Rules and Regulations of Water Polo

Water polo requires a great deal of endurance in order to swim continuously throughout the entire game. It is one of the oldest team sports in the Olympic Games. It is similar to soccer and hockey in that the key to the game is quick passing between teammates to open up scoring opportunities.

  1. Player Positions

    • Each team is made up of seven players, including the goalie. The goalie is the only player who is allowed to put both hands on the ball. The offensive player closest to the opponent's goal is called the hole-set. In the middle of the pool are four field players called drivers. The drivers continually rotate through the offense, trying to get an open shot for themselves or the hole-set. The last line of defense in front of the goalie is the hole guard. The hole guard is usually matched up one-on-one against the other team's hole-set.

    Game Play

    • A regulation water polo game consists of four quarters that are each seven minutes long. There is a 35-second shot clock that encourages fast and aggressive play by the offense. The game starts off with the referee dropping the ball at mid-pool. The hole-sets from each team must sprint to the ball and whomever gets there first becomes the offensive team. The objective of the game is to throw the ball into your opponent's goal, while only touching it with one hand. The red line cannot be passed by an offensive player unless he has control of the ball at the time. The only exception is when the ball is inside the line and the player remains behind the ball until gaining possession.

    Fouls

    • There are three levels of fouls, depending on the type of offense: ordinary fouls, exclusion fouls and penalty fouls. Minor fouls like pushing off, shot clock violations or touching the ball with two hands will award a free throw to the team that was fouled. An exclusion foul is called for more severe infractions like pulling a player under the water or impeding a player's ability to take a free throw. This results in the offending player being excluded from the game for 20 seconds. The player is allowed back in the game before 20 seconds have elapsed if there is a scored goal or possession of the ball changes to the other team. If a foul prevents a sure goal from scoring within the four-meter line, the offensive team will be awarded a penalty shot from the line.