I’ve played water polo since I was a freshman in high school. I’m now a senior in college, playing for the women’s club team at Cal. After eight years of playing the game, I’ve concluded that women’s water polo is the most brutal sport out there. I don’t just mean compared to other women’s sports. I mean men’s sports as well. I would say that women’s water polo is a combination of wrestling, soccer, basketball, and even boxing. It simply surpasses all other sports by being a mix of other rough sports.
Based on my experience, here are four reasons why women’s water polo is not only the most aggressive sport out there but also the most ruthless one as well.
1. Endurance
In water polo, players are not allowed to hold onto any side walls or touch the bottom of the pool. Depending on how many extra players you have, you’re expected to tread water for up to an hour with little to no rest. Now, I understand some sports require their players to constantly run or jump, which is also very challenging. However, I would argue that water polo is done in the water, not on land. So, while you may be able to take a second from running in football to breathe or set up for the next play, water polo players have to tread water continuously unless they want to drown.
2. Skill
While treading water, in itself, is quite a hard skill to master, it’s not the only trick to learn. Players also need to know how to hold, pass, and shoot a ball. This requires high hand-eye coordination, even more so than football or basketball. In those sports, you’re at least on flat ground most of the time, which is how we’re naturally supposed to move around on Earth. In water polo, you’re literally suspended in water. There’s no ground to jump off of or turf to slide on; you can only rely on your legs and feet to keep treading. Then, once you actually get the ball to make a shot, you have to rev up your legs and get at least half your body out of the water to sink the ball into the net.
3. Physicality
When I say a lot of grabbing, kicking, scratching, and punching goes on in water polo, I mean A LOT of grabbing, kicking, scratching, and punching goes on in water polo. The thing with this sport is that underwater cameras don’t really exist, at least not at the level I’m playing. This means that, more often than not, the referees don’t know what’s happening underneath the water. I can’t tell you how many times my suit’s been grabbed in my groin area and yanked so hard that I was given a permanent wedgie. I also can’t tell you how many times I’ve been kicked in the stomach, boob, and face while defending an opposing player. All of these things happen underneath the surface or at least are hidden in the chaos of splashing bodies and water, meaning that referees don’t call anything. So, most of the time, you end up with bruises and scratches, with only a quarter of them ending in calls that actually help your team.
4. Sensitivity
Last but not least, sensitivity is what really sets women’s water polo apart from all other sports. As I mentioned before, you’re being grabbed, kicked, and punched in the water. Sometimes it’s by accident, and other times, it’s on purpose. Either way, it hurts, and if it keeps happening every minute for an entire hour, you’re bound to get a bit upset. Of course, the feminist in me is screaming, but I will admit that women are emotional creatures. If we get seriously hurt, we cry about it. If our teammates get purposefully injured, we hold some grudges.
So, next time you decide to hop in the water with a bunch of seasoned water polo players on your school’s D1 or club team, what’s my best advice?
Wear a mouth guard and aim for the boob.