waterpolo

[notanidea]

Any experience with waterpolo for children?

ds does it at school - what age are you looking at? It's quite brutal as they get older - very physical, lots of holding each other under water and trunk grabbing! it requires an enormous amount of fitness - lots and lots of sprinting - the swimming technique is quite different from normal competitive swimming

ds does it as an add-on to his competitive swimming so only does it at school, not at a club - if you have a club near you why don't your dc give it a try and see what they think?

she is nearly 9.Not sure of any club nearby.We wanted her to continue swimming and do some team sports so thought this could be a good option.Did not realise that it involves such a fitness level.

she's still pretty little, so I think the refereees are less likely to turn a blind eye at that age!

your best bet as far as finding a club goes is contacting the ASA (Amateur Swimming Association) in your region and asking about water polo - some swimming clubs have a separate water polo section and there are a (few) stand-alone water polo clubs. Or you could call round your local pools and ask if there are any water polo clubs training there

the British women's team is currently doing better than the men's so I'm sure the sport would love to have another female recruit

thanks mimsum.How old is you ds.Do you think I should wait another couple of years before we decide doing this as you have said that she is pretty little and just get her to do swimming and improve that before.

he's 12 and only recently getting strong enough to be able to tread water and throw the ball at the same time - he swims all the time so the swimming wasn't a problem, but the ball control and upper body strength definitely was! I'd give it a try - at 9 I think they'd be much more gentle, but if she doesn't like it I wouldn't push it for now - she might well enjoy it much more later. She would definitely need to be very water confident as they're not supposed to be able to put their feet down - the pool at ds' school has a movable floor so during water polo sessions the depth is 2m so everyone is always out of their depth

Dd plays but is on the point of stopping as it's too rough for her (which is a bit of a shame as she's really good & has been talent spotted by national coaches etc). Ds has played & as he's a super fast swimmer did very well, but doesn't have time to do that and competitive swimming.