Do Water Polo’s Rule Changes Affect Team Performance at Different Levels and Genders?

Abstract

The aim of this study was to verify the effect of rule changes in the 2019 water polo (WP) rules on the performance of sub-elite and elite level teams of both genders, comparing pre- and post- moments. The data were collected through official game reports from Brazilian and European WP tournaments, totaling 533 matches, referring to goals (G), goals per quarter (GQ1 to GQ4), exclusion fouls (EF) and penalty fouls (PF). Mean, standard deviation and 95 % confidence intervals were calculated for all variables. Generalised estimating equations were used to compare the variables pre- and post-WP rule changes. Effect sizes (Cohen’s d) were calculated. SPSS 20.0 was used in all analysis. The alpha significance level was established at.05. At the level of the sub-elite teams, women decreased GQ1 and increased GQ2, GQ3, GQ4 and EF, while men increased only EF and PF. At the level of the elite teams, women did not change the variables, whereas men increased G, GQ1, GQ2, EF and PF. The 2019 WP rule changes provoked different responses according to gender and the competitive level of the teams.