Beach Water Polo

Beach water polo is a team sport played in open water off the beach. The game is very similar to Olympic water polo which is usually played in an indoor pool, though played with just four players (a goalkeeper and three field players) on a smaller field size.

The rules for beach water polo have not been standardized. For the Beach Polo Cup on Longbeach 2019, the course size was 18m long by 11m wide. Buoyant lane ropes are used to mark out the area. The first team to score 5 goals won the game, the first team to win three games won the match. The match durations were from 20 to 30 minutes.

a beach water polo game

There are beach water polo tournaments held throughout the world. A beach water polo exhibition event will run concurrently to the FINA World Championships in South Korea in July 2019. Beach water polo has also been on the program for the Asian Beach Games since 2008.

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Similar Sports

• Water Polo — a team sport played in swimming pools, the aim is to pass the ball over the water and into the goal net.
• Water Basketball — a mix of basketball and water polo played in a swimming pool with basketball goals.
• Canoe Polo — participants in canoes throw or hot the ball with their paddle through a goal is suspended around two meters above the water.
• Water Volleyball — a team sport derived from volleyball in which the games are played in water.
• Open Water Swimming — competitive swimming races conducted over various distances (10km at the Olympics) held in rivers, lakes and oceans.
• Beach Basketball — a version of basketball played on sand with two teams of three players.