Sharing More Than Just Pool Space

Water Polo and Swimming: Sharing More Than Just Pool Space

By Alex Ellison

For years, swimming and water polo have been two sports activities that shared a pool however little else. Yet for a rising variety of athletes, the strains between these disciplines are starting to blur.

Historically, Duke Kahanamoku, Johnny Weissmuller, and Brad Schumacher had been maybe probably the most distinguished 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 University of California, Berkeley, to swim below 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 data in 5 occasions. As a water polo participant, Biondi helped Berkeley win three NCAA Championships, was named All-America 4 occasions, and voted the group’s Most Valuable Player in 1985.

Even so, for a very long time, it was typically believed that participation in a single sport would possibly negatively influence the opposite.

“There’s an antiquated notion that water polo takes away from swimming…but being open to trying and showing the benefits of doing something different as a means of improving your primary thing has been huge for us,” stated Michael Koziol, the top 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. As a end result, dual-sport athletes like Biondi have gotten much less of an exception.

“I think [swimming and water polo] really do go hand in hand,” stated Brandon Dion, the top coach of each swimming and water polo at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas. “Whether you’re using swim season as your conditioning to make you a better water polo player or you’re using water polo as a break from staring at the black line year round, there is definitely room for both,” he stated.

Dion grew up swimming in Texas as a result of the state didn’t but supply highschool water polo. At Fullerton College in California, nevertheless, he competed in freestyle sprints, breaststroke, and water polo.

Another 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. As the Texas High School Coaches Association 2024-25 Girls Water Polo Coach of the Year, the Boerne Champion coach now insists that his water polo gamers swim within the offseason as a result of it improves their conditioning.

“We are doing a lot of sprint training in swimming practice,” Slay stated, “but water polo [also] helps build endurance as well as the quick-twitch muscle fibers you need for sprint swimming.”

Koziol, at Germantown Academy, emphasizes {that a} team-sport mindset may reinvigorate even probably the most devoted swimmers.

One of the most important 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 power into the extra particular person setting of swimming.

Dion stated that water polo establishes “the feeling of team and family…so when we roll into swim season, it makes it a little easier to focus on the group as a whole. With the relays, [athletes] know they are [performing] for somebody else – just like they do in water polo – as opposed to just them versus the clock.”

Koziol, in Pennsylvania, sees the same crossover. “The inherent teamwork in water polo makes it more attractive to kids who are more collaborative,” he stated, and after they shift to swimming, the “swimmers then take lessons learned in water polo and focus more on relay[s] or on finding time [to] connect with their teammates between swim sets.”

Slay agreed. “Kids are very close after water polo heading into swimming,” he stated. “We’re more like a family than just a team.”

“Water polo is in the fall and swimming is in the winter, so it’s a nice lead-in,” Koziol stated.  “Some coaches look at [water polo] as an extended pre-season for swimming, [but] being more of a water polo guy, I view it as two sides of [the same] coin.”

To practice athletes successfully in each sports activities, dash units are important. Dion emphasizes Ultra-Short Race-Pace Training (USRPT), a technique of swim coaching targeted on quick intervals at race tempo or sooner. This helps each sports activities as a result of athletes typically dash between two-meter strains in water polo, and highschool swimming primarily focuses on quick distances.

Koziol, in the meantime, tends to mix conventional and trendy coaching strategies. For instance, he could 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 sooner and fitter – it additionally retains them extra motivated.

“It’s really hard to do something uninterrupted for eleven-and-a-half months of the year,” Koziol stated. “It’s great to break things up so swimmers get their mind off the black line for a few months while increasing their aerobic capacity.”

Dion has additionally seen his swimmers thrive by including water polo.

“Maybe they weren’t successful in other team sports,” Dion stated, “but they always wanted to be part of a team. It’s an easy transition because they crave that camaraderie. We’ve had success with kids who crave that switch.”

Ultimately, the objective is to showcase the advantages of each sports activities and “showing them they can be successful in both,” Dion stated. “You can apply your swim background to a team sport with a water polo ball, and you can take all this sprint work you’ve done in water polo, put it on a block, and be successful there too.”

Combining swimming and water polo presents greater than only a two-season routine; it presents an entire athletic expertise.

As Slay put it, “[I think] they do well for each other.”

Even if “water polo players who swim kinda grin and bear it,” Koziol surmised, “[when it’s] time to get the ball back in their hands, they realize the payoff.”

In the pool, as in life, typically one of the simplest ways ahead is to have a look at issues from either side.