NATIONAL WATER POLO ACADEMY T20 TESTING PROTOCOL

Introduction:
In order to gauge the potential and progressive development of young Water Polo players within the Development and Academy age groups, the 3 areas of Trident Training are to be tested.
The T20 test is the base swimming test for Water Polo which simply requires a player to swim for 20 minutes as far as they can. This establishes a benchmark for a player’s swimming fitness and allows progressive development to be recognised and monitored.
It is a test which is co-ordinated better in a controlled environment and this is the way that official figures will be established. However, players should be encouraged to attempt the test at their home club or in their own time
Preparation:
A 25m pool should be used wherever possible. Official figures and comparisons will only be drawn from T20’s undertaken in a 35m pool.
2 x Lane counters per lane, 1 to identify players and 1 to record the information
2 x Stopwatches (actual + back up), 1 x Whistle
To ease identification of players, Water Polo hats should be used.
The Counting Sheets attached should be used to record the number of lengths swum.
Players should be encouraged to overtake where necessary.
Warm-up:
Swum at steady pace, mixing up strokes. If Water Polo hats are being used for identification purposes, they should be worn from the start of the warm up.
200 Swim
200 Kick (no floats, hands out in front)
200 Pull (no buoys, legs crossed)
200 Swim
- All + 15 seconds rest
By the end of the warm up, the players should have identified their comparative speed and therefore their placing in the lane.
T20:
The lead coach for the session will time the 20 minutes, starting and finishing with a long blast of the whistle.
The first player in each lane should start on the whistle, with consequent players starting at 5 second intervals on the whistle, not the pace clock.
At 20 minutes, and on the second whistle, all players stop where they are and remain static so that the distance can be recorded
Swim Down:
A minimum of 200m mix strokes should be completed following recording of results.
Results:
Lane counters should add up:
a)  The number of Lengths (eg: 45)
b)  The number of metres rounded to nearest 5m (eg: 15m)
Lane counters should not attempt to adjust the results according to lane order. This information will be completed later.
Results should be sent to the National Water Polo Office:
PO Box 7860
Hucknall
NG15 6WA

Piers Martin

ASA National Development Officer for Water Polo

PM Page 1 of 2 24/05/2007