Home > Student Life > Inner-tube water polo ends season with a splash
Inner-tube water polo ends season with a splash
BY CARLY McLAIN
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
ISSUE: 78/29
CARLY McLAIN / STATESMAN
Freshman John Young fights for the ball from
the opposing team during the last regular
season game of inner-tube water polo
intramurals.
CARLY McLAIN / STATESMAN
The Water Buffalis competed against the Black
Outs Thursday night.
Imagine bumper cars on water. Last Thursday, the last intramural inner-tube water polo game of the regular season came to a close. Water Buffali and BlackOut competed in an intense rivalry on the water at the humid UMD pool house. Freshman Amanda Smith of BlackOut said this season was the first time anyone on their team had played inner-tube water polo.
Smith and teammate freshman Callan Young looked at the list of intramural options, saw inner- tube water polo and decided to get a group of friends together and play. “At first, [inner-tube water polo] was kind of a joke,” said Smith. Learning to play was pretty self-explanatory after a person plays a game, according to Smith. “We [The BlackOuts] read the rules and winged it,” said Young.
A team consists of three women and three men (teams can play with one less player, but there has to be at least five players in the pool), according to the UMD RSOP co-rec inner-tube water polo rules Web site. A game has two 18-minute halves. There can be substitutions of players at any time, as long as it doesn’t add an advantage to the team, and there can be no more than two goalies between the posts.
As the game starts, players are at the pool wall, facing it, according to the Web site. At the blow of a whistle, players rush on tubes to get to the ball that is located in the center of the pool. The goal of the game is to throw the ball into the net and score as much as possible.
Having to compete with one less player, BlackOut held their own against Water Buffali Thurday night. Both teams seemed to go point for point at the beginning of the game, keeping it casual and fun. “[Inner-tube water polo] can be as competitive as you want to make it,” said Young.
The game picked up towards the end of the first half, when Water Buffali went on a scoring streak and took the lead. Young said that a player can get really into it and the games can get quite aggressive. “It gets really intense,” she said.
In the second half, BlackOut switched players and goalies and made another run at winning. They came close to tying it, but Water Buffali ultimately walked away with the win, going 8-6.
Though intramurals don’t allow any more teams to add to the games this season, there will be options to play next year. For more information, visit the UMD Intramural home page at www.umdrsop.org.
