Proceedings of the Rutherford Jubilee International Conference: edited by J. B. Birks. 856 pages, diagrams, [formula omitted] New York, Academic Press Inc., 1962. Price, $32.00

Abstract

Men's water polo was the first team sport in the Olympic games, and since then it has continued to grow in popularity. Given the combination of swimming and throwing, and that water polo is a contact sport, injuries in water polo are not uncommon. Not only do these athletes swim thousands of meters per week, they pass and shoot a ball slightly larger then a volleyball (slightly smaller for the women), at high velocities, without the benefit of a firm base of support. It has been determined that during every game, a water polo player swims approximately 1000 m of front crawl, depending on their position or role in the game. Compared with competitive swimmers who swim a single uninterrupted distance, water polo players have been documented completing 49 to 56 separate 16- to 24-m swims at high intensity bursts of energy lasting 10 to 18 seconds. These sprints are separated by 30- to 40-second intervals of legwork (mostly “eggbeater”) and occasionally 3 to 7 meter combinations of 100% intensity swim and leg work.