Water Polo Creativity in an Uncreative World

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the USAWP Coaches Clinic in Riverside, CA and was honored to have lunch with the coach instructor, Dante Dettamanti. We discussed many topics over the 2-day clinic including offensive and defensive schemes, practice plans, and good-old polo stories. But, most importantly, we discussed creativity.

Read the rest of the article at: Water Polo Planet

FINA Water Polo Proposed Rule Changes, Canadian Rules

FINA is trying out some new rules this weekend at the Fisher Cup (San Diego) Men's NT scrimmages and FINA Intercontinental Women's NT scrimmages in Riverside, CA.

Some of the rules will open up play and allow for more scoring opportunities. 5-on-5 play will change how both offenses and defenses run their half-court tactics. This will be the most interesting aspect of the experimental rules. Women using a size 3 ball will just frustrate the poor goalies who will, likely, be yelling at their field players for better shot blocking. I haven't seen anything that specifies how the "no-ordinary fouls" will be executed but that can be a big game changer as well.

The rule change that is most intriguing here at Beyond Water Polo is the playable open areas to the sides of the change. I doubt these areas will be used a lot as I haven't seen much use of the 2-meter area outside the pipes at the international level.

But, what if Wayne Gretzky were to draw up a power play for USA this weekend. Would it look something like this:

This is a completely abnormal motion for a goalie in water polo. Hockey goalies know how to hug the post as the puck moves behind the net but how will a water polo goalie react? I would recommend that the winger waits until the goalie realizes the ball is behind the goalmouth and looks back to the middle of the pool, then make the cross pass. A good winger will look into the middle of the pool and "eye fake" the defense before making the pass over the net. Ideally, every defender is looking right and doesn't see the opposite wing dropping into the new zone. 

I hope Team Canada doesn't see this.

Follow us @BeyondWaterPolo for live tweeting of the USA-AUS experimental rule scrimmage on Monday (May 19th) at 6:00 PST.

Developing Your Head-Up Water Polo Technique, Part 1

Head-up swimming for water polo is an essential skill taught to every player beginning the game. It is the equivalent of skating in hockey or running in soccer. With proper head-up technique you can swim almost as fast, over short lengths, as a streamlined freestyler. However, poor technique will significantly slow you down and lead to increased fatigue during games and practices. Learn the correct technique the first time and jump ahead of your opponents. For more advance technique see the water polo transitions in part 2.

The first obstacle to overcome when developing your head-up technique is the fact that you are raising your upper body out of the water but you still need to keep your feet high in the water and not drag them.

Drill 101: Scull Swim Flutter Kick will keep your legs in the correct position. Perform this drill to the halfway mark in the lap and transition to head-up freestyle while keeping your flutter kick at full speed:

Now, we want to work on our stroke and a long arm reach. Strong head-up swimmers do not rotate their bodies the same as fast competitive swimmers. In competitive swimming, you roll your shoulders above and below your body. In water polo, you want to rotate your shoulders in front of and behind your head. This is a flat rotation. Drill 102: Single-Arm Head-Up Swim will teach you to reach far in front of your body while keeping your head out of the water: 

Let's work on some more body rotation in the next drill. Swimming backstroke for a few yards will come in handy on offense, defense, and during the counterattack. Drill 103: Front-Back Swim will teach you to move your whole body more effectively:

Drill 104: Cross-Pass Lunge will add the eggbeater to our transition technique. This is a beginning transition drill where you will move from eggbeater to swimming multiple times. You perform this type of transition at least twice every possession in a game. The Cross-Pass lunge simulates catching a pass from a teammate after a counterattack down the pool. Great players can start and stop their body quickly:

The final drill to develop your new head-up swimming skills is Drill 105: Zig-Zag Swim. This drill is simple: Swim one way then swim the other way. Make 90 degree turns and work on reaching out to begin each stroke. This will also use your transition skills from Drill 104. Bring your legs up quick and use the eggbeater lunge to start each turn:

You're not done! This was part 1 for a reason. There are many more drills to improve your head-up swimming. Next time we will add a ball.

Simulating Offensives and Exclusions During Water Polo Drills

Players using poor fundamentals during drills can be a source of frustration for a coach attempting to teach or reinforce a concept during practice sessions. During many drills or practice scenarios coaches are trying to teach a skill or drill and are not looking to call offensives or exclusions even though players may do something that would warrant the call in a game. However, fixing lazy play without interrupting the drill is essential to all players having a fun and effective practice. Rarely does saying, "That would have been an offensive" fix a lazy technical problem during a training session. Setting a parameter, such as "Don't grab the driver", needs to be acknowledged by players to properly run a drill and teach strong game skills.

Some common instances of poor or lazy player fundamentals during drills are:

• grabbing an opponent with inside water
• pulling back on a center when a pass is entered
• shooting from a poor angle or before a drill parameter has been accomplished
• hand-checking a driver
• not driving ball-side when required for the drill

*some may include missing the cage on a shot but technical deficiencies should be corrected by individual coaching. Push-ups for missing the cage does not teach correct shooting form. That is essentially lazy coaching.

The best way to alleviate these problems are:

1. When conducting drills, issue push-ups or up-and-outs for breaking drill rules.
2. When practicing half-court, issue head-up sprints to the other side of the pool, sub in another player to continue the training.
3. In small group scrimmages, send the whole group off on a sprint and sub a new group. (ex. 3x3, 4x4 drills). 
4. On an exclusion-like penalty, have all the defensive players play with 2 hands straight up, no swimming, for a possession. This allows the offense to move and drive easier and penalizes the defense without reverting to a 5-on-6.

Try to have a couple substitution players ready when conducting small-unit or front court drills.

Remember, bad technique should be corrected by coaching. Lazy technique needs to be eliminated by reinforcing the correct technique or movement. You will know where your players are in the development cycle and if they understand how to do something correctly and are choosing not to. 

Water Polo Conditioning Based on Game Metrics

Using your pool time and practice time as efficiently as possible should be an overriding goal for every water polo coach. Creating efficient practices should not involve more drills stuffed into a short period of time but should focus on building from previous drills to both increase repetition of a skill and increase the intensity as the practice moves along.

A highly effective way to train your team involves using game metrics and game skills to build your conditioning program. Let's look at some common facts and stats assuming a prep varsity-level game:

1. Games are 7 minute quarters with two minute breaks between periods. Play is also broken up after goals and with timeouts. (breaks can vary)
2. 168 field player/minutes are available for your team. Starters get 75% and bench gets 25%. Some players get no pool time.
3. Possessions involve at least two transitions between swimming and eggbeater; about 112 per game.
4. Players engage each other for about 5-10 seconds almost every possession; 10-15 seconds for centers.
5. Players will swim around 1100-1500 meters per game, assuming 100% of the playing time.
6. Players do not use the walls to accelerate. Every turnover requires the player to accelerate from a standstill.

Ok, why is number 7 in bold? Because the phrase, "I'm not in water polo shape" is very telling. Players swim 10x100's on a 1:20 all offseason but they failed physics. Accelerating a mass takes more energy than maintaining a constant velocity. Flip turns and wall pushes remove the most critical swimming skill of a conditioned water polo player: quickly accelerating from a standstill. Why do you think NFL coaches also time the 10 yard split of a 40 yard dash?

Here's a highly effective conditioning session based on improving the above metrics:

(no walls are used, all player perform water polo turns at the 2 meter lines)

• 9x50's (:50) start with hips up and forward, head-up swim to the far 7 meter line, eggbeater transition with one arm straight out of the water to finish each lap (time 7:30, 2 minute rest)
• 6x75's (1:15) start facing backwards, head-up swim to half, 3 vertical lunges, head-up finish each lap (time 7:30, 2 minute rest)
• 12x25's (:35) eggbeater to the near 7 meter line, head-up sprint finish, transition to hands on the head for a 5 count (time 7:00, 2 minute rest)
• 14x25's (:30) partners, player must swim around a partner while the partner pushes back, sprint to finish, partner chases, switch (time 7:00, break)

Results:

1. 29:00 minutes of conditioning, 6:00 minutes of breaks, no timeouts, no goal stoppages.
2. Starters and bench players complete the entire simulated "game".
3. 100 transitions between swimming and eggbeater occurred between the 2 meter lines.
4. 14 player engagements occurred (4th set).
5. 1240 yards swam between 2 meter lines.
6. 64 times players needed to accelerate from a standstill (versus pushing off the wall and gliding/steamlining)

Obviously, add more swim sets and conditioning-based drills to the practice depending on where you are in the season. Also, instead of lowering bases right away, try making the lap harder by adding more eggbeater, partner work or dribbling a ball. When they are conditioned with complex laps at a medium base go back to simple laps at a faster pace. Longer sets are also better than lowering the base.

Example of a more complex set from above:
14x25's (:30) partners, player must swim around a partner while the partner pushes back, sprint to half, 3 straight lunges, sprint to finish, partner chases and tries to pass, switch

There are tons of variations to these drills that add different elements to the workout so try some new combinations. Transitions and body acceleration should be conditioned the most and should never be relegated to post-conditioning routines or skipped altogether. 

But most importantly, Stop using walls and add transitions.