The Waterpolo International Archive

Thulstrup (1891) Waterpolo at the Manhattan Club

Waterpolo, the oldest of the Olympic team sports, is a vigorous team sport requiring exceptional swimming ability, ball handling skills, and leg strength. Players can expect to swim in excess of 3.5 kilometres (2 + miles) in a single game consisting of only four eight minute periods. The mix of swimming, wrestling, and ballplay make this one of the world's most demanding sports.

This site is devoted to the development of a historical archive of waterpolo images, documents, and memorabilia. An important feature is the on-line bibliography of academic and other articles relevant to the science, history, and coaching of the game.

You can browse the site by item, collection, exhibit and bibliography using the links above. Recent archival items are shown to the left. For recent additions to the bibliography (powered by Aigaion) click here.

Recent Items

Banana Heads from the Acrapolips

Lou Gioia, die-hard Brooklynite and water polo fan, takes the reader on the adventure of a lifetime to Athens during the 2004 Olympics. Affectionately… see more

"We Bluegills" (Robert Travieso 1998)

"From our side of the pool we Bluegills watch the boys from the Coast Guard saunter out of the visitor’s locker room to a complicated group clap… see more

Buck Rogers' Water Polo Caper

Neptune v. Earth in the sold-out inter-planetary championship water polo match. Buck Rogers gets a ticket and free entry to the practice scrimmage… see more