It all starts with swimming.

Water polo players need to be comfortable in water to the point where they don't mind being pulled or pushed under the water, having water splashed in their face or the occasional ball bouncing off their head.

A sport for Boys and Girls.

Water polo has teams for both Boys and Girls. Younger players in the Pups program will play co-ed and it's not uncommon for Boys and Girls to practice together and play against each other.

Those funny hats (called caps) are worn for a reason.

Water polo caps serve the dual purpose of protecting a players ears from impact by a ball and providing a way to identify which team a player is on. Goalies in water polo wear Red caps. Home and Away teams where light and dark caps respectively.

Players can only touch the ball with one hand.

Yep. Unless your the goalie touching the ball with two hands is a foul and possession of the ball switches to the other team. All passes and shots are done with one hand, while treading water, and fending off your opponent (usually with the the other hand).

The ball is unique.

You can't just play water polo with any old ball almost all other balls are slippery when wet. The water polo ball consists of an inflatable bladder covered with rubber exterior that is grippy when wet. This makes the ball easier to hold in one hand. Each age group uses an appropriately sized ball for the size of the players hands.

Games are broken into quarters.

There are four quarters in water polo with a two minute break between the first/second and third/fourth quarters. At half time players switch ends and get a three minute break. The length of the quarter is determined by the age of the players and spans from two to seven minutes.

This is a contact sport.

Expect to be leaned on, swam over and dunked. Water Polo is a contact sport and the higher you go the more physically demanding it becomes. Many times parents will think "hey they can't do that". Most times they can. When a player has the ball they can expect to go under the water.

The hole is a position.

Water polo is played mostly man to man with players working their way into position based on where their "man" is and if they are on offense or defence. There is however one clearly defined position right in front of the goalie called "the hole". The hole is where most goals are scored from and the player in that position must be one of the strongest on the team. Other players on offence attempt to make a horse shoe around the hole and feed the ball to the player in the hole to try and score.