PHOTOS - Pan Am Games BEGIN - Water polo!

PHOTOS – Pan Am Games BEGIN – Water polo!

Jul 8, 2015 Estonian Life No. 28 2015

The 2015 Pan Am Games began on Tuesday July 7, three days before the Opening Ceremonies, with water polo at the Markham Pan Am Centre.

The women's preliminary rounds were the featured event in the morning session. Water polo has many similarities to hockey, except there are four 8-minute periods.

The sides switch sides at the half. Similar to hockey, players switch off during play. It should be noted that the pool is deep and players are either treading water or swimming with great intensity during play.
There is a penalty box beside the goal. Penalty shots can also occur.

Face-offs are used only at the beginning of each period, when both teams race to the middle of the pool to gain possession of the ball. Two referees watch over play from a walkway on either side of the pool. During the preliminary rounds, draws are left as ties. As can be seen in the photo gallery, scoring can be quite prolific, but two good teams can play an exciting, close match. On the women's side, the USA, Canada and Brazil are the top contenders.

In today's final game, Canada scored the tying goal with less than a minute left. Curt Harnett, Canada's chef de mission, was by far the most enthusiastic fan at the event.

For those interested in the photographic aspects, the lighting was great for the unaided eye but for cameras, an F2.8 lens is really a must. Most of the action photos were shot at an ISO of 2000 and a shutter speed of 1/2000, at 200 mm. Even with those settings, some blurring of the ball occurred. In addition, water droplets add tremendously to the action, but make focusing on the player behind the spray more challenging. Note that a few photos of the American and Canadian team members were taken during the warm-up period, a great time to try out one's camera settings and sometimes be blessed with some good shots.

Peeter Põldre

PHOTO GALLERY – Potos by Peeter Põldre (2015)