Sport spotlight: canoe polo

Photo: Ruth Gibson

By Helena Kaznowska

Meeting at the containers just behind the sports centre at 8pm on Thursday, I was introduced to the University of York’s Canoe Polo Club. After loading vast quantities of equipment into two cars, we all piled in before driving 30 minutes away to Wetherby. Apparently there just aren’t any pools closer that will let the club drill holes in their walls for the goals, shockingly.

Vision‘s photographer Ruth looked petrified after our white knuckle ride in the forewarned ‘fast’ car and it took the ten minutes waiting for the second batch of players to arrive before she stopped shaking. She later said the ride was “more extreme than the actual sport” and she had to treat herself to a cup of tea to settle her stomach. Worryingly, the canoe polo players began to walk down to the river. I immediately panicked, thinking I’d been sent to my death by the Vision sports editors as it looked like we were about to start playing on a fast flowing river during the dead of night… But, as it turned out, they were just collecting river water samples for a dissertation, and they only play on the Ouse in the summer, or during the day. When the slower, rather more sane driver arrived with the second car full of players, we started to unload all the equipment around the children’s swimming lesson that was going on.

Once all the kit was unloaded and the squad members had changed into their board shorts, rash vests and swimming costumes, we put on our spray decks (which are like strange neoprene rubber skirts), life jackets and helmets. After finding a canoe to fit and a paddle that was the right length too, we finally hit the water. While it helped that I’d paddled across a few lakes for gold Duke of Edinburgh a couple of years ago, I was still apprehensive as I’d never played any kinds of water sports before. But as it turned out, there was nothing to worry about as there were players of all ages and abilities. The treasurer of the club Sarah Goss, took me aside to test that I could get out of the canoe when I (inevitably) capsized. We then had to heave my water-filled canoe out of the water and rock it until most of the water had escaped. This technique however just isn’t advisable in a game situation because it’s far too time consuming, so Sarah then taught me to flip myself out of the water once I was overturned. By twisting my hips and pushing myself up off the side of the pool, or another canoe, I was able to turn myself back upright without having to pull my toggle and swim free. Next I had to practice paddling in a straight line, which may sound easy, but the polo canoes are so light that it’s very easy to spin and wobble.

While my beginner training was underway, the rest of the squad were practicing shooting and passing moves down the other end of the pool and I was desperate to join in on the action. So when Sarah asked me if I was happy to try canoeing whilst throwing and catching (one handed, as the other holds the paddle) I jumped at the chance. This soon progressed to shooting practice, when, embarrassingly, I hit the bottom corner and broke the net with my first shot. Not exactly a great start. Clearly not having learnt my lesson about needing more height on the ball, I then broke it even further with my second attempt… it’s not as easy as they make it look!

While this was all taken in surprisingly good humour it was hurriedly suggested that we move into a game situation before I broke any more of their kit. I was put on a team with two experienced guys against four other females. Paddles were flying and there was countless ramming and intentional capsizing fouls from both teams, but this was all light-hearted and fun. Although I didn’t score in the game, I came pretty close on a couple of occasions and helped set up a few goals for my team. We were victorious! The game was a real adrenaline rush and because it was such a small group of people I felt it was easy to get involved in the play.

All this and only one broken goal post and two emergency capsizes later.
All in all, the players were very welcoming, the game was great fun and I would recommend canoe polo to anyone! I may well be back for another canoe polo session next week…