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Water Polo Reader Tip

Grip the Ball

From Andrew Quinn, for About.com

I've only been playing water polo for a couple years, but I've become good at it in respect to those that I play with. My problem that I faced was shooting at the goal because my hands were too small to palm the ball.

I found that if I wrapped my hand around the ball and held the ball between my hand and forearm I could not only throw, but fake better. I could commit my whole body to a fake and still be able to perform a shot from a backhand throw. Along with being able to shoot, I have gained a lot of speed and accuracy in shooting like this.

After gripping the ball like this, and you start to throw, still think of your arm as a whip, you lead with your elbow, and follow through with your wrist and hand. Along with your hand being used for aiming, you can also put a spin on the ball that can be determined by the angle at which your elbow is when you throw. In doing this you may be able to change the direction of travel on the ball when you bounce it off the water, or "skip" it.

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