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Tip from the pros: Hit the reset button during practice—a periodic cool down during ordinary practice allows players to concentrate on quality play.

Nemo coach Anders Hansson (no. 18) played with Swedish national champions Polisen this year. He trains with Polisen once a week. Andraes Tael is the player standing immediately to the right of Hansson. Photo: Polisen

There are several reasons coaches should stop scrimmage during practice and run a drill. Underwater rugby is a physically demanding sport. Extended scrimmaging that exceeds the conditioning of even a few players will create chaos and reinforce bad habits.

Rugby is more intense than soccer (football). A regulation underwater rugby match lasts 30 minutes: two 15-minute halves with a 5-minute halftime break. Soccer matches last 90 minutes: two 45-minute halves with a 15-minute pause in the middle.

Underwater rugby has more in common with ice hockey, which has three 20-minute periods, with two 15-minute breaks in between. Like rugby, ice hockey has continuous substitutions while the game goes on. Top level hockey players are on the ice for around 45 seconds before the next line jumps in. Hockey may be more intense than rugby because the competitors must generally skate close to full speed the entire time.

The point, though, is that hockey and rugby routinely compete at the edge of physical exhaustion. Coaches train players to force themselves to perform beyond comfort so that they can maintain the team’s offensive and defensive structure. The beauty of top level hockey and rugby lies in the fluidity of action, not endless brawling.

If a club practice lasts between 90 and 120 minutes long and everyone plays with match level intensity, the disparity between players will widen. The less fit and skilled players will become even less relevant to play. The number of sloppy mistakes will increase. The number of fast breaks on unguarded baskets will go up. The number of pointless scrums will rise.

This sort of unstructured practice can be fun but is detrimental to the development of disciplined team play. If the most dominant players use their skills, strength and endurance to the max, the weaker players will not develop as quickly.

If the best offensive player is used to going in alone to score because the defense cannot cycle in their positions, that may not work well at all in competition against a team that stays together. The best players need the support of an entire team since over dependence on individual heroics is an unreliable strategy.

This is why having a variety of players score in matches is sign of good team play.

Examples from clubs in Sweden

The Stockholm club Polisen has a standing rule: during scrimmage coach Andreas Tael will stop play anytime a player loses the ball and fails to immediately forecheck to recover it or stop the other team’s forward progress. Polisen players are also not allowed to swim into the exchange zone area and loiter passively with ball. Tael will also stop play when he sees that even if the ball is not lost. After a brief review of the situation, play then resumes.

One advantage of this method is that the feedback is immediate. If at the end of practice the coach has to recall situations to discuss them, only a small minority is likely to remember what he or she is talking about. Instantaneous feedback has much more impact.

Another Stockholm club, Nemo, has a broader spectrum of players in terms of age, ability and experience. For coach Anders Hansson there is often a need to stop play so that structure can be restored. Typically, he has drills thought out ahead of time. Often the drills are very simple. All the players on one team form circle and pass the ball back and forth. This allows the players who are not as proficient at passing to concentrate on getting the ball to travel straight and briskly for a meter. While this takes places pulse rates sink to normal and after a few minute scrimmage can resume.

A more complex drill might involve three players starting on the bottom by their own goal and swimming over to score on a defender and goalie to approximate the situation when a team gets the ball while defending their own goal and need to have as many players available to take a pass when counter attacking.

For Polisen this might be a rather basic drill but for Nemo and probably many other average clubs, getting players to stay down is a habit that needs reinforcement.

At Stockholm’s third club, Caviar, attendance is sometimes sparse. When there are only 6 players total, match play for an hour and half is unproductive. Those practices are mostly drills with a few breaks to scrimmage.

Drills should be simple and address the club’s needs. Often the benefits of drills can be seen immediately in the scrimmage that follows.

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Tip from the pros: pass to yourself when no one is out in front

Flipper defeated Triton, Krefeld and Urheiluskulatjat in the first round of the Euroleague in 2019.

Escaping the tackle by passing the ball forward to yourself is an under utilized technique.

The Danish club Flipper is currently employing a tactic that one could call a variation on a Norwegian theme, the so-called blind pass into empty space.

Flipper coach Mikkel Rasmussen is a ball possession conservative. This style is very tough on the opponent’s offense, but it has also limited Flipper’s goal scoring opportunities when fast breaking out of their own zone. This season the club began to employ a new tactic to increase the number of effective attacks.

To prevent rapid counters from getting bogged down in the middle of the pool when one defender grabs the legs or torso of a player trying to reach the goal, Flipper will begin resort to a hard pass out in front to no one. The player who passes the ball instantly raises his palms and looks back to signal clearly to the opponent and referee that he is being held. The opponent will then release the player who will immediately continue swimming forward to recover the ball.

It happened in the game against Urheilusuklatjat in the first round of the Euroleague. Thor Lykke Funk almost single handed broke the Helsinki club’s defense by passing to himself not once but twice during a counter attack. First he threw the ball away into the space in front of him, forcing Leo Selehov to release him. He recovered the ball himself, then went on to do it again against another unidentified player. After launching that first attack on the goal he surfaced for air and quickly returned score on the right side. This pass to oneself technique is clearly under utilized by most players.

Flipper won their first three games of the season, putting them in a three-way tie for first place with Betta and Molde. Photo: Flipper

“We talked about how to do the fast breaks and decided that you pass forward to yourself if you don’t have any teammates with you,” explained Rasmussen.

At one time during the history of underwater rugby simply releasing hold of a ball did not constitute an end to possession. The rule was eventually changed.

Flipper’s decision to employ this tactic comes at a time that the referees appear to be proactively penalizing teams for holding. Twice Urheilusuklatjat had players sent off for two-minute penalties, although they had not received prior warnings.

The official rule on holding states:

This ban is important in order to maintain a fluid and high quality game. The referees shall, therefore give warning and thereafter time-penalties if the behavior persists. This is especially applicable in, but not limited to, the following situations; A player who has just passed on the ball and is still being held.

It is simple: not holding ball equals no possession,”

—Manuel Tito de Morais
Chief Referee, CMAS

The coincidence of Flipper’s decision and the referee’s possible harder line on mid-pool holding will surely be picked up on by other teams. Molde and other teams have players who are capable of winging the ball forward and swimming to recover it.

Maybe this can even be used by the ordinary club players to give their teams a sharper edge.

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Tip from the pros: Be the basket bandit

Even elite teams cannot prevent goal stealers 100 percent of the time; basket theft can be the game changer.

On land the players waiting to dive in lean forward in their plastic chairs, trying decipher what is going on. A forward on the offensive team makes a long exchange and new one leaps in.

Before the entrant spots the ball he sees that a teammate has stolen the basket because the other team’s goalies are frantically trying to regain control of it. But who has the ball?

Suddenly at midpool he discovers it being handed to him. Who on his team passed it he barely sees because he is now concentrating on the opportunity to score. With every bit of speed he can muster he bursts into close range of the opponent’s basket. The teammate on the goal rises up to create a gap and in the ball goes.

When the scorer surfaces with raised fist, a couple back on the bench salute back with both arms above their heads. The pool rings with a gutterl shout of joy. On the other side players drag themselves from the water and shuffle to the bench, swearing in anger at the mistake that shouldn’t have happened.

Stolen basket goals often feel slightly unreal.

A defined strategy

Should teams have a defined strategy to steal baskets? In this post match interview Malsch’s Jens Dingel talks about a stolen basket goal against Flipper that broke open the game, which finished 3-0 in the German club’s favor. Also a national team veteran, Dingel warns against committing too much effort to basket stealing.

“Once the opponents know you are always trying to steal the basket, they will shut it down,” he explained in an interview for this article. “A player who is too involved in stealing the basket will be missing from action and perhaps be letting his teammates down.”

Dingel has a point. Clearly a stolen basket can go stale if the ball gets tied up on the surface. As the scrum drifts further and further from the basket the heroic diaphragm contractions of the basket thief lapse into irrelevance.

Rule 1: Never park on the basket when your teammates cannot reach you.

Keeping up your guard

Although Dingel places a high standard on his attempts to steal the basket, he clearly loves doing it. He studies the opposition goalies to see if their exchanges are careless. If a goalkeeper does not make certain that the player exchanging is his partner, an opponent like Dingel may sneak in like a cuckoo bird on the song bird’s nest. He delights in mimicking the defending goalie’s partner.

As a team meet tougher opposition, goalkeepers must be aware that the the thieves bring more sophistication to their larceny. A pattern of exchange that has blind spots will be visible to the super bandit.

Rule 2: Maintain vigilance and eye contact – Don’t make Dingel’s day.

Øystein Skarholm (far left) with the reigning Nordic and European women champions. Photo: Cecilia Skåre

I do not believe in setting up one player to fish for the goal instead of being a part of building the attack. That is too obvious and a waste of resources.”
– Øystein Skarholm
Norwegian Women’s
National Team Coach

Every player should be ready take the opponent’s basket without hesitation. Øystein Skarholm, coach of the Norwegian women’s National Team, expects all of this players to keep their eye out for the opportunity.

“We have several players who will take the goal when the opportunity arises. I strongly believe in taking the basket if the opponent leaves it empty.”

The stolen basket is a good way to gain offensive momentum, according to Skarholm. “Steal the basket and push to score.”

When an opponent begins to play very offensively the opportunities to steal the basket will naturally increase.

Rule 3: Stealing the basket is a good counter to an over extended offense.

Rule 4: When the other team has a one point lead and time is running out, stealing the basket is a means of equalizing.

The role of free throws

Free throws present an opportunity. The moment the referee halts the action some players will be distracted trying to find out who is getting the ball. If the opposing goal keepers are looking at the referee, they may lose sight of an opponent sneaking close from a dead angle. Suddenly the offensive player will sprint, hoping to beat the goalkeeper down. Not infrequently a player from each team will arrive at almost the same time and end up splitting the basket. There will always be contact and the defending goalie is likely to push hard.

Who is violating the no contact rule? Both. Is the referee going to call someone? Maybe, maybe not. Rightly or wrongly, the defending goalie enjoys a slight moral advantage. The successful goal stealer must match the defender’s effort without appearing excessively physical.

Rule 5: When stealing the goal the offensive player must act like the legitimate owner to prevent the defending goalkeeper from pushing them off.

Dingel believes that elite teams generally do not leave the basket vulnerable during free throws. This may be true when Bamberg meets Malsch, but in the Euroleague where some players don’t speak the same language or when national teams are a loose constellation from all corners of the country, miscommunication is possible. There are also potential distractions: a careless player exchange, equipment adjustment, dispute with the referee, etc. with any number of causes may divert attention from the basket.

This is especially important for the player who is taking the freethrow, they need to glance at the basket to make certain that they spot the the stolen basket opportunity. Need it be said, a free throw taker who is oblivious to the stolen the basket is not doing their job. And there are some team captains who would not look favorably upon the mistake in a big match.

Rule 6: Pay attention when free throws occur.

If the opposing team is intentionally fouling a great deal to slow the game down – something typically happens when experienced older player want to slow down younger fitter players – the faster team needs to steal the goal to punish them. The experienced team fouls flagrantly because they do not fear the attack from a free throw, but they will if they lose the basket. Here it helps to have a good coach who can remind players to do this.

Rule 7: Punish the teams that tactically foul a great deal by stealing the basket.

The goalie stripping scrum

Besides the free throw, one of the best opportunities comes when an attack from above causes the goalkeeper to lock up with attacker and float upwards. This subaquatic scrum creates fissure that can allow an attacking player to take the goal before the defending team can stabilize the situation.

Rule 8: Players who lock up the goalie should fight to stay as deep as they can above the goal to create the goal stealing gap.

Technical details

Often the players who steal the basket are goalies or backs. But a forward who feels more comfortable stomach down is also fine. In fact, the sight of someone lying the wrong way is a signal to a team that something is wrong on the opponent’s side. The thief does not have to fit like a lid; the main point is to dominate the space above the goal.

If a teammate who has been guarding a stolen basket needs relief, someone should substitute with him to keep the opponents under pressure. A successfully exchanged stolen basket will stress the defending goalies enormously.

A coach like Tomi Suomalainen will usually call timeout when his team’s basket has been stolen. Depriving an opponent of a time out is an obvious gain.

Lilo and Camilo Diaz at Champions Cup in Berlin. Photo: Lilo Diaz

Knowing who is a threat

Skarholm admitted that several of his players are good stealing the basket, but he declined to name any particular one.

“I don’t have any focus on who is doing it, as this will come naturally during the game. I push hard for individualism,” said the Norwegian coach, who is not in favor of any rigid systems.

“I tell the players to change their minds in a split second if the game changes. Surprize your yourself and you surprize the opponent.”

When the question was put to Amanda Barsten, she laughed: “Well many of us. Just ask someone on our national team.” Berit Detlie did not reply to the question. I did not bother to ask Cecilie Skåre. She wouldn’t supply intelligence on her own team. So, to find out who the top thieves are it is necessary to watch the game films if there are any.

There is one player famous for stealing the basket: Orcas’ Camilo Diaz. His sister and clubmate Lilo Diaz offered the following explanation.

“It is his personality… he is a cheeky monkey, haha!”
– Lilo Diaz
Orcas teammate

“Also, I think he excels at it because he is a “‘small” player. He developed this skill to be able to make goals, and he has found the way.”

Cover photo: Davrell Tien

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Tip from the pros: conceal yourself until the last moment

Ander Palm is highly qualified technical diver who has a great passion for unerwater archaeology and wreck diving. Photo: dykarna.nu

A classic move by experienced goalkeeper at the last second illustrates one of the final options when the basket is exposed to an almost certain shot.

Alex Karlsson, a large, strong and skilled player, had gotten the ball near his own basket and managed to sprint alone to the opposing side. Just as he was about to score, at the last second a single defender came upon him from above. Palm was far too late to cover the basket well. Instead of rushing, he actually slowed at the last moment, making certain to neither touch Karlsson nor extend his hands into sight. Everything boiled down to concealment and timing.

Just as the ball crossed the plane over the goal, Palm shot out both hands. His long arms outstretched, he grabbed the ball and with a single motion he used it as a pivot point to twist himself on to the goal. His position was hardly tight but Karlsson had also to wrestle to maintain possession. For brief eternity there was a hard struggle. And then suddenly the oxygen exhausted Karlsson broke off his attempt and went up for air.

Palm did not go up for in Karlsson’s place there was a new assailant replacing Palm. Marlene (Melle) Kaas , a former Swedish women’s national team player was trying to slip it in the cracks. Palm refused to give up the fight. The two tumbled away from goal and I think Palm took it away.

It was a lesson on how to defend when there is no time to get on to the goal.