WATER POLO
By: William Perry (grade 6 Vancouver Vikings)
You are racing down
the pool. You stop and pick up the ball, you fake, the goalie jumps,
you fake again, the goalie jumps the other way, this time you shoot
the ball as hard as you can. The goalie has no chance at all. Your
team takes the lead 4 - 3. Then the whistle blows - the end of the
game! Can you guess what sport this is? It's water polo, of course.
If you don't know what water polo is then you are reading the right
essay.
Water polo is a
very fun sport but there are many important rules. The following are
just a few. You can't dunk the ball under the water. If you do, it
is a turn over and you have to swim all the way down the pool, which
is tiring. You can't stand on the bottom, otherwise the same thing
will happen. You can't touch the ball with two hands; this results
in the same consequence. Different rules apply to the goalie. He can
stand on the bottom and he can hold the ball with two hands.
However, if he dunks the ball the consequences are more severe than
if a regular player does the same. If the goalie dunks the ball the
other team gets a penalty shot from 4 meters. These are some of the
more basic rules but of course there are other more complicated
ones.
Water polo is like
many other sports combined. It is like soccer because there are two
teams going in opposite directions trying to get a ball into a net
defended by a goalie. It is like basketball because there is a shot
clock and penalty shots are awarded for certain infractions. It is
like wrestling because you are continually being held back by your
check and you have to "wrestle" each other to gain control
of the ball. It is like sprint swimming but instead of doing a
25-meter sprint once or twice in the day, you do it 20 times in each
game. These are some of the ways water polo resembles other sports.
Water polo is a fun
and tough sport but it is also a serious sport. Water polo is in the
Olympics. Men's water polo was the first team sport in the Olympics.
Men's water polo has been in the Olympics since 1900. Hungary has
been the strongest team at the Olympics since the beginning. At the
2000 Olympics, in Sydney, Australia, Hungary again won the gold
medal, Russia won the silver and Yugoslavia won the bronze. Canadian
men did not qualify for the Olympics in 2000 or 2004. The 2000
Olympics was the first time women's water polo was included.
Australia won the gold, USA won the silver and Russia won the
bronze. Australia now holds the record for the most Olympic gold
medals - one. The Canadian women finished fifth in 2000 and have
qualified for 2004. In 2004 the Hungarian men and the Australian
women are expected to repeat history.
As you can see
water polo is a very exciting and extremely fun sport. I encourage
you to watch water polo during he upcoming Olympics. Or better yet,
find a pool and try it out this summer vacation. But please, learn
to swim first.
|
