The decade of Serbian water polo

Water polo was originally developed in the British Isles. The colloquial term "aquatic football" was quickly adopted in many countries and their sport systems. With the adoption of the first rules (1929) the development of technique and tactics was intensified, and the philosophy of the game itself deepened. An important development factor was the founding and the work of the International Swimming Federation (FINA, 1908) and its water polo board (1929), as well as the affirmation through the Olympic Games program (Paris, 1900), European (Budapest 1926) and World Championships (Belgrade 1973). Water polo appeared in Serbia at the beginning of the last century, when the students from Sombor who studied in Budapest "transferred" the essence and the appeal of this game to Serbia. The students - the players of Sombor sports society won the first Kingdom of Yugoslavia National Championship in water polo held in Bled (1921). The primacy was quickly obtained by the teams from the sea coast, primarily the "WPC Jug" from Dubrovnik, and from the 1960s also the teams from the continental part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, primarily Partizan and Mladost. The water polo organization played a significant role in the development of water polo in the SFRY and ensured the conditions for the development of "the Yugoslav school of water polo". The successes of the national team and the clubs during the period of the SFRY, continue in today's Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia. The national independence of the Republic of Serbia (2006) did not affect the national team's results. The teams of the Serbian Water Polo Federation, from 2006 to 2016 have accomplished extraordinary sports results, and today, at the end of 2020, the Serbian senior national team is ranked first on the FINA's list of national teams. This paper addresses the golden decade of Serbian water polo (2006-2016). It aims at analysing the factors considered to have influenced the development of the water polo game, primarily, the players - their talent and hard work, coaches, the efficient national organization, sports officials, science and scientific methods… all of them who together encourage the improvement and development of the water polo game through individual contribution - the Serbian players' ethos.