12 Skills to Improve at Home

There's a lot of ways that you can improve your water polo skills at home. You don't even need any equipment.

Here are fifteen ways to improve yourself physically while your stuck at home.

1. L​eg Strength: Squats and lunges. Try for 20 repetitions. Helps build your legs for a powerful water polo kick.
2. Pushing Strength: Push-ups. A good goal is for 20 for 10/U. 14/U should shoot for 40! This is for controlling your opponent and swimming power.
3. Pulling Strength: Pull-ups. You can hang a towel around a door and use that to lift yourself up. A strong back is critical for all athletes, especially water polo players.
4. Cardio Endurance: Run in place for 30 secs. Do 20 jumping jacks. Repeat five times. Gotta keep that heart in shape!
5. Frontal Core Strength: 10 Crunches, 10 Crunch with twist, 20 Flutter Kicks. Repeat. The core connects your lower and upper body.  If you're not connected, you're missing out on using all your power.
6. Posterior Core Strength: 10 Superman (hold each for 5 secs). Connects the body and prevents injuries.
7. Power: 10 Jumps for distance. One jump every 10 seconds. Builds powerful, explosive legs.
8. Hand-Eye Coordination 1: Practice catching and throwing. A water polo ball is best, but you can use a tennis ball...even rolled up socks. Keep your elbow above the ear to simulate being in the water!
9. Hand-Eye Coordination 2: Go to YouTube and learn how to juggle. It will improve your water polo skills and might even lead to a job in a circus.
10. Mental Focus Drill #1: Box Breathing. Inhale slowly for 4 counts. Hold it for 4 counts. Exhale slowly for 4 counts then hold it for 4 counts. Try to do 10 breathes. Besides teaching you to focus it helps you relax. Being able to focus and relax are critical skills for all athletes to have.
11. Mental Focus Drill #2: Visualization: Imagine yourself playing a game of water polo. See yourself playing offence, defense. Imagine getting up big, shooting hard and accurate. Feel yourself anticipating the opponents next move and then reacting. The best athletes use visualization to rehearse and practice all the time. 
12. Study the Game: There's tons of water polo games on the Internet. Watch them. Study them. See what they do and think about how you could do it.T

There you have it. Twelve ways you can improve your water polo and athletic skills at home. Do them daily.

That way when we come back (and we will!) you'll be ahead of the teams and players that didn't do anything.

​Coach Ron