Great stuff!! It is an amazing sport and very tough. I played through college and officiate. Yes, under water stuff can be tricky to see and make a call.
Women's team "should" win gold and let's just say for the men's side, they make it out of pool play.
The beanbag grabbing is less likely. If you play bad defense, hips down then it's a possibility. I played through college and a little today and maybe happened to me very few times and same for me to grab others down there.
Women's game has a LOT more grabbing, due to more suit to grab.
Under water looks way more violent than what actually happens. But there a lot of wrestling moves, spinning to break free either kicking heavy and/or some pushing off.
Kind of but not really? I played 8 years without my bean bag getting grabbed, but I was fairly religious about keeping my hips up on defense (it's easier to move when you're horizontal & harder for the opponent to grab your suit which is very common & worse in the women's game b/c of their fullsuits) and only dropping them when needed (going vertical to guard a player with the ball). We used to wear 2 speedos because they would get yanked all the time and nobody wants to end up naked out there.
Did have a friend get kicked so hard he puked in the pool and his balls turned black and heard some rough underwater stories though. The worst things I experienced were above the water. Once got elbowed just above my eye by a guy intentionally and another time an opponent got so mad at me that he took a swing, barely missed me, & connected with my teammate's jaw hard enough to dislocate it.
All of the stuff I mentioned happened in high school games. I played both club and high school and, in my experience, high school games were way rougher because there were a lot of players who had just started the sport in 9th grade trying to keep up with those of us who'd been playing before that so they'd get physical to compensate.
Played in High School- on the East Coast (so stakes a little less intense. from what I gather, than West Coast where it's a higher profile sport). Never played hole (center) but that was where the most underwater shenanigans occurred because they aren't swimming around as much. Def always wore two suits and at least once a season top suit would be ripped off- but that's mostly from being grabbed on fast breaks, turnover. Our coach preached high hips- hips on the surface of the water, this let's you change directions quickly hop out of the water faster, but also your unmentionables are just not that close to your opponent. There's also a lot of just straight up punching, elbowing, body shots- like I guess you'd see in soccer, basketball.
I will say you don't realize what you're capable of until you're in the position to inflict pain- and you can do plenty of that above the water or in a genital-free manner. "Will I attempt to drown this sophomore from Calvert Hall, to gain the slightest advantage on a fast breaK?" Apparently the answer for me is, yes.
I've never played, but my brother was a latecomer into low-level college club water polo, where his team basically served as both a literal and metaphorical punching bag for the better teams in the area. I went to watch a few times, and was always stunned at how it was like, normal, to more-or-less try to drown your opponent.
Great stuff!! It is an amazing sport and very tough. I played through college and officiate. Yes, under water stuff can be tricky to see and make a call.
Women's team "should" win gold and let's just say for the men's side, they make it out of pool play.
are we overplaying how violent it is under the surface or nah
The beanbag grabbing is less likely. If you play bad defense, hips down then it's a possibility. I played through college and a little today and maybe happened to me very few times and same for me to grab others down there.
Women's game has a LOT more grabbing, due to more suit to grab.
Under water looks way more violent than what actually happens. But there a lot of wrestling moves, spinning to break free either kicking heavy and/or some pushing off.
Kind of but not really? I played 8 years without my bean bag getting grabbed, but I was fairly religious about keeping my hips up on defense (it's easier to move when you're horizontal & harder for the opponent to grab your suit which is very common & worse in the women's game b/c of their fullsuits) and only dropping them when needed (going vertical to guard a player with the ball). We used to wear 2 speedos because they would get yanked all the time and nobody wants to end up naked out there.
Did have a friend get kicked so hard he puked in the pool and his balls turned black and heard some rough underwater stories though. The worst things I experienced were above the water. Once got elbowed just above my eye by a guy intentionally and another time an opponent got so mad at me that he took a swing, barely missed me, & connected with my teammate's jaw hard enough to dislocate it.
“Did have a friend get kicked so hard he puked in the pool and his balls turned black”
WHAT
Yeah, you can't swim with a cup. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
All of the stuff I mentioned happened in high school games. I played both club and high school and, in my experience, high school games were way rougher because there were a lot of players who had just started the sport in 9th grade trying to keep up with those of us who'd been playing before that so they'd get physical to compensate.
Played in High School- on the East Coast (so stakes a little less intense. from what I gather, than West Coast where it's a higher profile sport). Never played hole (center) but that was where the most underwater shenanigans occurred because they aren't swimming around as much. Def always wore two suits and at least once a season top suit would be ripped off- but that's mostly from being grabbed on fast breaks, turnover. Our coach preached high hips- hips on the surface of the water, this let's you change directions quickly hop out of the water faster, but also your unmentionables are just not that close to your opponent. There's also a lot of just straight up punching, elbowing, body shots- like I guess you'd see in soccer, basketball.
I will say you don't realize what you're capable of until you're in the position to inflict pain- and you can do plenty of that above the water or in a genital-free manner. "Will I attempt to drown this sophomore from Calvert Hall, to gain the slightest advantage on a fast breaK?" Apparently the answer for me is, yes.
I've never played, but my brother was a latecomer into low-level college club water polo, where his team basically served as both a literal and metaphorical punching bag for the better teams in the area. I went to watch a few times, and was always stunned at how it was like, normal, to more-or-less try to drown your opponent.