February 19th, 2009 
maxlance1 
Surely water polo is the most inaccurately-named sport in existence. If the game wasn’t in the water it would not be polo, which is what the name implies. If anything it would be handball, so just call it water handball. For that matter, why not just call it waterball? It kind of sounds like the fun version of water boarding.
I’m curious about the origins of the sport’s name. I wonder if this is how the conversation transpired:
“There’s this new swimming game. A bunch of players jump in a pool and have to swim and use their hands to pass a leather ball around to throw it into the opposing team’s net,”
“Oh! So it’s like that game with horses and mallets?”
Names that would be more accurate for water polo than water polo: water polio, water pollo, X-treme Marco Polo.
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Max Lance is a writer, producer and performer. He was nominated for a Student Emmy, Humanitas Fellowship and was a finalist for the Page Screenplay Award. He writes features, TV and syndicates his blog while hosting the travel show The Trip Next Door and working at Chernin Entertainment. A New York City native, Max graduated the USC film school and now lives in Los Angeles.
Ok whoever created this thread is stupid the name is fine you don’t see anyone arguing about the sport of soccer not being called football get a life you fucking loser
water polo is not like hand ball at all really . . . i have been playing it for a while. anyway, its like rugby but harder, and more physical . . . have you ever played water polo before? i dont think you get the game otherwise. also, water polo sounds better than water handball, and the version of water polo that we play today originated in England, where, coincedantally, polo is big. Also, the game has changed a lot over the years, so it it vaguely realted to today’s version of water polo.