything I Know About Water Polo (Not Much) - Post No. 3
Our young friend Ella and her sister Penny scored scholarships to play NCAA Division 1 Water Polo at a university in Northern California. They are they only people from Stony Plain playing on one of the 34 Div 1 teams in the US, and so far as I can tell are the only ones from Stony Plain to ever achieve that level. They are each accomplished players, having played internationally for Canadian national youth teams in China, Brazil and Europe. Ella spent a year living and training in Montreal when preparing for her first year of university competition. They are both engineering students in their spare time.
Over the past year we have seen Ella play 3 times in various pools at universities in southern California with her grandparents, Doug and Donna. We have yet to see Penny play at this level, as she was injured early in her first year, last fall, and hasn't been in the water since then. We hadn't seen Ella and Penny play for several years when we caught up with Ella in San Diego last March. The game has changed considerably since we first watched them, when the object seemed to be to drown as many opponents as possible, as quickly as possible. Now the players are too big and swim too well for actual drowning to happen. But it's not for lack of trying.
The outdoor pools where the teams play are beautiful, on campuses that must be a joy to study at, but the actual viewing of water polo is hindered by two important facts: most of the effort to stay alive and to move the ball around takes place under water, and the players wear hats (helmets? caps?) that have tiny numbers on them. In theory this would help you identify the players since all you see of them is their shoulders, head and one arm. In practice the numbers are of little help because they are too small, the players are too far away and they are never still. It helps that Ella is a rare left-handed player, so is somewhat easier to follow when she has the ball.
If you are not familiar with the rules of water polo, don't worry. They are no harder to understand than the rules of cricket, or Aussie rules rugby, or Irish hurling. Like hockey or soccer, there is goal with a net. Players throw the ball at the net while the goalkeeper and other opponents try to stop them from scoring. Someone keeps track of the goals scored. That is the full extent of any similarity to hockey or soccer.
There are referees on either side of the pool who frequently blow their whistles. Those whistles appear to mean three different things:
- "Stop doing that."
- "Leave her alone!"
- "I TOLD YOU TO STOP DOING THAT!!"
The level 3 whistle is always accompanied by some gesturing by the official indicating anger or aggravation, or both. The player singled out for the level 3 infraction then makes the Swim of Shame to the Penalty Pool where she treads water until her 20 second penalty expires, or until the coach pulls her out of the water and replaces her with someone who won't annoy the referee so much. Three level 3 infractions and you are ejected (Ella had two in the first game we watched and an opponent was ejected). To say that the game is rough doesn't quite capture it - it looks plain mean, particularly in the centre area in front of each net, where the action is especially fierce. At the most recent game we watched, the referees inspected the fingernails on the hands of all players before the game, hoping to discourage them from disfiguring each other. This seemed like a sensible idea, something we would have liked to see more often.
Although the actual drowning of an opponent is presumably frowned on, as a strategic objective it is enthusiastically pursued. One spectator summed up the challenge of refereeing this madness by dryly yelling at the nearest referee, after a more or less typical exchange between opposing players: "I don't think she's supposed to swim on top of her like that!" That made me laugh. Clearly there is some looseness in the rules, which don't seem to minimize in-pool contact. For example, to begin each period the referee tosses the ball into the middle of the pool and the two fastest swimmers from each team swim from their own end of the pool towards the ball at top speed. Inevitably they collide at the ball in a blur of arms, splashes, pushes and (quite likely) punches until the referee blows her whistle to stop the mayhem. It is sort of like a basketball tip-off if the two centres could just swing wildly at each other until one of them disappeared under the water.
These are, it should be mentioned, fit, fearsome-looking athletes. I suspect that Ella or Penny could dead lift their grandfather if they wanted to, if there was some reason to do that and if it wouldn't kill their grandmother. Their grandmother already disapproves of their competition swimsuits, which are not Grandmother-Approved. No one other than a grandmother would dare to comment on the bathing suit for fear of having one's head held under water indefinitely.
Very few of us know what it is like to be the parent of an elite athlete. Murray and Jodie are the proud parents of three smart, strong and fiercely determined young women. Grace, the wise older sister, gave up water polo when she was 13 to wrangle horses and to channel her creative gifts into graphic design. She every bit as capable as her younger sisters, but better at managing horses than teammates, coaches and opponents. You would probably not hear about the girls from Murray and Jodie unless you asked them.
Ella's team won 2 of the 3 games we watched, although in one case it was close enough for the opposing team to pull their goaltender near the end of the game for an extra attacker, much to Janet's displeasure. She hates that - too much tension. But we had a great time, learned a lot, and wanted to share it with you.
