10 Thoughts For Water Polo Athletes Missing Competition & Spending More Time At Home

By Jack Bowen, Author, Water Polo Coach and former National Team athlete

This past weekend I had to cancel a Goalie Combine: it was honestly the first session I've canceled in 21 years of running them year-'round.  We had a full session (plus wait list) but it seemed the responsible thing to do, given the news of this past week.
 
In all of the responses I received from goalies (and their parents) who missed the session, I noticed two trends: First of all, our water polo community is immensely gracious and full of gratitude and truly a great community to be a part of; secondly, and my primary reason for writing, goalies and water polo players in general just don't know what to do over these next few weeks, and understandably so.
 
I have a few reflections—10, actually—which I hope might be helpful during this time which I know is difficult for all of us, especially you as young, committed student-athletes.
 
1. The Injured Athlete Analogy:
First, it's worth framing where you, the age-group/high-school goalie, are in the midst of your career and training arc.  To do so, I reference conversations I often have with athletes who have been injured and are out for weeks or months because of it.  And this will frame the remaining comments below.
 
For a young person committed to their sport, as I know all of you are, a few weeks off can feel like a few months.  Know that (except for those who were in-season) this is the "best" time to have your sport taken away as we're in what I call the off-off-season, with a lot of time to recover and prepare.  So, that being said, we can flip our narrative and view this as a great opportunity.
 
When I had to sit out for 15 months my freshman and sophomore year at Stanford to recover from my goalie-related Tommy John surgery, I was fortunate enough to have this sort of mindset: and I returned Spring of my sophomore year better and stronger than I'd ever been.  
 
Use this as a time to return better and stronger, physically and mentally and emotionally.
  
2.  Habits:
Now that I have your attention, before moving to the water-polo-related comments, I want to point your attention elsewhere.  A huge majority of you have, at the least, a 21-28-day break from school along with nearly every water polo training and tournament having been canceled.  This is a lot of time to do things which take a lot of time for which, until now, you didn't have.  
 
As much research shows, it takes 21 consecutive days to break a bad habit and form a good one. So, here's your gift: find that habit you've wanted to form—whether it has to do with your nutrition, reading/writing, stretching—and do it.  Start tomorrow.
 
3. Get ahead on your school work. 
You're going to have work due from now through the summer and, now, you'll have a lot more time to do that work and, more importantly, to get ahead on the work due when you return to school and training.
 
So, given that these hours are fixed—i.e. you have X hours of work to do in March and April whether you do it evenly over this time or not—and given that you're going to want to be in the pool as much as possible when that becomes an option, front-load your work now in order to subtract from those fixed hours, and then you can get back to your training full-throttle when that time comes.  
 
4. Focus on healthy eating: 
When I was in high school I attended a goalie clinic given by 3-time Olympic goalie, Craig Wilson. I remember one thing from this day: at some point, he discussed nutrition and said some version of, "I don't drink soda.  Never have. Soda is just terrible for your body and you're trying to fuel your body." So, I stopped drinking soda.
 
But, a more big-picture realization came from that: what you eat really does fuel your body.  So, especially when you're not training, now is the time to really focus on that. And, given Point #2, above, doing this for 21 days can literally change your tastes so this habit can continue when you're back to training.  I experienced this 3 years ago when my wife and I decided to become plant-based.  I felt like I was giving something up: that I'd have to "cheat" with a steak or hamburger every few weeks.  But, now, those things look genuinely unappealing to me and a plate of whole grains, fresh vegetables, and lentils sounds like four-star high-end culinary excursion.  The point being: pay attention to what you're eating, especially when you're trying to be your best in one of the toughest sports known.
 
5. Take care of your brain: 
As many of you have trained with our Bowen Goalie Combines for at least a year, you've likely done our goalie-meditation at least once (we do this during our Playoff Focus and then again during the Summer Goalie Focus prior to JO's).  We've done it for 21 years, and I did it with the 1996 Olympic Team repeatedly with our team psychologist in preparation for the Olympics and I even did it with my own high school team when in high school.
 
The science supporting meditation is ubiquitous: meditating—and not just sports-focused meditation—has proven benefits well beyond aiding someone in their pursuit of blocking water polo shots.  I'd love to go into it here but to even start writing about the magic of the human brain would take a 5-page intro.  Suffice it to say, the experts agree.
 
So, here's another item which typically results in students saying, "I just don't have the time." Now, you do have 15 minutes per day. I highly recommend it.
 
WATER POLO-SPECIFIC ITEMS START HERE! 
Okay, so nearly all the emails I've been getting really have to do with this: With no teams, training, tournaments, or pools available for a month, what can I do to help me continue moving forward with my water polo training??  Here you go:
 
6. Range of Motion (ROM) and Strength Training: No Pool nor Weight Room Needed:
 There are a few things we should be doing now, which only pay dividends 4-5 months later (i.e., in our case, just in time for JO's).  
 
One of those is to focus on our Range of Motion .  Our eggbeater creates force and power based on four factors: 1. RPM's (i.e. cycles/revolutions per minute), 2. technique, 3. strength, and 4. ROM.  As for the ROM factor, it's simple: the more water you grab with your calf, the more power per kick.  And what inhibits your heel from reaching out to grab water is the tightness through your legs and, primarily, your hips.  
 
In the "Goalie New Years Resolutions," I send to goalies in January, one resolution is to stretch for 15 minutes per day.  Hard to make time for this, I know, but clearly worth it.  And, now, you have the time.  For your reference, below I've included the page from the Goalkeeper Handbook on Eggbeater-specific stretching.
 
In addition, this focus on stretching not only allows you to maximize the power of your eggbeater but, also, "pre-conditions" your legs: when you do get back into the pool and want to start conditioning (which, really, should start right around mid-April to be ready for early-June games) your legs and hips will be ready as opposed to needing 2-3 weeks to pre-condition.
 
As for our strength training, ideally you'd have access to a gym and can lift weights 3 times per week. But during this month, I realize this is not the case for many of you.  For those who do not have access to a weight room, we can still get a lot of good training done, focused on our core and hip flexibility.  Here are 2 links to videos which provide a great at-home workout focused on all of these areas; they are from a Pilates instructor who runs one of the top studios in San Francisco and, recently, Palo Alto (MNT Studio) and is a dear friend—and, fun fact, is married to a 2-time National Champion Water Polo player from UC Berkeley (um, "Go Bears?").
Pilates/Yoga Core and Hips Fusion Part I
Pilates/Yoga Core and Hips Fusion Part II
 
In addition to these, here are 3 videos explicitly focused on "Out Of Pool Exercises for Water Polo Players"—
            Part I
            Part II
            Part III
 
7. Reactions, Hand-Eye, and Fundamentals/Technique—The At Home Edition:
            Note: Items a – d are goalie-specific
This is one of the most important areas of focus for goalies at this point in the arc of our training. For those who don't have access to a pool, as many pools are closed at this point, there are still some things we can do at home.
 
a. Reaction Drill: Goalie faces a wall and then their partner/friend/parent stands behind them, throwing the ball off the wall, challenging the goalie to get their hands to the ball to block it.  This can be done with a ball of any size.  Just remember to have the ball come off the wall directly at the goalie or in an upwards arc to best emulate a water polo shot—i.e. either underhand toss the ball or bounce it on the ground before hitting the wall.  Start out with easy shots and then increase the speed and/or decrease the distance of the goalie to the wall to maximize quickness.
 
b. Tennis Ball Quick: Just as we do in the water, have a bag of 10-12 tennis balls with the "shooter" about 3 yards from the goalie.  Throw each of the 12 balls quickly, within reach of the goalie, and the goalie attempts to catch as many as possible.
 
c. Tennis Ball Quick Hip-Over Version: Have the goalie sit on the ground.  Throw the balls just out of reach, forcing the goalie to extend their arm to catch the ball, falling to the side as they do so.  Immediately recover to seated position for the next toss and continue, rapidly.
 
d. Technique: As you've seen me do occasionally at our Goalie Combines, we can work on fundamentals on land.  Imagine you're in the goal and have your partner throw you the "fundamental" shots: 
-Pull-downs
-Estep
-1-arm controlled shots  
See if you can control the ball, having it land on the ground immediately in front of you.
 
e. Throwing: As I often recommend to goalies working on their throwing motion, one great (and fun) way to do this is to go out with a friend/parent and throw a football.  In order to get a good spiral on a football we need to emulate good passing technique: coming over the top, using our core for power, proper follow-through.  Then you can increase the distance as you go along.  Obviously, the same can be done with a water polo ball, just making sure you have backspin on each pass.
 
f. Wrist snap/Forearm Strengthening: Two ways to do this with a ball.  One is to lie on your back, and repeatedly snap the ball straight up into the air repeatedly.  This also involves a good focus on control.  The second way to do this is to be seated and have your hips at a 90-degree angle so your quads are perpendicular to the ground; then you lay your arm flat on your leg (i.e. so it's flat), with the ball in your hand, repeatedly snapping the ball upwards. 
            You should do both of these until you feel a good "burn" in your forearm: this just means your forearm is getting stronger!
 
8. Self-Training at the Pool: i. GOALIES, ii. FIELD-PLAYERS and iii. GOALIES AND FIELD PLAYERS:
i. GOALIES:
For those who do have access to a pool, the focus should be on fundamentals and technique though should also include just a bit of leg conditioning and cardio focus (i.e. swimming!).
It's important to remember here, you can do allof our fundamentals-focus work without a ball, just as we always include about 20% of the work we do at Goalie Combines without a ball.
Goalie Technique: Go through the Fundamentals progression, taking time to do each move at maximum explosiveness with a focus on quality, not quantity:
            -Pull Downs
            -Estep(high and low)
            -Corners (high and low) and Corners Hands Focus
            -Corners Recovery and Cannonball Run
            -Lobs
            -3-Ball Monty
For a more comprehensive overview of goalie training (which was initially for coaches), see this video of my talk at the USA Water Polo High Performance Education Conference on Goalie Training.
 
ii. FIELD PLAYERS
            Work on hip-overs which are hugely important (and often overlooked) on defense.  This video involves doing the skill with 2 teammates but this can be done by yourself, just using a wall instead of another player (remember, we're working on social distancing!): Hip Over/Splitting.
            If you have a ball available, spend a half hour in the pool just being with the ball.  Be creative. Here are a few things you can do with the ball:
            -Dribbling while sprinting
            -hand transfers
            -spin with the ball, clockwise and counter clockwise
            -ball-slams: jump straight up as high as you can and slam the ball straight down onto the water
            -eggbeater laterally with the ball in each hand
            -ball up in attack position and attack straight ahead and diagonally in both directions
            
iii. GOALIES AND FIELD PLAYERS:
 
a. Leg Range of Motion AND Leg Speed (RPMs): Range of Motionand RPM Focus
b. Leg Conditioning: Fire Walkand Broncos (walking in base position for as high as you can get, as long as you can go)
c. Cardio: Alternate between the following:
Sprint-focused swimming.  A set of 15 x 100 freestyle at about 90% max, with about 30 seconds rest between each 100. Then a set of 10 x 50 breast stroke at about 90% max, with about 20 seconds rest between each 50.  10 x 25 head-up freestyle on 45 second intervals (or whatever interval feels challenging and do-able)
Distance/Endurance-focused swimming.  Longer sets, like 8 x 400's, at about 75% max, with 30 seconds rest between each 400.
            Including some Leg Focused Swimming
 
9. Become A Student Of The Game:
There are so many resources available on line.  Now is a great time to delve deeper into the non-physical portion of being a water polo player.  
 
A great way to do this is to watch the best.  Here's a good start: One of the best teams in the history of water polo (and, really, in the history of sports) is our own USA Women's Water Polo Team.  Here's the link to a great game: both well played and an exciting match—USA v Australia 2012 Olympic Semi Final Game.
 
And this article of mine—A Celebration of the Goalie Save—consolidates much of the work I did while at Stanford into just 2 pages—I essentially wrote every paper of mine on goalkeeping, including papers for courses in Calculus, Kinesiology, Biology, Psychology, and, eventually, my Honors Thesis.  Yes, I'm really into being a goalie.
 
Another amazing resource, can be found here: 2019 USA Water Polo Development Summit Videos. USA Water Polo has posted all 7 of the videos from this event, including a great keynote speech I was fortunate enough to see live.
 
On the heels of this event, I summarized the talk I gave at the Summit in an article for Positive Coaching Alliance, relevant for players and coaches alike: Honor What You Value and Value What You Honor.
 
10. Reflect and Appreciate:
Lastly…and, yes, I saved the best for last…this is a great time to "get away" from the usual hustle and bustle and really reflect on what you've done and what you'd like to do moving forward.  As committed athletes, it can sometimes feel like a non-stop process of constantly training and performing with no time to just breathe.  So, allow yourself a little vacation.  This way, when you return from vacation, you'll not only be energized but can go after your training in a more intentional way.
 
Part of this process, involves taking stock in what we get to do as athletes as it really is a privilege to have such an opportunity.  I reflected this to my Goalie List just last year when I came back to play in Masters Nationals and remembered just how fun it is to prepare for and then compete in a sport we love.  And I'm grateful every day I get to coach and teach such awesome young people.
 
So, in parting, I share my TEDxStanford talk, This Is Awewhich starts with some drumming, and ends with a rainbow over that awesome pool deck along with maybe just a few tears.  Lots of opportunities for Awe for us if you look for them—and, then, the corresponding happiness, compassion, mindfulness, and gratitude.
 
I hope you're all well. I miss coaching and teaching and know so many of you miss being in the water pushing yourself to Be Your Best. I look forward to being back on the pool deck soon.
 
~Coach Jack
 
Eggbeater-Focused Stretching: Why and How
 
Three important reasons to stretch:
1.   Prevent injury
2.   Increased flexibility increases range of motion.  In the case of the eggbeater kick, this allows for more power per cycle, yielding a more sturdy foundation from which to shot-block
3.   Builds muscle tissue
 
When stretching, it is important to:
A.   Do a very light warm-up prior to stretching, i.e. 100-200 yards light swimming or some simple calisthenics.  This increases blood flow in muscles allowing them to maximize the stretching—sort of like warming up a rubber band in your hands making it more malleable.