Water Polo and Swimming: Sharing Extra Than Simply Pool Area
By Alex Ellison
For years, swimming and water polo have been two sports activities that shared a pool however little else. But for a rising variety of athletes, the traces between these disciplines are starting to blur.
Traditionally, Duke Kahanamoku, Johnny Weissmuller, and Brad Schumacher had been maybe probably the most outstanding US Olympians who each swam and performed water polo on the highest ranges. Matt Biondi was one other instance. After competing in each swimming and water polo in his youth, Biondi accepted a scholarship on the College of California, Berkeley, to swim beneath head coach Nort Thornton and play water polo for legendary head coach Pete Cutino. As a swimmer, Biondi earned 11 Olympic medals and set world information in 5 occasions. As a water polo participant, Biondi helped Berkeley win three NCAA Championships, was named All-America 4 occasions, and voted the crew’s Most Beneficial Participant in 1985.
Even so, for a very long time, it was usually believed that participation in a single sport may negatively affect the opposite.
“There’s an antiquated notion that water polo takes away from swimming…however being open to attempting and exhibiting the advantages of doing one thing completely different as a method of bettering your main factor has been large for us,” mentioned Michael Koziol, the pinnacle coach of water polo at Germantown Academy in Pennsylvania.
In Texas, Pennsylvania, and past, a brand new technology is embracing the synergy between swimming and water polo and discovering methods for the 2 sports activities to construct upon each other to create extra full athletes and stronger groups. Because of this, dual-sport athletes like Biondi have gotten much less of an exception.
“I feel [swimming and water polo] actually do go hand in hand,” mentioned Brandon Dion, the pinnacle coach of each swimming and water polo at Marcus Excessive College in Flower Mound, Texas. “Whether or not you’re utilizing swim season as your conditioning to make you a greater water polo participant otherwise you’re utilizing water polo as a break from staring on the black line 12 months spherical, there’s positively room for each,” he mentioned.
Dion grew up swimming in Texas as a result of the state didn’t but supply highschool water polo. At Fullerton Faculty in California, nonetheless, he competed in freestyle sprints, breaststroke, and water polo.
One other Texan, Scott Slay, participated in each sports activities rising up however admits the swim season was for much longer since water polo was not formally sanctioned. Because the Texas Excessive College Coaches Affiliation 2024-25 Ladies Water Polo Coach of the 12 months, the Boerne Champion coach now insists that his water polo gamers swim within the offseason as a result of it improves their conditioning.
“We’re doing plenty of dash coaching in swimming follow,” Slay mentioned, “however water polo [also] helps construct endurance in addition to the quick-twitch muscle fibers you want for dash swimming.”
Koziol, at Germantown Academy, emphasizes {that a} team-sport mindset also can reinvigorate even probably the most devoted swimmers.
One of many largest benefits is the carryover of camaraderie. Athletes have a tendency to construct belief and chemistry within the high-octane world of water polo and convey that vitality into the extra particular person setting of swimming.
Dion mentioned that water polo establishes “the sensation of crew and household…so after we roll into swim season, it makes it just a little simpler to concentrate on the group as a complete. With the relays, [athletes] know they’re [performing] for any person else – similar to they do in water polo – versus simply them versus the clock.”
Koziol, in Pennsylvania, sees the same crossover. “The inherent teamwork in water polo makes it extra engaging to youngsters who’re extra collaborative,” he mentioned, and once they shift to swimming, the “swimmers then take classes discovered in water polo and focus extra on relay[s] or on discovering time [to] join with their teammates between swim units.”
Slay agreed. “Children are very shut after water polo heading into swimming,” he mentioned. “We’re extra like a household than only a crew.”
“Water polo is within the fall and swimming is within the winter, so it’s a pleasant lead-in,” Koziol mentioned. “Some coaches have a look at [water polo] as an prolonged pre-season for swimming, [but] being extra of a water polo man, I view it as two sides of [the same] coin.”
To coach athletes successfully in each sports activities, dash units are important. Dion emphasizes Extremely-Quick Race-Tempo Coaching (USRPT), a technique of swim coaching targeted on quick intervals at race tempo or quicker. This helps each sports activities as a result of athletes usually dash between two-meter traces in water polo, and highschool swimming primarily focuses on quick distances.
Koziol, in the meantime, tends to mix conventional and fashionable coaching strategies. For instance, he may have his water polo gamers swim with goggles a number of occasions every week for conditioning.
All three coaches agree that mixing swimming and water polo not solely makes athletes quicker and fitter – it additionally retains them extra motivated.
“It’s actually onerous to do one thing uninterrupted for eleven-and-a-half months of the 12 months,” Koziol mentioned. “It’s nice to interrupt issues up so swimmers get their thoughts off the black line for a number of months whereas growing their cardio capability.”
Dion has additionally seen his swimmers thrive by including water polo.
“Possibly they weren’t profitable in different crew sports activities,” Dion mentioned, “however they all the time needed to be a part of a crew. It’s a straightforward transition as a result of they crave that camaraderie. We’ve had success with youngsters who crave that change.”
Finally, the purpose is to showcase the advantages of each sports activities and “exhibiting them they are often profitable in each,” Dion mentioned. “You possibly can apply your swim background to a crew sport with a water polo ball, and you may take all this dash work you’ve accomplished in water polo, put it on a block, and achieve success there too.”
Combining swimming and water polo gives greater than only a two-season routine; it gives an entire athletic expertise.
As Slay put it, “[I think] they do nicely for one another.”
Even when “water polo gamers who swim kinda grin and bear it,” Koziol surmised, “[when it’s] time to get the ball again of their fingers, they notice the payoff.”
Within the pool, as in life, typically the easiest way ahead is to have a look at issues from each side.
