Redwood Empire Water Polo
Santa Rosa, CA Sonoma County

Mechanics
The shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints are all in use. The power starts from the body (shoulder, stomach & hips) and legs and is transferred to the arm at the shoulder joint. The body transfers power into the shoulder joint and into the arm out through the elbow, wrist and to the fingers which release the ball so it can fly. The faster the hand is traveling at the point of release the faster the ball will go.

Good hand speed at the point of release is vital. As the shooter reaches the point of release snap the wrist through the ball. Crack your wrist almost like snapping a whip. Practice throwing about three quarter speed so you the arm is relaxed and whipped through. The finger should be pointed down and the wrist will be bent way forward so the fingers should hit the water ahead of the palm of the hand.

Have players practice shooting shots that hit about 3m in front of the goal at first. It is much easier to snap the wrist shooting down and in front of the cage rather than shooting high. After players get used to getting their wrist through the ball they will be able to shoot high with the same motion. If you have trouble getting a player to snap his wrist try making him slow down his arm motion just as he wants to snap his wrist and the slowing down will almost snap the wrist for the player.

Drill – RapidFire
RapidFire shooting to groove one's arm motion is a key to getting the correct motion to shoot the ball. This is an excellent way to develop a good shooting motion. Players can learn what it feels like to shoot correctly.

In this drill one player just shoot shots for 2 -3 minutes with all the rest fetching and feeding. The shooter can be working on the correct motion and trying to skip each shot while you watch and correct to make sure he is doing what he should be doing. After he gets the motion down then have him try to shot high and aim for corners.