{"product_id":"coffee-table-book-of-water-polo-hardcover","title":"Coffee Table Book of: Water Polo (Hardcover)","description":"\u003cp\u003eCoffee Table Book of: Water Polo is a large format book of water polo, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: the ball, caps with ear guards, floating goals and their nets, pools at dawn and dusk, the gear being made and cared for, and a few players seen far off in plain caps.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe kit is laid out plain: a yellow ball afloat on still water, two balls of different sizes side by side, white, dark blue and red caps with their round ear guards, the corner of a goal and its knotted net, a hand pump, a mesh bag of balls, a whistle on a cord, a tough close cut suit and a medicine ball for training on land.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe making follows a cap stitched at the sewing machine, new balls racked in the factory, a net mended knot by knot and a goal frame given a fresh white coat, then the care of the pool: drained, covered, its lane ropes reeled away and its nets hung to dry. The past runs from a laced leather ball and a cloth cap without ear guards to wooden goal posts in a river, a wool costume, a cork float, old indoor baths with iron galleries, open air lidos and sea baths filled by the tide.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen the places, empty at every hour and in every season: pools in mist at first light, in summer rain and thunder, in autumn leaves, fog, frost and snow, under a full moon and under floodlights, goals moored in a mountain lake, a harbour and a tidal sea pool, and a few small players far off, racing for the ball, passing, shooting and rising high to block.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShort notes run through the book, on the rules and how the game is played, the gear and how it is made, and the history of the sport: the ball floats high on the water, and its pebbled skin lets a wet hand grip it, early balls were leather, and they soaked up water and grew heavy as a game went on, players tread water with the eggbeater, a kick that keeps both hands free for the ball, and the ball used in games for women is a little smaller than the one used by men.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrinted in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a hardcover with the art printed on the case.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cedar Pine Editions","offers":[{"title":"Case Bound - PPC","offer_id":68151408132400,"sku":"9671456005164","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0262\/2357\/5085\/files\/9671456005164.jpg?v=1792657589","url":"https:\/\/www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk\/products\/coffee-table-book-of-water-polo-hardcover","provider":"The Great British Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}