Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams. The game consists of four quarters in which the two teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal; the team with the most goals at the end of the game wins the match. Each team is made up of one goalkeeper. Excluding the goalkeeper, players participate in both defensive roles. Water polo is played in an all-deep pool so that players cannot touch the bottom. A game of water polo consists of the players swimming to move about the pool, treading water, passing the ball, shooting at the goal. Teamwork, tactical thinking and awareness are highly important aspects in a game of water polo. Water polo is a physical and demanding sport and has been cited as one of the most difficult sports to play. Special equipment for water polo includes a water polo ball, a ball of varying colors which floats on the water; the game is thought to have originated in Scotland in the late 19th century as a sort of "water rugby".

William Wilson is thought to have developed the game during a similar period. The game thus developed with the formation of the London Water Polo League and has since expanded, becoming popular in various parts of Europe, the United States, China and Australia; the history of water polo as a team sport began as a demonstration of strength and swimming skill in late 19th century England and Scotland, where water sports and racing exhibitions were a feature of county fairs and festivals. Men's water polo was among the first team sports introduced at the modern Olympic games in 1900. Water polo is now popular in many countries around the world, notably Europe, the United States and Australia; the present-day game involves teams of seven players, with a water polo ball similar in size to a soccer ball but constructed of air-tight nylon. One of the earliest recorded viewings of water polo was conducted at the 4th Open Air Fete of the London Swimming Club, held at the Crystal Palace, London on 15 September 1873.

Another antecedent of the modern game of Water Polo was a game of water ‘handball’ played at Bournemouth on 13 July 1876. This was a game between 12 members of the Premier Rowing Club, with goals being marked by four flags placed in the water near to the midpoint of Bournemouth Pier; the game lasted for 15 minutes watched by a large crowd. The rules of water polo were developed in the late nineteenth century in Great Britain by William Wilson. Wilson is believed to have been the First Baths Master of the Arlington Baths Club in Glasgow; the first games of'aquatic football' were played at the Arlington in the late 1800s, with a ball constructed of India rubber. This "water rugby" came to be called "water polo" based on the English pronunciation of the Balti word for ball, pulu. Early play allowed brute strength and holding opposing players underwater to recover the ball. Players held underwater for lengthy periods surrendered possession; the goalie stood outside the playing area and defended the goal by jumping in on any opponent attempting to score by placing the ball on the deck.

The rules of water polo cover the play, procedures and officiating of water polo. These rules are similar throughout the world, although slight variations to the rules do occur regionally and depending on the governing body. Governing bodies of water polo include FINA, the international governing organization for the rules. There are seven players in the water from each team at one time. There are one goalkeeper. Unlike most common team sports, there is little positional play; these positions consist of a center forward, a center back, the two wing players and the two drivers. Players who are skilled in all positions of offense or defense are called utility players. Utility players tend to come off of the bench. Certain body types are more suited for particular positions, left-handed players are coveted on the right-hand side of the field, allowing teams to launch two-sided attacks; the offensive positions include: one center forward, two wings, two drivers, one "point", positioned farthest from the goal.

The wings and point are called the perimeter players. There is a typical numbering system for these positions in U. S. NCAA men's division one polo. Beginning with the offensive wing to the opposing goalie's right side is called one; the flat in a counter clockwise from one is called two. Moving along in the same direction the point player is three, the next flat is four, the final wing is five, the hole set

Kate Caithness is a Scottish curler. She serves as the current President of the World Curling Federation. Caithness began playing for the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. From 1997 to 1998, she served as the president of the Club's ladies branch representing the Club at the World Curling Federation. At the World Curling Federation, Caithness promoted wheelchair curling, helping make it a Paralympic sport in 2006 in Turin. Caithness served on the International Paralympic Committee’s Sports Council Management Committee from 2005 to 2009, on the Paralympic Games Committee from 2006 to 2009. In 2006, Caithness was elected Vice-President, in 2010 President, of the World Curling Federation, she is the first female president of the World Curling Federation, as well as the first female president of any Olympic Winter Sports Federation. On 29 December 2012 Kate Caithness was bestowed the honour of an OBE for services to curling and international disability sport, it was presented to her by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at a ceremony in Scotland.

Speaking about the award, Caithness said: “I am thrilled and delighted. It is a great honour and is wonderful recognition for the sport of curling and wheelchair curling and all those involved in playing and developing the sport.” She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to Sport. In an interview in the Edmonton Sun, Caithness speaks about the growth of Curling “Curling has become the world’s fastest growing sport and I’m not sure most Canadians realize that fact. We’re acknowledged as this being the case. There's no doubt, and Vancouver was the launching pad. Vancouver is. Vancouver was huge, it just captured everybody’s imagination.” “The Olympics and television keep giving us our window to the world,” said Caithness. "And Vancouver opened. “Television brings the focus to our sport and it has since Nagano ’98 when all those ski events kept getting postponed by weather and they went to curling instead. “In Vancouver we had 1,125 hours of curling broadcast in 35 territories and that includes Europe, where we have 38 member associations as one.

And we’re going to have more hours and more countries from Sochi 2014. “In Vancouver curling became the third most watched sport globally of the Olympics. “In Brazil it was the most watched sport. Imagine that. In Brazil. No. 1. We have no idea how that happened. “An average minute of curling from Vancouver was watched by 22 million people. Average minute! Twenty-two million! In Japan it was six million alone. “From Olympics to Olympics from Vancouver proceeding to Sochi, it’s been crazy. “There are now 24 new curling countries since Vancouver. “Mongolia!” she said of one of them. "We're now going into the Middle East. “And the United States has taken off. They’re our sleeping giant.” “And China... I think what China loves is that it’s chess on ice.” “It’s like in 2009 we took the women’s world championships to Gangneung, Korea where the 2018 Winter Olympics will be held. It was Sweden vs China in the final and it drew a live audience of 65 million worldwide. “Any time you can get 65 million people around the world watching anything live that’s an incredible number of viewers.”

The white-backed night heron is a species of medium-sized heron in the family Ardeidae, found in sub-Saharan Africa. The German naturalist Johann Wagler described the white-backed night heron as Ardea leuconotus in 1827. Today the IOC World Bird List places it in the genus Gorsachius, while BirdLife International and the Handbook of the Birds of the World place it in Calherodius, its name derives from a patch of white feathers. The white-backed night heron is 50–55 cm in length with a black head and a short crest, or prominent feather display on the top of its head; the heron has large red eyes with white-ringed markings around them, the lores, or the region behind the eye, are a pale yellow hue. The throat feathers are white, whereas the breast are rufous, or a reddish-brown hue. There is a notable white triangular patch along the back formed by the white scapulars, or small feathers, on the shoulder of the bird; the belly feathers are a whitish-brown and the legs are yellow. An immature heron can be identified by its streaked breast and the white spots on the upper-wing coverts.

Chicks are covered with olive-brown down. The white-backed night heron is located throughout central and southern Africa, with a range estimated at 20,900,000 km2, its primary habitat is dense forests with neighboring waterways streams, lakes and marshes. The white-backed night heron can be found living individually or in pairs. Nocturnal by nature, they roost in the dense vegetation of marshes and forests during the daylight hours nesting high within the trees, their nests are well-hidden built in vegetation near water and sometimes in reedbeds, mangroves and caves. The nest is built resembling a platform of 25 -- 30 cm wide, they breed during the rainy season or early in the dry season. There are two to three greenish-white eggs in a clutch, incubation lasts 24 to 26 days; the chicks leave the nest after six to seven weeks. The white-backed night heron seems to be sedentary, but it has been observed in some circumstances to have migrated to locations with heavy rain. White-backed night herons are known foragers, meaning they search for food along waterways.

They have been observed to eat fish, amphibians and insects. Though quiet, they let out a loud kroak call when alarmed and a taash call when disturbed; the population of the white-backed night heron is believed to be stable because it does not appear to undergo significant population declines or experience any notable threats. Due to these factors and its large range, the IUCN Red List has assessed the species to be of least concern; the species is experiencing a small number of threats, including habitat loss in southern Africa and hunting in Nigeria, where they are used for traditional medicine