• 7 players a side including the goalie, who is the only position allowed to use two hands on the ball
  
• A goal is scored when the ball completely passes the front plane of the goal
  
• At this level they play four 8-minute quarters with a 30-second shot clock
  
• If you are touching the ball, defenders can legally make a lot of contact with you.
  
• There are two common types of fouls: minor fouls (one whistle) in which the defender simply has to back off of you, and major fouls (two whistles) which result in an ejection and thus a 6-on-5 power play for one offensive possession and extends the shot clock by 20 seconds. Ejections are quite common and converting your power-play opportunities into goals is important. If a player is ejected in this manner three times, they are out of the game for good. (there's no limit on minor fouls)
  
• A major foul committed close to the goal preventing a likely goal (or egregious brutality) can result in a 5-meter penalty shot. Typically this happens on a transition/breakaway where the defender is further from the goal than the attacker.
  
• Substitutions are unlimited and free-flowing, much like hockey. They will typically happen on transitions and breaks in play.
  
• The colored lane lines on the side of the pool indicate some important dimensions, the key one being red which is the first 2 meters in front of the goal. Offensive players are not allowed to receive the ball inside this zone (water polo's version of offsides). The yellow indicates 6-meters from the goal. If the defense commits a minor foul on a player who is outside 6-meters, the player is allowed to shoot directly off the foul but they must do it immediately without hesitation or pump-faking.
  

• Because of the shot clock, there is less need to force turnovers because you will get the ball back eventually
  
• Because of the touching/not-touching ball distinction, offensive players will often try to draw a (minor) foul by inviting/inducing/exaggerating contact and then letting go of the ball
  
• If the ref can't see it, he can't call it, and it's tough to see exactly what's going on under water. TV has loved the underwater camera angle for putting this on display in the past, though NBC may be more nervous about it after several suit-ripping exposure incidents.
  
• You will often see players pump faking a lot before a shot. This is to draw the goalie up out of the water in anticipation of a shot and hopefully tire the goalie out before taking a shot. Goalies have the strongest legs in the pool by necessity (they have to be able to tread water with both hands up and lunge with their whole torso out of the water) but they can't maintain that strong defensive position indefinitely.
  
• The most potent scoring position is dead center on the 2-meter line. On offense this is called the Hole (or center forward in lame Olympic nomenclature) and typically features the biggest/strongest player. From this position good players can make no-look behind-the-back shots. They will typically position themselves facing away from the goal, because they can spin to shoot in either direction very quickly, and need to be able to see/control incoming passes. Most major fouls are committed defending this position, because allowing a shot from here is so dangerous.
  
• Typical set offensive configuration includes the hole and then two other wing players at or near 2-meters, then another row of 3 several meters out. The offense will try to move the ball around to make space for a pass in to the hole or a perimeter player with enough space for a shot.
  
• 6-on-5 power play offense typically puts an offensive player at 2-meters on each goal post and the remaining 4 in a perimeter around them. Because the defense is forced into a sort of zone-coverage, the offense will typically focus on rapid ball movement in an effort to catch the goalie out of position after a cross-pool shot.
  
• Transition goals and breakaways happen but I think they're less common at the Olympic level where everyone is highly competent than they were in my small high school league where you could just take off early on a turnover and beat the defense down the pool.
  

bawfuls fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Jul 26, 2021

bawfuls fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Jul 26, 2021