A game of water polo consists of 4 quarters: from 5 minutes for club leagues up to 8 minutes for collegiate and Olympic water polo. All field players can use only one hand during play. The goalie can use both hands. During game play no one is allowed to touch the bottom of the pool. The constant treading of water tires players quickly, which is why so many subs are necessary. The goal, as with most sports, is to work with your team to progress the ball from the centerline into your opponent’s goal. A team cannot hold possession for more than 30 seconds without attempting a goal. If 30 seconds passes with no shot, possession goes to the opposing team. Only the team in possession can call a time out. Each team gets 2 1-minute time outs per game, in addition to the 2-minute rest periods between quarters. The winner is the team with the most points at the end of 4 quarters.

First and foremost is the ability to reach further. Being taller implies longer arms and legs, in turn meaning longer reach ability and longer stride ability. This is a tremendous advantage in many sports, but in particular water sports. One of the key factors to swimming is to generate long arcs with the arms and legs. This is only possible with long levers. The front crawl swim stroke requires that you have a long stroke i.e. your arms are powering through the water longer for every stroke than a shorter competitors. The longer your arms are in the water the more time you have to propel yourself in forward motion. Taller swimmers (and just take a look at who lines up for the next Olympic 200 metres Freestyle final) tend to have the textbook long, smooth stroke, whereas the shorter swimmers have a shorter, snappier stroke. Shorter swimmers, if powerful enough do however tend to excel at the more explosive and shorter events, such 50 metre breast stroke, where the long smooth stroke is overpowered by the more powerful short sharp strokes that generate forward momentum quickly.

Rowing is very much the domain of the taller athlete. Take a look any elite rowing crew and they will be tall. Even the lighter weight crews tend to be long and lean as opposed to short and muscular. Rowing is very much a team sport where all action and movement must be simultaneous to maximise effort. This is much easier to acheive if your crew of four or eight are of a similar height. Then to achieve a long stroke, maximising the oar time in the water, longer levers are required. Canoeing and kayaking can favour the shorter or longer paddler depending in the particular event. Some disciplines, such as slalom, white water event favour the shorter more balanced and powerful athlete who can generate power in a short number of strokes. Other events are more favourable to the taller athlete as they require long smooth stokes to generate forward momentum and maintain it for long period of time.