Which man up tactic is more effective in scoring goals in water polo?

Abstract

It has been identified that as much as one third of a water polo match is played in man up situations (Nitzkowski, 1994). During these man ups, there are two formations that are usually used: 4-2 and 3-3. The aim of the study was to compare different variables in the 4-2 and 3-3 formation to evaluate whether one formation produces more goals than the other. 15 FINA world championship matches from 2011 were analysed using a hand notation system. Data, for variables were identified from previous research and collected for analysis were: where the shot was taken from, the number of passes, the type of shot, duration of man up and whether the shot scored or not. Using Mann-Whitney U tests, significant differences were found between the man up type and the position of where the shot came from p<0.005, gender and the position of where the shot came from produced a difference of p=0.010, gender and the man up type had a significant result of p=0.008, gender and the number of passes p=0.018, gender and the time taken to have a shot on target resulted in p=0.000. The study found that the 4-2 formation was used more than the 3-3 but there was only a 1% difference in success rate of the number of goals scored from attempts for each man up type. The most successful position to take the shot from in the 4-2 formation is position 2, see figure 1. Position 5 is the best for the 3-3 formation. Females spend 2.98 seconds longer to take the man up shot and 0.91 more passes than males