Sport-Blog.com

Written by James Fohl

A little while ago I was a watching a television show that took place in the distant future. The fun thing about this particular TV show was the fact that whenever the main characters talked about watching sports, they never seemed to talk about sports we would call popular. Instead of talking about baseball, football, hockey or even soccer, it seemed that the characters would always talk about the sport we know as water polo.

Why Would Water Polo Be Such A Popular Sport In The Future?

I started to think about why the writers of this television show put such an emphasis on water polo, over today's popular sports such as baseball and football, and then it kind of hit me. Water polo is a very interesting sport that combines various aspects from all other sports and literally throws them all into a swimming pool.

If you think about it, a basic game of water polo has the characteristics of wrestling, hockey, soccer, and of course swimming. The whole basic ordeal of water polo is that two teams consisting of seven players (six swimmers, and of course a goalie) basically play soccer or hockey in a pool with a volleyball in an attempt to score the most points in a predetermined amount of time.

The Sport Of Water Polo Has Various Rules Borrowed From Other Sports

The game is split up into four quarters of play, each consisting of either six or seven minutes depending on the type of game being played. As mentioned before, players of both teams try to take the ball and throw it into the other team's goal. The game is officially over when the clock runs out of time, and the team with the most scored points is declared the official winner.

Believe It Or Not, Water Polo Is Not A New Sport, But A Relatively Old One

Although many people believe that water polo is a sport conjured up in the past fifty years, it has actually been around for a fairly long time. It was first play in Great Britain during the late nineteenth century, before it made its way throughout the rest of the world.

Water polo became so popular that it actually became the first team played sport in the Olympics, and that occurred in 1900. It was considered that only men were allowed to be involved in the Olympic water polo games until the 2000 Olympic games, when women teams were welcomed to play after many staged protests had occurred.

While Water Polo May Be An Exciting Sport, I'll Stick With Mainstream Sports For A While

Perhaps in the distant future, everyone will eventually get sick of mainstream sports such as football and baseball, and turn to sports such as water polo to feed their sport induced rush. Until then however, I think I will stick to watching good old baseball.. and maybe just maybe I'll try and get in on a game of water polo sometime over the summer.