Abstract
Water polo has recently encountered extensive challenges, including possible banishment from the Olympics. To meet the challenges, major rule changes have been implemented. This perspective is to provide a literature review of the impact of rule changes on water polo gameplay. An emerging and relatively small body of research has demonstrated significantly enhanced game dynamics and outcomes as intended by recent rule changes. The water polo community needs more analytical research on the impact of the latest rule changes approved in 2018.
Highlights
WATER POLO is a team sport regulated by a complex set of rules that have shaped the gameplay and have undergone significant changes, as shown in Table 1 [1, 2].As the governing body of water polo, Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) revises its rules every four years
There have been only three published articles studying the impact of the FINA 2018 rule change on water polo games
In January 2020, the 34th European Championship was the latest match as the COVID-19 pandemic crisis resulted in the cancelation of all the following major water polo matches, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Summary
WATER POLO is a team sport regulated by a complex set of rules that have shaped the gameplay and have undergone significant changes, as shown in Table 1 [1, 2]. As the governing body of water polo, Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) revises its rules every four years. Under the highly competitive environment of sports, water polo is losing its fan base, media coverage, and global market and has even been threatened with banishment from the Olympics [3]. The impact of rule changes on water polo has not been comprehensively reviewed, despite extensive studies on this topic for a variety of other sports [7, 8]
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