ORIGINAL PAPER
Impact of ball possession time and number of passes on the efficiency of scoring in men’s water polo
 
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1
Division of Aquatic Sports, School of Physical Education and Sports Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
 
2
Sports Science Department, Aspire Academy, Doha, Qatar
 
 
Submission date: 2021-08-09
 
 
Acceptance date: 2022-03-13
 
 
Publication date: 2022-04-11
 
 
Hum Mov. 2023;24(2):18-24
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Purpose:
This study aimed to explore whether a meaningful relationship existed between scoring in men’s water polo and ball possession time and the number of passes in even and extra player offence conditions.

Methods:
Overall, 24 close matches played during international competitions were analysed twice, for the winning and losing teams separately. This allowed to collect a sample consisting of 1588 offences when teams played in equal conditions and 492 with an extra player.

Results:
For effective scoring in even conditions, the results demonstrated significant relationships between the exchanging of many passes (7.78 ± 1.09 passes) and short-duration attacks lasting for 1–10 s (7.87 ± 2.29 s) (p = 0.05). In the extra player condition, a considerable relationship was noted between short to average ball possession time and scoring (p = 0.05). However, the effect size for these differences ranged from moderate to low.

Conclusions:
Knowledge of this study results could help coaches design specific workouts during routine practices and make decisions during matches.

 
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