There is no standing in water polo

Players compete without the assistance of even a single sorry toe touching solid ground. Instead, they get their knees up, ankles out and legs circling in a treading motion called eggbeater. Think here of a kind of breaststroke kick, except with each leg working in alternation rather than both at once.

Want to lift yourself higher, grapple with your opponent, or just keep breathing oxygen? Better get those knees up and treading faster, friend.

But then, you likely know this already from Olympic coverage. What may be a tad less clear is why, exactly. Sure, standing is illegal for field players, and sure, most pools, especially those used for Olympic play, are too deep for any but the mythical giants among us to stand in easily. But that's not really all there is to it. Even if you could stand — if, say, were playing in a 4-foot pool, or if your name were Hagrid — you probably still wouldn't want to.

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That's because of a fun physics principle called leverage, finely translated into aquatics.

The closer your hips are to the surface, the more strength you'll be able to apply in pushing your opponents around or getting the jump on them when it's time to move. That's not to mention that, when your hips are closer to the surface, they're also farther from the wayward kicks and kidney jabs (and worse, believe me) that your opponents would like to toss your way underwater, where the refs can't see.

As soon as you plant your feet on the bottom, you drop your hips with them, leaving you upright, as flimsy as a straw in the wind — and far likelier to get another kind of wind knocked out of you.

But hey, you say, wouldn't such unsportsmanlike kicks get penalized? Funny you should ask.

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