Underwater Mayhem

The pillared pool at the San Francisco Olympic Club was boiling with activity. Swimmers darted like dragonflies across its surface while they juggled a 9-in. inflated ball with aquatic agility. Spring-legged goalies exploded from the water to bat down the slick, wet ball whenever it was heaved at their 10-ft.-wide nets. But as the Olympic Club and the Lynwood Athletic Club of Downey, Calif., fought it out for the A.A.U. indoor water polo championship last week, spectators and referee alike were only partially interested in the fancy teamwork, the precise passing and the tireless swimming. They spent most of the time trying to peer into the bottom of the turgid pool, to spot the mayhem they were sure was in progress.

They had reason. Ever since the first game was played at Bournemouth, England, in 1876, water polo has ranked as one of the roughest, toughest sports. Played originally by porpoiselike 250 pounders, it was a game in which quarter was never asked, rarely given. Bloody noses and punctured eardrums (from ears boxed underwater) were common. A missing player could usually be found floating face down. Today, although the pace has quickened and rules have been tightened, water polo is still rugged. Says one A.A.U. oldtimer: "This is the only body-contact sport in which the rules forbid body contact."

In San Francisco last week, players happily flailed at each other with elbows and knees, held opponents' heads underwater and tugged determinedly at their swim trunks. Said one: "If they ever staged this game in one of those pools with side windows for photographers, our whole team would be benched for fouling within the first two minutes of play." But the emphasis in the A.A.U. championship was on speed and agility, and the perennial champions from the Illinois Athletic Club and the New York A.C. floundered in frustration, hopelessly outclassed by the lean, fast West Coast swimmers. "I tell these guys." said Lynwood's Coach Jim Schultz, "that everyone's the same size in deep water."

To prepare his seasoned players (including four 1960 U.S. Olympians) for the A.A.U. matches, Coach Schultz disregarded infighting tactics, concentrated instead on over-the-water passing, dribbling (done by keeping the ball abreast of the moving wave in front of the swimmer's head), pattern plays and calisthenics. Sample exercise: the "frog kick, scissors, and go," a darting, leaping movement designed to get the jump on the opposing team in a fast break. "We don't spend two minutes teaching any rough stuff," said Lynwood Captain Ron Severa. "The players learn it anyway. It's self-preservation, you know." Such tactics paid off. In the finals, Lynwood slipped past the Olympic Club, 8-7, won the A.A.U. championships without the loss of a single game.

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