The deafening noise of water and echoing screams. You’re in an indoor pool with a bunch of your friends. You’re wearing your cap and with adrenaline surging through you, you think quickly and prepare to pass the ball. This is a late afternoon of a water polo practice. The FSU Men’s Water Polo team is a club that has been around since 2012 according to their Facebook page. Throughout their time competing they have managed to acquire the following awards:
2nd Place - CWPA Florida Division
1st Place - Auburn's Annual Chris Young Memorial Tournament
1st Place- FSU's Fear the Spear Invitational
2nd Place- UCF's Annual Knights Spring Classic
1st Place- Florida Division 2014
11th place - Nationals 2014
(Men’s Water Polo Club at FSU Facebook)
Each award has been well deserved by the team as they are always putting in their best work. The consistent practice they put out for a sport they are playing for only pure enjoyment because they are voluntarily choosing to play without being given any incentive like a fancy scholarship.. Not to mention, when I interviewed Jed Fazler, one of the FSU Men’s Water Polo players, he stated “...we don’t have a coach or anything..” (Fazler J. Interview) which further shows the heart these players have when competing, and to the extent of what I’ve seen in my years of playing sports, heart is the strongest factor you could have in competition.
The Men’s Water Polo team, because of their skill, also receives assistance from local organizations. For example, last year Panera helped the team by giving them 20% of the proceeds on any order during a certain day and time to help lower the cost of attending a tournament, which can add up to be hefty fines since there are admission and room and board fees. Another example is with Chipotle who gave the same offer but instead of a 20% cut, the team received a 33% cut. Obviously, Panera and Chipotle didn’t do this offer without any promotion so the Water Polo team advertised for individuals to come out and support the team and eat at Panera and Chipotle via their Facebook and Twitter on the day that they were hosting.
The hardworking players have practice three times a week during the fall and two times a week during the spring but compete in tournaments a lot more. The practices they endure mostly consist of leg workouts and scrimmaging. The leg workouts come in many variations some include “kick[ing] with water jugs above my head” and “kick[ing] down lanes” (Fazler J. Interview) while that only represents the first half of practice, the latter half consists of scrimmaging to improve on shooting formations, defending, and where to go for when they possess the ball.
The FSU Men’s team is small compared to the FSU Women’s Water Polo team with only about a dozen players showing up to practice and consistently putting in work, the women’s team has more than double of the men. The FSU Men’s Water Polo team is in need of more hole sets’, which is a position in water polo that is stationed fairly close to the opposing teams' goal where they would be the ideal player to pass to for a shot but they have plenty of goaltenders as mentioned by Jed Fazler, who is a goaltender himself. They would also enjoy having left-handed players to join and play on their team which would be highly beneficial since statistically, “Left-handed male players performed more shots, shots/minute and also scored more goals than right-handed players. “(Barrenetxea-Garcia 259) this would yield a great advantage for the team, and higher scoring games.
If you were unaware, water polo is a team water sport consisting of 6 players and one goaltender on each team. A key point in the game is to toss the water polo ball which is specially designed to have incredible grip and according to the NCAA, “the circumference of the ball shall be not less than 0.68 meters and not more than 0.71 meters, and its pressure shall be 90 to 97 kilopascals (13 to 14 psi atmospheric).” (Streeter 12) the specific size and pressure measurements are to ensure that all games are seen as fair and for proper playability with the ball. The grip is unlike any other and “there's nothing really to compare it off of.” (Fazler H. Interview) according to Hunter Fazler, a future FSU water polo player, who has been playing water polo for about five years now with his other brothers in a club in southwest Florida. Once the ball is close enough to the opponent's goal the player attempts to score into the goal while getting through a defense and a goaltender which means they'll have to be fast and clever. In water polo, much like every other sport, there are several rules and regulations however the key idea is simple. Don’t touch the floor and get the ball into the net.
The sport is not supposed to be violent however the referee can’t call something he doesn’t see, this leads to many aggressive actions to occur under the water, like the pulling of swimsuits or just physically harming the opponent underwater. Not only do you have to worry about other players harming you, but the ball can also be just as painful if taken to the head. Water polo is no stranger to concussions as “researchers counted an average of 18 head hits per game.” (UC Irvine 5). This first-of-its-kind report details up to the most vulnerable position to this kind of injury, which is the offensive center, who averages “nearly seven blows to the skull per game, which amounted to 37 percent of all head impacts recorded by UCI scientists. In contrast, the second-most vulnerable position, defensive center, averaged two head strikes a game” (UC Irvine 6) this goes to show that water polo is a sport that you can’t take lightly. This sport requires a unique type of athleticism as it is most definitely a full-body workout. You are using your legs to keep yourself afloat, your core to allow yourself to jump out of the water, and your arms to toss the ball about the pool. “As a result of these varying cardiovascular and metabolic demands, water polo players require optimal physical fitness to achieve success” (Kinet et al. 149) and although swimming is a low impact exercise, water polo, to the extent of this research, seems to be the exact opposite case.
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