Water Polo Drills

A water sport played with 7 players in each side (goalkeeper + 6 players), water polo involves different activities like swimming, passing the ball, and defending the goal. Objective of the game is to score as many goals as possible. The water polo drills are simple and deal with basics of handling the ball and swimming techniques, which involve egg-beater kick, heads-up freestyle, etc. The drills mentioned below would help in developing the basic skills for water polo players.

Flag Drill
The flag drill is conducted to make the players aware of the hand gestures they have to encounter in the real matches. It is one of the basic water polo drill for beginners. In this drill, the players can be lined up in a row of 3-4 players. The gesture in which hand is kept straight up in air indicates the players to do the egg-beater kick. There is another hand gesture in which the hand is pointed to a particular direction. The players have to start swimming in the direction indicated by the hand. Swimming technique used to perform the flag drill should be of the heads-up freestyle type.

Double Bobbing
The double bobbing drill is performed to enable players in breathing quickly. The drill is performed in pairs with the players facing each other and holding both the hands with a finger grip. One of the partners should take a dip while keeping the arms straight and at a depth of the partner's knees. The player should come back to the surface for breathing while simultaneously pulling the partner under water. Both the players should take dips alternately and gradually increase the tempo. As mentioned above, the double bobbing drill helps in breathing quickly.

Shoulder Wrestle
The shoulder wrestle drill is meant to condition the back and stomach muscles. In this drill, pairs of players are formed and they place hands on the shoulders of partners; elbow should be kept straight. Both the players try to submerge their partners by pressing down the shoulders. The drill ends if one of the partner ducks. It is one of the fun water polo drills, which also helps in strengthening the back muscles.

Pressure Passing
To conduct the pressure passing drill, four players are required. These four players are divided in pairs of 2, which have a defensive and offensive players each. Both the pairs need to be positioned at a distance of 4-6 m from each other. In this drill, the offensive player has to pass the ball to the other pair, while the defensive players should stop him from doing so.

Goalie Cage
In this drill, the goalie has to move from side-to-side to the ends of the goal cage. The goalies have to move from one side to the other with the help of egg-beater kick. The goalie should keep his hand straight up in the air, while he moves from side-to-side. Moving from one side of the goal to other and back again completes the set of two. Goalie should be given a rest of 15-30 seconds in between two sets.

The different water polo drills presented in the article above, would prove to be useful for beginners, as well as regular players of the game.