Waterpolo - College Club Team - No Experience

[Anonymous]

I have a rising freshman going to a VA university. She has played club/high school soccer for years (starting at 3 yrs old!). She tore her ACL last year and is still not back to her old self on the field. She wants to try out for the clollege club team, but I doubt she will make it. She did summer swim team up till middle school. Also played basketball. Would waterpolo be more gentle on her knee? I worry she might get re-injured. Would she have a chance of making the team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a rising freshman going to a VA university. She has played club/high school soccer for years (starting at 3 yrs old!). She tore her ACL last year and is still not back to her old self on the field. She wants to try out for the clollege club team, but I doubt she will make it. She did summer swim team up till middle school. Also played basketball. Would waterpolo be more gentle on her knee? I worry she might get re-injured. Would she have a chance of making the team?

Water polo involves constant use of the knee in something called the "egg beater kick".

[Anonymous]

Starting water polo in college is bold. Also seems like a good way to drown

[Anonymous]

College club is not the same thing as ncaa water polo. It’s like rec water polo in comparison- there are often no tryouts and not everyone will have prior experience. Swimming is low impact and will be easier on her knee than land sports.

[Anonymous]

Water polo at my school was pretty brutal…. It was just a coed club team, but it was all the kids who’d washed out of the D1 swim team and wanted to do something fun. And you can’t exactly ref well underwater so they were killing each other under there. It was entertaining to watch and my roommate loved it, but it was a pretty skilled group.

[Anonymous]

I used to coach in the division where she’d likely play (assuming the team is in the main intercollegiate club league). It’s been a while, but assuming no massive changes, if she’s into it she’ll make the team. The starters will primarily be kids with high school experience, but there aren’t a ton of those in the area - certainly a lot less than you need to have a healthy-sized roster. An athlete with swimming experience is exactly the kind of student a club team will need.

As far as injuries, water polo is high usage but low impact on knees. Players definitely get sore knees but it’s pretty rare for it to be anything that needs more than rest; the sport is much harder on shoulders and hips. And even then, four years of club water polo aren’t typically enough to build up the miles on those joints that leads to the degenerative injuries. The players I had who got those were the ones who had played through high school.

[Anonymous]

Water polo is brutal dam

[Anonymous]

My DS plays club WP at a VA school. There are several players (it is co-ed) that are new to the sport. If she is a strong swimmer and athlete, she'll be fine. However, it is not gentle on the knees due to egg beater kick. It is fun, but at his school, they practice late, which he hates. He played WP in high school and it is a very hard sport (think ice hockey in the water).