"Polo in Every Pool" Isn't Enough to Save Water Polo

A discussion of water polo growth and "stuff"

When the high school sports governing body in Texas, the UIL, made the decision to sanction the sport of water polo statewide at the high school level, USAWP and others all lauded this incredible opportunity to grow the sport in an area of the country that many considered an ideal place to foster a community of water polo athletes separate from and able to challenge the Californian stranglehold on the sport. In fact, “growing the sport” is a frequent topic of many private and public discussions of water polo. The celebration of sanctioning in Texas, age group rule changes to make the game more accessible to younger athletes, and campaigns to put “polo in every pool” reflect this growth-focused mindset. Often, the growth and development example of other regional or “niche” sports such as lacrosse or volleyball is brought up as an example to follow for our sport.

While the goal of the “grow the sport” mindset may appear to be altruistic—“we want more kids playing and experiencing this wonderful sport!”—it is also clear that from World Aquatics to USAWP down to individual clubs that the larger incentive is that more growth in the sport reflects more money via membership, sponsorships, television deals and other revenue streams. Growing the sport, in some way, will always be tied to increasing the amount of money available in the sport at all levels. While it could be considered cynical or small minded to point this out, the financial struggles of professional clubs in Europe and the game’s sometimes tenuous position in the NCAA illustrate the urgency of this growth from the position of the governing bodies for the sport.

Efforts to grow the sport, regardless of motivation, are commendable. As a community, we love this sport and want to share it with others. We recognize that there are benefits to teaching water polo as a method to increase childhood water safety in communities as well as long term benefits from participation in a team sport through adolescence.  Similarly, our community wants to see the big games for the sport on ESPN and the incredible athletes who play for our national team to get the exposure and recognition (and compensation) they deserve. Our sport craves a serious and sustainable professional league that provides avenues for our players to stay in the sport and continue to develop. For any of these things to happen, it is correct that you need the sport to grow. Like lacrosse, the thinking is that if water polo can expand out of its regional nature in California the number of new players and fans interested in the sport will grow as well and that will lead to all the perks of that growth: more programs, more money, more sponsors, more college programs, a professional league. However, there is a flaw in this comparison and the progression of growth that comes with it. The one aspect inhibiting the growth of water polo more than any other is stuff.

So what is meant by the claim that water polo’s issue is stuff? Going back to lacrosse as our example, a cursory search on Amazon.com for “lacrosse starter kit” returns results from 6 companies all selling a package well over $100 that includes a stick, a helmet, shoulder pads and arm pads. But that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what an individual athlete can expect to spend on the sport over their playing career. For instance, cleats aren’t included and they are $50 and up and also need to be replaced frequently. And with all this gear, you need a serious bag to carry it in as well–another expense. This simple accounting doesn’t even take into consideration things like stick tape or restringing the stick or any other number of incidentals that may arise. Over the course of a youth playing career, the companies that make lacrosse gear and are the primary sponsors for lacrosse will consistently be earning from that athlete (or their family). This holds true across other gear intensive sports like baseball and hockey; there’s a lot of stuff you have to buy to participate.

There’s another important factor in our lacrosse example that bears elaborating as well; because the sport requires cleats and the business of selling sneakers is a big deal, heavy hitters like New Balance, Under Armour and the golden goose of Nike are involved in the sport and bring their dollars and support. Stepping away from lacrosse—which is a gear intensive sport—even sports that don’t require as much gear still have more that the individual athlete is responsible for. Basketball is the obvious example where the shoes are so popular that kids wear them even if they don’t play the sport. But even smaller sports (in the US) like soccer, volleyball or track have similar footwear that is a continual aspect of their equipment that must be repurchased frequently. Likewise, the practice attire for many of those sports is also a continual purchase as well as being a part of fashion outside of the sport itself. Importantly, all that has been discussed so far is just the burden of the individual athlete and doesn’t even account for the equipment needed for the formation and running of a team or club (such as balls or goals or nets) which provide another revenue stream for all those companies seeking to connect their success with the success of athletes and teams in sports.

So across all the sports that water polo aspires to emulate, there is a consistent and financially lucrative market to sell the participants stuff. In fact, most of this stuff is required for entry level participation and continued participation requires continual, usually more costly, purchases. Even a sport like swimming that could be assumed to have similar requirements has been overtaken by stuff. The number, variety and price of practice and racing suits is overwhelming. You can keep buying goggles until you find the kind you like and then buy them in several different colors and mix and match the straps. Most coaches require an athlete to have fins and a kick board and paddles and a pull buoy and perhaps a snorkel. And the athlete needs a nice bag to take that too and from the pool as well as a mesh bag to take equipment to the poolside itself. With the profile of swimming in this country, there is a substantial industry supporting swimming through gear and equipment. While some of these things may be provided by the club or purchased through the club, the fact remains that an economy exists around swimming gear. 

Which brings us back to water polo. Your suit is your uniform, so most athletes get theirs through their club or high school. The same is true of the caps worn by players. A player may need goggles for conditioning but they aren’t as particular as swimmers about this and some coaches disallow them as well. Maybe a player will want their own ball, but generally these are provided by the team and ordered by the team as well rather than the individual. There are no shoes to sell a water polo player. No gear that they have to have to compete and can be marketed like a stick or mask. While some specialty companies exist to fill the needs of the sport for suits and balls and goals, they are seldom water polo exclusive and more often an add-on to a swimming focused brand or (like Mikasa and balls) a major manufacturer in a specific industry.

Nowhere is this scarcity of industry in the sport of water polo so apparent as at events like the JO expo. The sport has been added to high schools in Texas, the national governing body (NGB) has pushed membership in this area, a major yearly national age group tournament has been expanded to include a Texas edition. But, what is there to greet all these bright new water polo families and their pocketbooks as they integrate into the sport? Malmsten, while a great pool supplier, is not selling anything to a youth athlete. Sea and Air Federal Credit Union is an upstanding financial institution, but not a particularly exciting table for a kid to visit. Sellers of sunglasses and sunscreen make great sense as partners for an aquatic sport, but are not water polo specific and limited by the scope of their individual business.  The merchandise available is limited to Kap7 and the event merchandise itself, and based on my argument here this is not a surprise. Water polo is not a sport that supports industry based around individual equipment.

Other niche sports similar to water polo have found avenues for rapid growth and expansion in the last 20-30 years in a way that water polo envies and seeks to emulate. However, those sports have an advantage to support their growth that water polo will always be missing. The nature of the sport—in water, nearly naked—precludes the equipment that those sports have that brings in the industry that buoys and sustains their growth. Even if there were to be “polo in every pool” as USAWP has pushed for, that increase in the recreational market is still going to be limited by the lack of stuff needed by each new pool and individual involved. So, there is much less incentive to put money into the sport on the part of corporations because the return is small and inconsistent.

This lack of incentive for corporations to invest in water polo is even more apparent when you start to examine the lack of televised games in the US. The athletes that participate in water polo are physical specimens in minimal costumes that play an extremely difficult sport that requires power and grace and endurance. The game and its athletes can combine into an thrilling and aesthetically pleasing spectacle, but water polo is very rarely aired on television in favor of other events.  For instance, every time professional cornhole is aired those involved in water polo can’t comprehend why it gets national television time on ESPN when water polo games struggle to find air time. But even lowly cornhole, a backyard activity masquerading as a sport, can leverage its connections to barbecuing and beer as well as the familiarity and accessibility of the activity to get sponsors interested and to get spectators to tune in. Whether we care to admit it or not, water polo just isn’t a sport that has the market size to draw substantial sponsors or viewership on its own nor is it lucrative or accessible enough to draw advertisers and spectators who are not already familiar with the sport. 

The lack of industry available in water polo is a large reason for the complaints that are often levied against USAWP about the costs (and increases in those costs) for membership, tournaments, and ODP. What is seen as a “cash grab” by USAWP is a desperate attempt to capture as much of the limited dollars that exist in the sport for themselves as they can so that they can fulfill their obligations as an NGB. This is not meant as a criticism as much as an observation on the reality of the economics of a sport the size and profile of water polo. By virtue of being the governing body for the sport in this country, USAWP is able to exercise a de facto monopoly on the sport and the families in the sport and they use that monopoly to pull in as much as they can from their members in support of larger goals. So, USAWP charges more and more for tournaments and membership  and those increases are borne by the families who make up the sport. It could be argued that due to the lack of corporations vested in the growth of water polo and their sponsorships, the success of the national teams, events like Junior Olympics, and the continued presence of the sport in this country rely on this set up–from the club level up–to function. 

And that is why the growth of the sport of water polo in the US and globally must be undertaken outside of the current structures of the sport. The sport still needs and will always need the infrastructure of USAWP and World Aquatics, but the organizations currently supporting water polo are not able to change the perception or profile of the sport when their focus must be on maintaining the tenuous structures that already exist. Therefore, water polo must look outside its traditional and intransigent power structures if there is hope that the sport can not just maintain its profile but also grow and adapt to be a better product.

Of course, there are other factors that can be discussed when talking about the growth of water polo, and I look forward to doing so in future articles. Likewise, I look forward to sharing more ideas about different avenues I believe could be explored for the growth of the sport in future articles as well.

Until then, let me know what you think about the relationship of water polo growth with “stuff,” please consider subscribing, and keep thinking water polo.