Water Polo
blow and the other team will gain possession. This is true for every player except for the goalie who can hold it with two hands. When players are on defense they can’t interfere with a players movements unless the player is still and holding the ball.
When passing the ball, again you may not hold the ball with two hands and you may not pass while you are standing on the floor. This further enhances the fitness level, needing your upper body to be stronger in order to create harder, sharper passes to other teammates.
If a player fails to follow the rules, depending upon how bad the offense was, action will be taken by the referees. For small fouls such as touching the ball with two hands, or throwing the ball while standing in place the whistle will be blown and the other team will get a free pass to a teammate to advance them forward. The person taking the free throw may either pass or dribble forward; however at least two players must touch the ball after a free throw if a goal is to be scored.
For an major fouls occur such as contact fouls, and bad sportsmanlike fouls a person can be penalized by having one minute in the penalty box, and just like in basketball a player is removed from the game after committing five personal fouls. If a foul occurs near the goal that prevented scoring a penalty shot can be taken from the 4-meter line.
Of course even with all these rules there are still ways to be disrespectful, because of this they have a code of conduct. Each individual and team must abide by this code or the team or person can be penalized. One rule is that unless there is warm up space provided teams should not enter the deck area until after the game is finished. Another rule is that athletes are not allowed to change on the deck, they must use the changing rooms, and they can’t bring any of their equipment out onto the deck, it must stay in the changing room or next to the team bench. Players have to present themselves in a respectful manner which is why all use of profanity is prohibited in the facility. The teams must all have warm up suits, if the team is on deck no street clothes can be worn and all teams must wear caps during warm ups to show what team they are on and also for hygiene reasons. And another very important rule of conduct is that all players must not criticize the officials publicly before, during, or after the game.
This code does not only apply to the players but the coaches also have their special code. Coaches also must not use profanity in the facilities and also should not criticize the referees. Coaches should hold [next page]