Understanding Water Polo
The Game
- Water Polo is played in a 30meters x 20 meters area and 2 meters deep at least.
- The field is divided by imaginary lines indicated in the borders by different colors: white for the center line; green for the 7 meters line; yellow for the 4 meters line and red for the 2 meters line.
- Each team has 13 players, 7 in the water (1 goalkeeper) and 6 substitutes. The players can't touch the pool floor, the borders nor touch the ball with both hands at the same time, except for the goalkeeper.
- The game is played in 28 minutes of effective game, divided into 4 quarters of 7 minutes(*) each. The interval break between two quarters cannot exceed two minutes. Each team is allowed to request for two technical interval breaks of 1 minute maximum each. (*)In college games the quarter time is usually 5 instead of 7 minutes.
- Substitutions may freely occur provided that the replaced player is out of the field before the new player can enter. These substitutions may occur as many times as necessary anytime during the game.
- Each goal scored has 1 point value. The ball must cross the goal line completely.
Clocks and Chronometers
- As in basketball, there are two clocks. One shows the quarter time and the other shows the time for attacking which cannot last more than 35 seconds. After that time the other team gets the ball for a counterattack.
The Starting
- In the beginning of each quarter the players stay at their goal line until the referee whistles. Then the players swim to the ball that must be in the middle of the pool. The game starts.
