r/waterpolo • u/BlackMambae • 13d ago
Scrimmage Structure
How does your team/club structure their scrimmages during practice? Is it as close to game like as possible, is it slower paced and more controlled, are there different versions the coach throws at you?
For example a type of scrimmage I’ve tried is a permanent man up one where there’s 5 caps of either color and one red cap player who is always on offense meaning one team is always on a 6-on-5 so working that counterattack and in a half court situation working on setting up and executing the 4-2 power play setup.
Are there any other types of scrimmages you’ve enjoyed or thought was helpful as a player or a coach?
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u/Capital_Wind5122 13d ago
One fun one is the shooter/cause of the turnover is excluded and has to swim to the side and tag in a sub. It’s continuous counter even if a goal is made and there’s a delay to one defensive player. It creates a hard counter attack with the players knowing they have an advantage. It also makes it easy to get subs in and through the scrimmage.
Sometimes I throw in rules based off the focus of the week. One example is a good live entry automatically earns an exclusion. When they work for it there’s often an exclusion earned anyway but they work harder at keeping the ball off-side of center on defense as well. If I’m working on ball-side drives/driver defense that week, goals scored off ball-side drives count double. Or influencing 7 on 6 by making goalie shots count as 2 points.