Women's Water Polo

Water polo is not the easiest sport to shoot.  The ball movement is pretty fast around a fairly small area (around the goals any way, not much happens in the middle of the pool). Also, you can barely see the players; they're mostly hidden in the water.

While it's tough to shoot, it's very fun to watch.  And if I thought team handball was physical, water polo puts it to shame.  Not only is there as much grabbing, but there's also a lot of pushing your opponent under water.

The photos below are a mix of images from two different games.

Other than boxing, water polo is the only other sport I know of where you get to wear a robe as your warmup outfit.

The Spanish team before the start of the match.

The water polo version of a jump ball.

Yup, that's going to be a goal.

In case you were wondering, they have a 30 second shot clock in water polo.

As you see from the two pictures above, water polo is no less physical than team handball. 

A trip to the penalty box (I'm not sure if that's what they call it in water polo) follows more egregious fouls.

If the defensive team commits a foul inside its own 5-metre line, their opponents get a penalty throw on goal as seen above.

In this case, the penalty throw resulted in a goal.

See the open area behind the goal?  

If an errant shot ends up in that area, they have a ball boy to dive into the pool to go and get it.

He gets to wear a rob too.

A water polo version of a timeout.

The Spanish team setting up a play.