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.