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A Day in the Life of Water Polo

By Kaelin Betschart, 01/02/18, 7:30AM PST

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A day in the life of waterpolo is never easy, especially gameday. All players are required to arrive an hour early so there is time to stretch and warm up. You walk onto the pool deck and you see your teammates sitting together watching the current game. Second quarter comes around and it is time to stretch. You stand in a circle with your teammates and begin stretching. At halftime, you get in the pool to start warming up. The game before comes to an end and you sprint to the middle of the pool to start shooting while discreetly peeking over at the other team. The referees blow their whistles and yell “two minutes!,” and you swim to your coach. Everyone listens closely to the pre-game pep talk and feels the adrenaline running through their bodies. The referees blow their whistles again, and it is time to start. The team quickly fits in a loud cheer before lining up on the wall. One hand is on the wall and the other is floating in the water and you are ready to pounce off the wall the second the referee blows the whistle. The referee blows a long loud whistle and you see everyone quickly push off the wall and swim into the middle of the pool. Once you reach the middle of the pool you lift your head up and see who got the ball. The next hour following this is full of goals, adrenaline, scratches, and sometimes even punches. The game ends and everyone hops out of the pool with bright red faces ready to warm down.