Olympic water polo just might inspire the next wave of players at Deerfield Academy

United States' Maggie Steffens scores a goal during a women's water polo Group B preliminary match between USA and Spain at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, in Saint-Denis, France. AP
Published: 08-03-2024 11:03 AM |
With the 2024 Paris Olympics underway, Americans have the opportunity to watch sports they often don’t get a chance to see on national television.
One of those sports is water polo, and Deerfield Academy coach Mark Scandling is plenty familiar with how the game works.
When DA became co-ed in 1989, it had a big need for more coaches as the school was adding more sports. Scandling, who began coaching wrestling at DA in 1987, decided to become the JV co-ed water polo coach for the Big Green, even though he had never played the sport and didn’t know much about it.
Thirty-five years later, Scandling is still Deerfield’s water polo coach, though his knowledge of the sport is certainly higher than it was when he started.
“It’s been a real rewarding experience,” Scandling said. “Learning a new sport with the students, growing as a coach and growing as a team has been one of my great professional rewards.”
If not familiar, here’s how water polo works. Like soccer, there are two goals on each side of the pool, with the objective to score as many goals as possible. Each team has six outfield players and one goalie in the pool at a time.
All six outfield players can’t touch the bottom of the pool and must tread water the entire time while the goalie is the only player allowed to stand. Players can move the ball by passing it to a teammate or by swimming while pushing the ball in front of them. Outfield players can only have one hand on the ball at a time while the goalie can use both hands.
While it may appear to be soccer in water, Scandling likens it to a different sport.
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“I compare it to basketball in water,” Scandling said. “You have pick and rolls, zone defenses. There’s an individual player who plays in front of the two-meter [line] which is the equivalent of a center in basketball. You want to get the ball as close to the net as possible because that’s the hardest spot to defend.”
Deerfield Academy uses a 25-yard pool while other pools are 25 meters. In the Olympics, the pool is 30 meters long. At the prep level, the game is comprised of four, seven-minute quarters but at the collegiate level and in the Olympics, quarters are eight minutes long. There is a 30-second shot clock as well.
Water polo is a full contact sport. Players are allowed to jostle each other for position and for the ball, though there is a ref to call fouls.
“It’s a physical sport,” Scandling said. “Kids come out of the pool with scratches and bruises. If you’re holding the ball, the person covering you can be wrestling you and can put any weight on you to make you drop the ball or give it up. There will be underwater cameras in the Olympics where you’ll really be able to see the physical action under water.”
That goes for both the men’s and women’s games. Unlike in women’s hockey or women’s lacrosse, where unlike the men’s game, hitting and checking is not allowed, women’s water polo is also full contact.
“It’s interesting seeing the difference between the boys and girls game,” Scandling said. “It’s not that different. Girls are usually taught they shouldn’t be too physical and most sports have different rules for physicality in the girls games. In water polo and in wrestling, it’s the same rules on the girls side as the boys side. In water polo, the main difference is a different sized ball. Girls have to fight for position and be physical with one another. That’s a good thing at some level. It teaches you not to be pushed around.”
With so much physicality, combined with having to tread water throughout, water polo is a grueling, exhausting and physically demanding sport to play.
With that comes challenging practices to get in shape and prepare for the season. At Deerfield, Scandling says the majority of players who come out for water polo have never played before but have experience as swimmers. That gives him a baseline to work with, though many of the early season practices are about teaching the basics of the game.
“It’s a sport that, I’d estimate 65-70 percent started as swimmers or being able to swim,” Scandling said. “Imagine trying to play hockey and not knowing how to skate. It’s a different experience than swimming. It’s being part of a sport that’s always fluid. You have to see the whole pool, you have to use your peripheral vision, you have to keep your head out of the water.
“It’s a hard game to play,” Scandling added. “I have no idea how the players sustain full capacity all game.”
Deerfield has had success in the pool. Last year, the DA boys — whose season takes place in the fall — went 11-7. The Big Green girls water polo team — which plays in the spring — went 10-5.
Those winning records came despite the school having teams with players who took to the sport after they got to DA. After all, water polo is not as popular on the East Coast as it is in the West Coast, where teams are able to play year-round.
“You teach them how to swim during swim lessons then some come out for water polo,” Scandling said. “You see how much fun the two teams have. There’s camaraderie and the players have a lot of fun which makes up for the arduous practices. You go through something challenging together and that helps you grow together, no matter the sport. What makes water polo so special is that the rewards are so much more rewarding because of how challenging it is. Few people come to the school having played it but they leave having played and learned it and they love it.”
With water polo being featured at the Olympics, and the U.S. women’s team very much in the hunt for a gold medal, interest level may rise at Deerfield. Scandling said that once people see the sport, they often want to try it, and he hopes that interest brings new athletes to the pool in the fall.
“If they watch, they’ll be hooked,” Scandling said. “People gain enthusiasm when they see the game. You learn so much more when watching it. They get excited and some people want to give it a try. You have to be able to swim first and it takes a while to pick it up.”
Knockout rounds for the Olympics begin Tuesday. Gold medal games are Aug. 10 (women) and Aug. 11 (men).