Canoe polo is the most fun and exciting sport I've ever played, it's fast paced, its challenging and oh my god is it amazing to win. But it's difficult to share the wins and losses if no one's even heard of the game! Which is why I'm here, to show ye the magic of canoe polo, whether you've just stumbled upon it, or a veteran, because its such a simple yet complicated game, even the most experienced players arguing over shot clocks, the 6 meter line, paddle fouls, obstructions and so on, but ye'll know better with the tips and tricks of this video
The Basic Basics Crash course
For those of you who've never even heard of "Canoe Polo", imagine it like a basketball, rugby and kayaking mix. 2 teams, 5 players and 3 substitutes on each. The aim of Canoe Polo is to score goals on the opposing team within 2 10 minute halves, pushing, ramming and blocking to both attack and defend the goals 2 metres above the air
team with the most goals wins!
How to play
In canoe polo you have to have a lot of specialised equipment. The kayak, splashdeck, buoyancy aid and helmet.
The kayak you use in canoe polo is especially designed for speed and mobility, making it the thinnest it possibly can be, giving the consequence of the most unstable thing you will ever sit in. This means it's quite easy to be pushed into the water which is allowed, so you're expected to be able to flip yourself up out of the water when capsized, which brings us to the next equipment, spraydecks!
Spraydecks or splashdecks are covers to the cockpit of your kayak to stop water getting into your boat, which is incredibly useful when you're getting splashed or falling in, as without a decent splashdeck your boat will start to fill up and you'll be way too heavy to play! Theyre vital for rolling, which is when you capsize and push yourself back out of the water, possible with a paddle or your hand! Your kayak is very light, so it doesn't affect your centre of gravity all that much. Pwhen you're upside down in the water, you lean as far back as you can in the kayak, bringing your centre of gravity much closer to the surface of the water and the kayak. This makes it so much easier to spin, so you can simply place your hand on the water surface, and push yourself up! The arms are more for the initial push, and your hip action and core strength brings you the rest of the way. If you weren't able to put in enough strength, you can pull your hand right back, drawing your centre of gravity further from the edge and eventually stabilising you! Youre obviously not able to do it without a splash deck, since your boat would just, fill up with water and completely weigh you down, throwing off the centre of gravity.
The bouyancy aid is a sort of life jacket, it's just strapped around your torso and will keep you afloat if you end up in the water. This is what it looks like in real life, the model only looks like it belongs to a bomb squad because of my modelling skills.
It isn't technically required according to the official rules, (*although note that many countries require them when on the water) but it's good practice, as when not if you end up being rammed in the chest, it can protect you from what could be a terrible injury.
Now, the helmet is mandatory. Its a long helmet, down to your neck, and has a large face guard in the front. This is to help stop head injuries with paddles and boats. similar to a hurling helmet.
So that's all the equipment on your body, but we come to the real equipment, the stuff to actually move (show the paddle title) and score (show the ball title) in canoe polo!
The paddle and the ball
So in canoe polo, you have a two sided paddle. the blades are usually between 45 to 90 degrees difference from eachother. personally have mine at a 90 degree angle, because I'm a goalkeeper, but I'll explain once we get to the positions of canoe polo. But of course you ask, 'how do you throw the ball if your two hands are on the paddle?' You're thinking of it all wrong. You won't actually have your hands always on the paddle, cus ya have to have a hand on the ball! Beginners may drop their paddle entirely, to use the ball with both hands, but that's usually not practical because you can lose your paddle on accident, and it is very annoying to get back, especially if the opposing team isn't very gracious. What's recommended is to hold the paddle with one hand and the ball in the other, or if you're experienced enough you can manage and throw the ball with your paddle, flicking it up out of the water and using the power of the paddle to pass and score goals!
But how do you actually handle the ball? A wet hand trying to grip a wet ball that is usually bigger than a hand, difficult. Well there's ways to get around it. Firstly the ball actually has grooves all over it, allowing you to hold it without it slipping relatively easily! but the challenge can come in actually picking up the ball. If you're dribbling the ball for example, where you paddle, pick up the ball, throw it forward and repeat. you might not be able to get a good enough grip to pluck it out of the water, so what you could do is push down on the ball when you come up to it. as it goes down into the water, the bouyancy of the ball forces it upwards, where you can just snatch it out of the air. Hopefully you don't have to be getting it out of the water all that much, you always want to be giving passes and throws that go to the chest, rather than the water or elsewhere, in case it lands in the opposition's hand.
So, now into an actual game!
Before the match
Okay first we need to know what we're dealing with. The pitch is 35 metres long and 23 metres wide, which is about 3 tennis courts put across it or a bit smaller than a football penalty area. There are 2 "areas" in the canoe polo pitch which are very important for the game. The Goal line and the 6 metre line.
The goal line is obviously where the goal is, that's part of any sport. The 6 metre line however, is vital for fouls, many actions are allowed within this space that arent allowed outside it, such as blocking players or other tiny differences.
Before a match you'd have also wanted to decide on the general positions of Goalkeeper and the defence and attack positions, because in canoe polo there are actually no concrete positions. Because you've only 5 players on at any time, giving you little options. So what you actually do in canoe polo is just change positions and tactics on a whim to make sure there's no vacuum of players. Even to the point that the goalkeeper changes to just another attacker as soon as their team has the ball. So after thats all decided, it's time to start the game!
The match
At the start of any half, all players must line up touching the goal line. Each team will choose someone to be the "sprinter". The sprinter is going to sprint for the ball once it enters play. The referee starts the match by blowing their whistle, *whistle* and then throwing the ball into the centre of the pitch. The sprinters will then rush forward to get the ball first, but if it's a close call and you just about get it, then it's an issue because there's a player right in front of you trying to get the ball, and all your teammates are at the goal line! So a "follower" may follow at least 3 metres behind to be a pass if needed. It's a risk and reward scenario, because if your team gets it, you immediately have an easy pass, but if the opposing team get it, then you know have more of a panic to get the defence set up before the approaching onslaught!
so let's make a hypothetical match for an example of how a game would go. Blue Vs Red.
So in the match, the red sprinter has gotten the ball before the blue sprinter. On the blue side, they were waiting for someone to get the ball, and after seeing red get the ball, they quickly form into a defense, which the sprinter is now racing back to fall into line. On the red side, upon seeing them get the ball, they all make their way to the blue's defense. Now there are so many different tactics and play styles in canoe polo it could be its own video, so I'll just go through the most common defense and attack. The blue team, who have one goalkeeper and now 4 defenders, they form into a NAME OF THE THING???. The two at the front's job is to slow down and stop anyone from just charging into the defense, by blocking them and pushing them away. The two at the back's job is to stop anyone who's gotten through the first two and drive them out, or stop them from sneaking around the defense and scoring a cheeky goal. The goalkeeper coordinates all this, they scream at the top of their lungs which attackers they want rammed and kept from the defense, they're the eyes of the defense, and have to keep an eye on everyone and the ball. And of course, the goalkeeper blocks shots on the goal. The way a goalkeeper does this is by holding their paddle high above their heads to stop the ball from getting into the goal. That's why I have my blade angle at 90 degrees! Because it is so much easier to move the paddle when you can hold it at an even angle, rather an askew blade. Now, for the red team, theyre using the overflow tactic. What they do is all five will encircle the defense, and a random attacker will suddenly rush forward, and then another one, and another one, and the aim is to not just confuse the defense but to overwhelm them, and when an opening has been created, someone rushes forward, is thrown the ball and shoots! So red has scored a goal and it becomes 1-0 to red. To commence play again, both teams have to be on their halves, and the blue team will be on the line to hold up the ball, *whistle* starting the game again. But! In the rules only 3 of the reds need to be on their side of the pitch for the blues to start, the reds won't have time to reorganise and the blues could run in for a goal of their own! But, number 4 on the blues has gone a little rogue and tried to break up the reds defense, pushing a defender into the goalie, *whistle*this is an *obstruction*.