Water Polo Planet

... Does anybody still think that we are a true worldwide sport? All you have to do is take a look at the under 18 World Youth Championships and see that it is not a world sport at all... I am actually growing a little frustrated in the effort to change the sport and make it better; because very fe...

re: The only thing I can think of is that someone believes more scoring = more entertaining. ... And the 'advantage rule'? You saw it a number of times in the Olympics - an exclusion would be called immediately before a shot would go in - which would take away that goal, and as often as not the 6-on...

floodpolo wrote: smear

To "smear" is to tell a lie. To report is to provide facts. The original article provided facts. As my PhD advisor used to say, "facts remain facts even if you choose to ignore them."

... Let's hope threads like this and the WPA help everyone learn how things should be. Way back when, I created the WPA for the "greater good" and happily partnered with any and all. After four years, it is clear that the market has changed. Although I am not throwing out the stuff I put ...

First of all, BRAVO Dante! You hit the nail on the head. In no particular order, a few thoughts for the group: Part of the error comes from misapplication of a very simple concept:"initiation of contact." The following text from Lesson 4 of Minor Fouls illustrates this: o Two fundamental (...

... our team and coach was confused... Confused coaches are a SOP. Adjust. Coaches systematically have elected to be ACTIVELY ignorant about what referees are taught to do. You have one of those coaches. Adjust. Or not. Your choice. ... my understanding was that team captains were to approach offic...

... This happens various times in this game (and in other games all weekend at the tournament with this official on the games)... "Various" is NOT a good adjective for a referee. ... no positional advantage being taken away... How do you define "advantage?" After five years of W...

Background: Playing in a collegiate game (not D-I) this past weekend in CA. CA school. Truly, no one cares that it was in CA. Truly. After five years of $1,000,000s poured into the ODP, there is no evidence that CA matters. Truly. Just check out the results of our USA teams (all CA players) at the ...

Loren, I have a quick question about defending 2m. In the eyes of the ref to what degree does (2m D) have the right to protect his ball side defense in a full front? Pending the deep wing defenders are doing their job preventing the ball from getting to the 1 and 5 positions. I have played in sever...

I have heard that the Italians weren't too happy with Rotsart (USA) in the Italian-Russian semi-final (women). Inadequate was the word that was used. Dante D. This is unfortunate and, sadly, another indictment of the state of US water polo. Perhaps we need an adequate national referee training prog...

H2Opolo1961 wrote:To be fair however, he owes his success, at least in part, to someone by the name of Loren Bertocci.

Please do not dilute Mark's accomplishments. Mark is a success by HIS efforts, HIS skills, and HIS intelligence. I am just pleased to be his friend.

For those of you who are at all curious, go back through the history books and see if you can EVER find a water polo referee so accomplished that he is appointed to the most important game in the entire world for THREE STRAIGHT YEARS . I am quite confident it will be a fruitless search. This puts Ma...

There may come a time when I will weigh in more than this on this forum. After all, for many years, I have been a big supporter of the creation of a pro semi-pro league in the United States, linked to the training of our national team. For now, let me offer this: to the extent our best mens players ...

OK, now that we are past whatever was the previous (unless it has changed again) deadline, I am no longer able to (interested in?) providing all of you with "deadline" information. What I will assure you is that if the sections are large enough, we will offer our entire curriculum to those...

re: Interview with Ricardo Azevedo New 07/01 by Joan Gould Coaching Water Polo: It's Time to Trash the Cookie Cutter Almost a decade ago, I remember sitting at Los Al watching a very physical international game being played by two teams that were not friends. This game was not refereed by a USA refe...