WATER POLO IS MAKING WAVES

WATER POLO is one of the toughest and fastest growing sports in the British army and just about anybody and everybody, it seems, wants a piece of the action.
Recently, twelve army teams, including four women’s teams, took part in the Inter-Corps Polo Championships hosted by REME, at the Aldershot garrison sports centre.  It was a chance for beginners to look and learn and the experienced to show just how tough they are.
The Royal Signals’ dominated the event, with the men’s A-team beating REME 5-2 in the final and the women’s team triumphing over the AGC squad, 11-5.  The Signals’ A-team has won the competition for the past five years, proving experience counts in this sport.
The game played today originated as a form of “water rugby” played in rivers across England and Scotland.  Teams used a ball made from Indian rubber and the game came to be known as water polo, from the English pronunciation of the Balti word for ball, pulu.
The men’s event was among the first team sports introduced to the Olympics, in Paris 1900, and the women’s game was added at Sydney 2000, placing the sport firmly on the map.
As well as stamina and general body strength, players need to be excellent swimmers.  They must “dribble” the ball across the water, pass it and hurl it into the goal net, while treading water and avoiding tackles. Below the surface, they must cope with pushing, scratching, grabbing and, occasionally, the yanking of costumes.  The sport has even earned the label, “GBH in H2O”, and the men wear “helmets”, gum shields, a box and two layers of trunks.
Corporal Craig Buckingham, who is hoping to make the elite army and tri-service teams, was at the championships representing his corps, the Royal Signals.
“You need good stamina and you need to be very strong,” he explained.  “You need to be able to swim, get people out of the way and throw the ball, and it’s extremely competitive.  I started playing because it sounded interesting.”
Each water polo team is made up of 13 people, with seven in the water at any one time.  Players on the “subs bench” sit at the edge of the pool and are regularly tagged into the game to share the workload, and, like football, teams develop set plays to score goals. 
Newly promoted Royal Signals’ sergeant, Gemma Gillard, was also competing, she said the only difference in the women’s game is that it is more vicious.  Talking at the competition, she said: “I got into it through my love of swimming, like a lot of people.  The army lets me come to competitions and keep up my corps training and I just want to keep swimming and get a good grip of the game.”
A sound knowledge of the rules and tactics in water polo is very useful too.  Players are prohibited from touching the bottom or sides of the pool through four seven-minute quarters and the clock is stopped if a foul occurs.  Players can also get “red carded” and sent off.
REME warrant officer (I) John Scott, who has organised the competition for seven years and is a keen player, admits the game does not get the tough tag for nothing.
“On joining the Army I was a fit, competitive swimmer and had been for at least ten years, training eight times a week and competing on a weekly basis,” he said.
“To then be thrown a yellow ball and told to pass it around the pool, swim with it, watch the game, watch the other players, score goals and swim almost constantly with your head above the water for at least 40-minutes is quite a shock.
 “After hours of water polo, feeling completely drained of energy, with foggy vision, from all the chlorine in the water, and only half a voice, holding the winners’ trophy really is an achievement to be proud of.”