Water Polo Training

Margitsziget (Margerit Island) - back to the Water Polo factory

Going to Margitsziget (Margerit Island) in Budapest this weekend (July 2-3, 2011) to watch some International Water Polo (Vodafone Kupa).

The Vodafone Kupa this year has Hungary, Greece, Germany and Russia mens playing in round robin play.

There appears to be live streaming of the matches. Close to the bottom of this page will be a picture like below, click on the camera on the right side.

As an added bonus, the Hungarian women play Germany in a European Championship qualifying match on Saturday at 1600.

If you are a coach or player and want to talk training, you can reply to this post. I will be at the pool for most of the day on Saturday and Sunday.

Enjoy and Be Well,

Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC

www.michaelreid.ca

www.WaterPoloTraining.net

 

UANA Cup - Canada Mens Water Polo

Great chance for the Canadian Men to Qualify for the worlds in July 2011.

Apparently the top 2 teams from this tournament qualify and there are now only 3 teams in the competition with Cuba dropping out.

The USA Mens team have already qualified which is why they are not participating.

Aaron Feltham and Kevin Graham who are playing pro in Hungary will be there but not Justin Boyd who is playing his first year pro in Montenegro (https://www.waterpolo.ca/News1698.aspx). I am sure Justin will be missed. From what I saw of him last summer in Hungary, he is a very crafty scorer from the 1 position on the 6 on 5, he is also right handed. Althougth tradionally this is a spot reserved for the left handed player (which by the way drives me nuts) the right handed player has some unique options available to the them which can make them a real threat to score.

Best of Luck to all the teams.

Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC

www.michaelreid.ca

www.WaterPoloTraining.net

Injuries in Water Polo: 1-day seminar

I will be attending the Injuries in Water Polo 1-day seminar on Sept 2 in Zagreb, Croatia during the European Championships.

http://www.otours.hr/waterpolo.html

The Croatian Water Polo Federation is hosting this event and is free to attend, you just need to RSVP at this link.

DOWNLOAD: Preliminary Conference Schedule

For the championship, tickets for game sessions are around $10 USD for prelim; $30 USD for finals.

http://zagreb2010.com/en.html

Enjoy and Be Well,

Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC

www.michaelreid.ca

www.WaterPoloTraining.net

Euro-League Final 4 - online videos

Last weekend was the Euro-League Final 4 in Naples, Italy.

You can view all the matches in their entirety at the below link.

http://www.len.eu/video/?gallery=NAPLES_2010

On right side is a tab that gives you the option of what match you want to watch.

Enjoy and Be Well,

Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC

www.michaelreid.ca

www.WaterPoloTraining.net

2009 Euro League Final 4 Video

Old news but some very good video of the final 4 matches at last years Euro League (2009).

The audio doesn't seem to work but the quality of the video is very good especially when compared to what you may normally get to see on youtube or other similar sites.

http://www.lenfinal4.com/video.php

I haven't watched all the games yet but the two semi-finals had all the teams start play with a press defence/fronting the center forward then switching to some kind of zone or drop defence when the front was broken.

Very physical play at both ends of the pool, but I don't think teams will be able to play like this now with the "new" interpretation of the rules making a much more "cleaner" game.

Enjoy and Be Well,

Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC

www.michaelreid.ca

www.WaterPoloTraining.net

Navy SEALs Recruiting Water Polo Players

The Associated Press

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (AP) ― The Navy's elite SEALs force is looking for a few good water polo players.

The Navy, seeking to beef up the ranks of its special operations force, commissioned a $500,000 Gallup study last fall to determine who might be the best candidates to become future SEALs. Topping the list were water polo players.

It turns out that a person who spends hours a day swimming up and down a pool battling for control of a ball has about twice as good a chance of passing the Navy's rigorous SEAL training program as other people do.

Read more ...

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My only comment: Awesome!

Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC

www.michaelreid.ca

www.WaterPoloTraining.net

Kettlebells for Haiti & Chile

No, no, no ... I have no immediate plans on sending Kettlebells to either of these countries but ...

On Sunday March 28, 2010 from 1200-1500 I will be holding a Kettlebell clinic, the research proven #1 tool for weight loss FREE of charge.

All you have to do is make a donation to the Red Cross for either Chile &/or Haiti to get you in the door.

Even though many of you have already made a donation which is great, I have decided to make things a little bit easier (or painful), for you to depart with your hard earned money.

The clinic will be held at Paideia Gym located in Copenhagen, Denmark from 1200-1500.

Please note; 100% of all funds goes to charity. The owners of Paideia Gym have graciously given me the keys to their brand NEW facility for the afternoon free of charge.

What you need to do NOW

1. Make a donation via SMS, Telephone or Internet directly to the Red Cross for either Chile &/or Haiti (or bring cash to the clinic and we will donate it on your behalf).     

http://www.drk.dk/

100% all proceeds goes to Red Cross to support their efforts in Haiti & Chile.

Suggested Donation: 500 DKK

2. Send an email to michaelreid.ca@gmail.com (that's me) to reserve your spot.

3. Show up to paideia gym with your CASH or donation.

More information to follow in the coming days.

Please forward any questions you may have directly to my personal email, michaelreid.ca@gmail.com.

Thank you and be well,

Michael Reid, B.HE. CSCS, RKC

www.michaelreid.ca

www.WaterPoloTraining.net

Volvo Cup 2010: Hungary 10 - Canada 8

Very close match for the Canadians against one of the best teams in the world.

Hungary 10 - Canada 8

Canadian goal scorers: Feltham 3, Bicari 2, Graham 1, Conway 1, Robinson 1

Canada was very close to the Hungarians in the 4th quarter with the score at one point being 7-6 for the Hungarians.

In the 2nd half Canada even stopped a Hungarian 2 man power play.

It should be noted that Feltham and Graham are both playing for Eger in Hungary's top league and may be part of the reason for Canada's improved play.

A video of some interest to Canadians: Feltham scoring in 2008/09 Euroleague

Well done Canada!

Be Well,

Mike Reid

www.michaelreid.ca

www.WaterPoloTraining.net

references:

http://www.vizipolo.hu

http://www.nemzetisport.hu/vizilabda

Canada wins Big - Volvo Cup 2010

The Canadian Men's Water Polo team have beat two very good international teams these past few days in the Volvo Cup in Hungary.

Canada 6 - USA 5

Canada 8 - Australia 7

The USA is coming off a Silver medal performance from the last Olympics and Australia is very commonly a top 10 team in the world.

This is a great step for the Canadians considering that most of the team has probably not played any serious matches since the 2009 World Championships this past summer.

It is still very early in the Olympic cycle but this is a great start for the 2010 season.

What is up next for the Canadians? 

I have no idea!

Maybe something will be posted at WaterPolo.ca. The most "recent" update for the men's team is the 2009 World Championships.

Come on people, GET WITH IT!

There are people out here who want to know what you are doing and want to support the efforts of the coaches, athletes and support staff. It is hard to do when we have no idea what is going on.

Please, Please, Please more updates!

It is really weird that I have to go to USA Water Polo or some foreign language web site to find out about the Canadian National Team!

In a match played before the Volvo Cup, Canada lost to Hungary.

Canada 5 - Hungary 20

The Hungarians National Team are always one if not the best in the world. This match just shows that Canada has a way to go to becoming a medal contender at a Worlds or Olympic level event.

If I understand correctly, Canada will be playing Hungary tonight for the final match of the Volvo Cup (Feb 26, 2010).

GO CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Be Well,

Mike Reid

www.michaelreid.ca

www.WaterPoloTraining.net

references:

Hungarian Sports News reports about Canada - AUS match

USA Water Polo reports about game vs Canada

Serbians Train with Heavy Weights

This past weekend I had two colleagues from Hungary stay at my house while we were all in I-Phase, which is a level II Z-Health course.

One of them, is the physical trainer for one of the top Hungarian men's Water Polo teams. He  has been telling me many times that he is having a hard time convincing the coaches of the benefit of weight lifting. The coaches are actually scared of potential injury to his star players.

Back to the title of the post, he was telling me a story of some of the players on the team who went to Serbia to train. They told him that the Serbian players are freaky strong and  routinely lift heavy weights like deadlifts!

Deadlifts are great for Water Polo because they target every thing on the back side of the body which in general is underdeveloped on most Water Polo payers. What I believe to be one of the key concepts of strength training for Water Polo is to focus a lot of attention on the back side particularly the upper/mid back. Deadlifts accomplish this and much more like building strong hands and grip strength.

Maybe there is something to be gained with weight training?

Be Well,

Mike Reid

www.michaelreid.ca

www.WaterPoloTraining.net