Canoe polo is an Olympic sport and is played though out the world, although still small here in South Africa. Polo combines boating and ball-handling skills with a contact team game, where tactics and positional play are as important as speed and fitness.
The game requires excellent teamwork and promotes both general canoeing skills and a range of other techniques unique to the sport. Each team has five players on the water (and up to three substitutes), who compete to score in their opponents goal which is suspended 2m above the water for adults but less for U11 and below. The ball can be thrown by hand, or flicked with the paddle to pass between players and shoot at the goal. Pitches can be set up in swimming pools or any stretch of flat water.
Canoe polo is played in a sit-inside kayak for adults and for children (7-11 years old) we recommend sit-on-top kayaks. These are very stable and versatile allowing the players to develop skills and confidence. As young children grow and their confidence and ability in the game develops, they can also move across to a polo kayak.
