Talking with my three boys that play. When the Mikasa balls are new and inflated properly, they are light and grippy. However, in the course of an event (due to use, sunscreen, etc.), the balls are equivalent to a tether ball. For example, at JOs / 18u National League, Futures, etc., dropped balls, lack of control while faking, led to turnovers, missed opportunities, and even losing control while shooting Five-meters. We need to do better.
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It would be nice if USAWP would occasionally weigh in on the board. I know that is a slippery, like Mikasa (bad joke), slope but we have seen GOLS, WPW, and others weigh in from a business perspective. I know I am dreaming.
my kids both said the same. My son pondered that Mikasa works in european environment of indoor pools without heavy sunscreens. It was infuriating the slipping you could see right out of the kid’s hands. When you know they aren’t usually like that
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Multiple comments that I heard ranging from 10U to 16U was that the Mikasa balls were good early on. Temperatures vary through the day, do balls get pressure checked through the day? Pressure would go up proportional to temperature.
I guess if the balls suck during one game for whatever reason they suck for both teams so it is “fair”. It is frustrating to watch. If there is bias, these issues with ball “grip” might favor players with really large hands?
There was one game my kid was playing where one of the balls was overinflated while the other two were fine. The kids were mentally keeping track of the slick ball and when it was a counter-ball, the team would work to put the good ball out of play so the other team would get stuck with it. I don’t know if both teams were doing that, but I know for sure my kid’s team was.
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That is some big brain 3D chess style play right there.
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USAWP did their research guys. They researched and researched and found out that Mikasa offered the most $$ to be official ball, so they went with Mikasa 
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Coaching last year, I handled every game ball for our team and noticed each ball had varying degrees of pressure.
Leading up to JO’S I experimented with different pressures. 1 lb too low and the ball flops on a skip shot, psi as stated on the ball led to a consistent skipshot, 1 lb over and the ball was flying a foot or 2 over the cage. This was aside from the ball getting slick through use.
The balls are great if properly inflated, last years JO’s through 4 pools had a wide range of inflation and made for some interesting plays, or lack thereof.
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I had the same thought process last year during JOs. Some of my players either really liked the ball or didn’t at all and that varied by pool we were at. I personally like the frogskin balls but its something to get used to but I can also see why someone might not like them, especially with the amount of sunscreen layered on throughout a 4 day tournament.
If the problem is ball pressure, the easy fix is to have all balls checked and inflated to the same pressure. I don’t know about FINA rules, but a few years back the NCAA lowered the inflation pressure of balls, I think to reduce concussion risk. Since that change, every ball I handle at a tournament feels under-inflated to me, but when I check them they are always pretty close to the standard (8-9 psi for mens, 7-8 for womens). I only officiate in indoor pools where temperature is controlled. At outdoor pools, you’re going to have balls sitting on the deck warming up and getting firmer, and they may change once they hit the cooler water. But quick calculation suggest to me that temperature changes from 75-100, which I bet is pretty close to the max you could expect between air temp on deck and water temp, will only change a ball inflated to 8 pounds at 85 degrees from 7.8 to 8.25 pounds. In other words, less than the 1 lb range allowed by the NCAA rules.
I can’t recall ever seeing a ball checked before or during a game on the pool deck in 16U or 18U events. I’m not even sure if they have a gauge to do that. I have seen a ref squeeze a ball with his hands and remove a ball from play, but thats about it. I am sure there are some players or coaches that may have a gauge/pump in their bag, but would a ref/table? It seems like a good protocol to do every day and possibly at least once during the day.
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This afternoons game between France v. Canada they stopped the game and pulled the ball out of the water as it kept flying out of hands. I could not tell who was complaining, but he was adamant and very expressive about the ball condition
I’ll just go out on a limb and presume that the complainant was France, and that Canada was just, you know, sorry. [rimshot]
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Hahaha you clanked that one
Has anyone heard how much longer USA Water Polo plans to use the Mikasa balls at JOs? I know the usawp press release says the current agreement runs through 2028, but I’m curious whether there has been any discussion based on player and coach feedback.
I watched a JO semifinal where the start was delayed because officials were checking and (presumably) re-inflating the game balls, yet they still seemed underinflated or inconsistent once play began. The result was several turnovers from balls simply slipping out of players’ hands. It didn’t look like normal unforced errors, but rather it looked like the equipment was affecting the game.
Have to assume they don’t care as long as the check clears.
My understanding it’s a two-year deal. From talking to a number of players the last two years–the ball is fine when brand new. However, the ball loses its grip fairly easily and with the combination of tournament use, sun screen, etc. the ball is pretty much a nightmare. In the last two years of observing the Junior Olympics and various ODP events, the ball has been very problematic. Essentially it’s a teather ball. Overall it’s actually maddening.
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My son is 12U….on the first day he complained that the balls were slippery! He was taking a 5 meter and the ball slipped. That never happens to him, so after that happened I realized that he wasn’t kidding. I believe it affected him throughout the tournament with a lot of slips and missed opportunities.
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I went to watch some 16U and 18U boys games at Woolett on the Sunday, and balls were sometimes falling out of the players hands, when they were pump faking, with what seemed to be a lot more often than usual. 18U boys don’t usually have many balls just fall out of their hands, while pump faking
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