Water Polo Balls and Equipment.

water polo gear and equipment

what you need to play water polo

Water polo was one of the last sports to evolve. It takes place in an element that is not natural for man, and it’s history or origins don’t correspond with the history of other sports, in which they were used to develop war and hunting skills.

There is not much known about how or where water polo originated. Swimming became very popular in England around 1866, and from this several water sports emerged. These water sports were loosely designed from land sports, but of course had to be adapted to the liquid playing grounds. Such land sports as water soccer, water rugby, water handball, and water polo. In its first appearance, water polo players rode on floating barrels and hit the ball with a stick. It was exactly like land polo, but in the water. Water rugby was more popular than water polo, and somehow water rugby became known as water polo, and the name stuck. So the water polo we know today actually originated from the land sport of rugby.

The game of water polo, or water rugby as it was known then, was first played in lakes and rivers in England, and the object was to carry the ball past the opponents, onto their side of the “court”. Strategy was quickly developed, and specific moves and styles of play sprang out of these developments. The equipment used in water polo is limited and has not changed drastically over the course of the sport’s existence. One merely needs a water polo ball to play the sport, although safety precautions, such as goggles and headgear, and strongly advised.

The water polo ball started out like most other sports balls, as an inflated animal bladder. The water polo ball was an inflated pigs bladder, which was not very effective for long spats in the water. The pig’s bladder was replaced with a partially inflated soccer ball. This did not work because the soccer ball absorbed too much water and became far too heavy, slippery, and lop-sided to play with. Because of this, a water polo ball with a cotton bladder was developed, and it had a rubber fabric cover. This allowed for better handling qualities, also making the ball lighter, which lead to faster, higher-scoring games. The quicker paced games enhanced spectator interest, leading to large growth popularity. The next development was a nylon bladder with a rubber fabric composition cover, giving the ball easier grip ability so that it could be held with one hand despite its large size. The first official color of the water polo ball was red, but yellow was adopted a short while later because it provided better visibility.

Today, there are regulations that govern the design and manufacture of water polo balls. The ball weighs between 14 and 16 ounces, and must be inflated to approximately 13 PSI of pressure. The water polo ball comes in two sizes. The first size is considered a size 5 ball. It is 28 inches in circumference and is intended for use in play by men. The other size is a 4. It is 26.5 inches in circumference and is intended for use by women. There are also smaller balls that can be used by children or juniors for smaller water polo games, but these balls do not have a standard size and are usually green, not the distinctive yellow color of official water polo balls. There have been a few minor changes to water polo balls in the recent past. One of which is that a colored middle stripe (either blue, green, red, black, or yellow) can be placed on the ball. Also, colored balls (water polo balls with multi-colored panels) are allowed because it is said that the colors make it easier for the teams to keep track of their balls, allow for a better differentiation between men’s and women’s balls, and allow proper rotation to be seen and taught because of the better ball visibility. Some very popular water polo balls are made by Mikasa, Baden, Arena, and TYR.

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