Inner Tube Water Polo
Well, that was interesting! I just got back home from my first ever game of inner tube water polo. Now, before today, I’d barely heard of it, but our glee club formed a team for this season and was still a few people short. So, since they were scrambling to have a full team, I decided to try it out tonight. I went a little early to watch the game ahead of us, and I brought my camera too. Unfortunately, this particular pool isn’t terribly well lit, so I don’t have anything to show for it.
The game is essentially the same as regular water polo, but your butts are stuck inside an inner tube, and if you fall out of your tube, you can’t touch the ball. The basic idea is to pass the ball to your teammates and try to get it in your opponent’s goal (like a soccer goal) on the other side of the pool. It’s hard to maneuver terribly quickly when your inside an inner tube; you have to paddle a lot with your arms, since your legs are less useful. I learned that it’s much easier to get speed when you’re paddling backwards. The games are only a half-hour long, but I found myself quite tired at the end of it. My arms are definitely unhappy with how much I used them tonight, and they’ll probably protest a bit more tomorrow, but it was fun, and I’ll probably go again next week.
Oh, and we won. 11-8 or something. Go Glee Club!
You know, I’ve heard that attaching a motor and rudder to your inner tube can get you a lot of extra maneuverability in this sport. It’s generally illegal for tournament play, though, so best stick to steroids, which are slightly less obvious.
I’ll keep that in mind, Jeff. Thanks!