They come to the sport for many reasons.

Some take up water polo just to keep in shape for the other sports they play during the fall and winter. Many are competitive swimmers looking to keep their feet wet during the offseason.

For Katie Fulford, an Auburn Riverside senior who also performs on the school’s cheer squad during the fall and winter, it’s all about the contact, a chance to get out some aggression in the pool.

“I like it because it’s aggressive,” Fulford said. “I was a little surprised (by the physicality) at first. But you don’t have to be nice, you don’t have to smile at the other team.”

For those unfamiliar with water polo, the contact in the pool often comes as a surprise. With rules akin to basketball, ice hockey, rugby and soccer, the sport features players on two teams treading water in the pool and attempting to score goals by hurling a ball past a goalkeeper into a net goal. Considered a contact sport, players often maneuver themselves into better position by pushing, pulling and grabbing their opponents.

According to Auburn Riverside coach Jim Isom, who took over the girls program two-years ago after two years as the boys coach, the full-contact nature of the sport is often the hardest thing to teach his athletes.

“It’s difficult to teach, unless they’ve played soccer or basketball,” said Isom, who started the Auburn boys and girls water polo programs in the 1990s. “It’s kind of a combination of soccer and basketball. They kind of understand that.

“For girls, the most difficult part is the suit grabbing,” he continued. “With girls, anywhere you grab, there is suit. There is grabbing in basketball and soccer, but it’s your jersey, not your suit, which is like your underwear. Sometimes girls who have never played the sport take it very personally, so they react a lot differently, whereas boys understand there is an element of physicality to the game. Sometimes the girls react a little rougher.”

The Ravens’ Karli Mitchell admitted: “It was a rude awakening that first game. But I like the aggression.”

This season, Auburn Riverside is off to a quick 4-0 league start.

According to Isom, the team’s success this year rests squarely on the shoulders of several seniors, including Fulford, Mitchell, Carly Hill, Nicole Curtis and Nicole Noel.

“This year we have a lot of experience. We didn’t lose much,” Isom said.

For the girls, this season’s success is the culmination of a year’s worth of work.

“We do a lot of team-bonding stuff,” Noel said. “We work hard together.”

Although the sport is treated as a varsity sport by the high school, Isom said water polo is not sanctioned by the Washington State Interscholastic Activities Association.

“It’s a club sport, but they can letter,” he said.

The Raven girls will play an exhibition game against Auburn Riverside alumni at 5:50 today at the Auburn Pool.

The Ravens’ regular season will resume with a match against Peninsula at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Auburn Pool.

“Peninsula lost a lot of kids, but they bounced us out of state last year,” Isom said. “So I’m looking forward to that game. We have a score to settle.”