For the following account of water polo the author is indebted to a volume from Spalding's Athletic Library, entitled "Water Polo," written by L. de B. Handley, permission to use it having kindly been granted by the publishers:
The value of an athletic game or contest is determined by four things: Its physical-culture merits; its utility; its attractiveness as a pastime, and its spectacular features.
Water polo has few equals as a means of developing the body. The swimming alone in it would insure general and symmetrical development, but the player wrestles besides, during a game, and every part of the body is given its proportionate share of this gruelling work, developing all muscles in a uniform way.
As to its utility, it is self-evident. Swimming has come to be looked upon as a necessity, simply because it may be the means of saving life, and in this water polo is the most practical of teachers. A player is coached on how to free himself from every kind of a tackle, how to assist an exhausted team-mate and how to apply the best methods of resuscitation when any one is knocked out. Then these teachings have to be practised frequently while the team is at work, and one becomes proficient insensibly and as a matter of course. It is a revelation to see an expert player handle a drowning person, and more especially a frantic one. The rescue is performed in such an easy, matter-of-fact way as to lead one to wonder at the halo of heroism that surrounds most cases of life-saving. Hardly a player but has several rescues to his credit, which he looks upon as a series of trifling services rendered to a fellow mortal, and no more.
As a pastime water polo is among the leaders. Hard and exhausting it may be, but there is an exhilaration in dashing about the pool, fighting one's way to goal, that no other game gives. And it has a feature that appeals strongly to the man who has attained manhood and its numerous responsibilities—the rarity of accidents. Bruises and knockouts one gets a-plenty, but those serious injuries which mar football, hockey and lacrosse are totally unknown.
ITS EVOLUTION IN AMERICA
There is a belief that a game similar to water polo was played by the ancients, but no actual proof of it has been found. Rules were first formulated in England in 1870, and we adopted them in America about 1890, but our present game bears absolutely no resemblance to the one that was then played. In the latter, points were scored by throwing an inflated rubber ball nine inches in diameter through an open goal marked by uprights and a cross-bar; and passing was the feature of the game. Americans found it unsuited. The few available tanks were so small that there was no place for action, and the outdoor season was too short to be satisfactory.
The idea was then conceived of changing the goal into a solid surface, four feet by one in size, and to oblige the scorer to touch the ball to the goal while holding it, instead of passing it.
The innovation met ready favor, but, as may be imagined, transformed the game. From an open passing one water polo became one of close formations and fierce scrimmages. These, at first, were disorderly scuffles, where weight and brute strength reigned supreme, but little by little strict rules were formulated to eliminate rough tactics, and then science became an important factor.
In 1897 a man entered the field who was destined to revolutionize the system of play.