Every summer (and it’s been 10 now), far away, around one of the buoys on Sant Sebastià beach, the one located right in front of the Club Natació Atlètic-Barceloneta (CNAB), a significant commotion forms. From the shore, about 170 meters away, few notice it. It could be seagulls battling over a presumed food scrap from a boat, or a frantic school of fish, or an underwater eruption. But no. It’s a group of brilliant madmen who meet offshore to play poloboya.
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Polo what? Poloboya, a sport invented in 2017 by this group of sea and water polo enthusiasts, which pits two teams against each other, one attacking, one defending, who have to slap the ball against the buoy after chaining at least three passes. Goals are not counted, but a head slap is worth double. Few rules other than the desire to have fun and play sports. “The level doesn’t matter. Not at all. It’s about having a good time,” says David, one of the pioneers, in case it’s not clear from the group’s motto: “Si flotes, vine, que riurem” (‘if you float, come, we’ll have a laugh’).
“If you float, come, we’ll have a laugh,” is the motto of this sport
But it didn’t start with laughs. Manel, who had signed up for the CNAB’s water polo initiation course, couldn’t get near the ball. “They wouldn’t pass it to me!” he recalls, humorously. “The skills I had developed doing kite, surfing, triathlon, skiing, marathon or skate were useless in water polo.” So in the summer, when the course ended, he bought a ball and swam to the buoy every day to practice. “The buoy was my training partner: it was always there, never complained, and most importantly: it almost always returned the ball to me.”
Manel’s castaway loneliness – with his friend Wilson… – didn’t last long. Just the time it took for David to drop by. Then there were two. “One day Joana appeared. And then Carlos. And a lot of people who, little by little, became part of this adventure,” explains Manel.
“One of the first times we threw the ball into the sea, it landed next to some girls who were hanging around,” David recalls. “Before returning it to us, they passed it among themselves… And they came to the buoy to play. Damn! What a level…! They were from a Californian water polo team participating in the U-18 World Championship being played in Barcelona.” Manel, this time with David, returned to the days when he couldn’t get near the ball…
But really, the level of the players doesn’t matter. Poloboya is inclusive: there are people who played water polo when they were young, there are young players, and not so young, men and women; and it is also cosmopolitan: there are participants from up to nine nationalities (being Barceloneta, it couldn’t be any other way). “Anyone [who floats…] can play, even if they’ve never held a ball with one hand in the water,” they insist. And some player from Atlètic-Barceloneta – current water polo Champions League champion, big words… – has slipped away more than once and given a masterclass. A luxury: it’s like going down to the park with a football and doing keepy-uppies with Messi. Or with Javi Puado.
They have played poloboya matches in the light of the full moon and at dawn
Anyone can call a meetup among the more than hundred people signed up for the corresponding chat. If a minimum of six confirm, there’s a match. “If there are more of us, we play five against five, or six against six, or we make three teams,” David points out. And from the club, on the same beach, 10, 12 or 18 guys and girls or more, with their blue or red water polo caps (there’s more: men’s and women’s swimsuits, t-shirts… a whole merchandising with the Poloboia logo), zigzag among the sunbathers, jump into the water and, passing the ball, reach the buoy and start having fun.
They have sometimes played in secret: no one saw them when they played at night, in the light of the full moon. And very few when they played at dawn. The only testimony is on the overwhelming Instagram account, @poloboia. These are different ways to enjoy the sea. Just like on days – quite frequent – when the water, right in Barcelona, is more transparent than on the Costa Brava and one gets distracted admiring the seabed, the fish…
When there will indeed be hustle and bustle on the very beach will be next September 20, with the celebration of the 10th edition of, attention, the Poloboia World Championship, sponsored by El vaso de oro, a mythical neighborhood bar that has collaborated with the cause from minute zero of this story. It’s about building community, this is Barceloneta!
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