Peggy Edwards, age 16, of Champaign, Ill., for her question:
HOW MANY PLAYERS ARE ON A WATER POLO TEAM?
Water polo is an aquatic team sport contested in swimming pools, in which the competing teams attempt to shoot a buoyant bail into netted goals at each end of the playing area. A water polo team consists of seven players: a goalkeeper who must defend the goal without hanging onto the goal or using the sides of the pool, and six field players.
In addition to seven players, each water polo team has four substitutes.
With the exception of the goalkeeper, each player may use only one hand at a time in handling the bail. Players wear caps of different colors for easier idenification: white for one team, blue for the others. Goalies wear red caps.
An official match requires a referee, two goal judges, one or two timekeepers and one or two recorders. Games are divided into four periods of five minutes each, with a two minute interval between periods.
Water polo, now a major national sport in Italy and Hungary, originated in England during the 18709 and soon became popular in the United States. It was first played in the Olympic Games in 1900.
From approximately 1920 to 1946, the United States departed from the international rules for water polo by adopting to play a loosely inflated bail that could be gripped in one hand and carried toward the goal. Opposing players usually attempted to seize the ball carrriers, wrestle them under water and render them helpless from loss of breath.
This rough style of play eventually fell into disfavor and virtually disappeared by 1946. Since that time traditional water polo has grown rapidly in the United States, especially as a college sport, starting in southern California and spreading throughout the U.S.
Today, no player, except the goalie when defending a goal in a pool with a shallow end, may walk upon or use the bottom, nor may they take the ball beneath the surface of the water.
Play begins when the referee throws the ball into the center of the pool with each team spread out along its own goal line. The team gaining possession of the bail then attempts to advance it toward the opponent's goal by passing it between teammates and dribbling it with their forearms.
Each goal is worth one point.
Players may advance the ball with any part of their bodies, but may not use more than one hand at a time and may not employ clenched fists. Players may not impede the free limb movement of another player unless that player holds the bail.
Penalties for infraction of these rules range from granting the offending player a free shot at the opponent's goal from the 13 foot line, with only the opposing goalie permitted to defend against the shot (this is a minor penalty) to the major penalty of expulsion of a player for one minute or until a goal is scored.
After accumulating three fouls, players may be removed from the game and their places taken by substitutes.