According to Ricardo Azevedo, during his 50 years in the sport, the skill of “technique training” is consistently the weakest (both when he was coached or when he was evaluating coaching).
Other sports take pride in position-specific training (free throw coach, setters coach, pitching coach, goalie coach etc). This doesn’t exist in water polo. In fact, a ‘goalie coach’ is a position recognized only recently in our sport.
Each position has its own skill set. For example, when coaching a Center, a coach needs to ask, what type of Center is this: tall & lengthy or short & stocky? What about personality- aggressive vs. calm. Centers will also differ in their skills related to scoring and holding position. Can this Center play another position (that is called “second center”) vs primary center. For each unique situation, different skills need to be taught.
Same goes for the driver position - drivers can be quick, good at posting up, setting up etc. Each one will have unique skills.
The lesson to take away: before you start teaching technique, take the time to evaluate your individual athletes and to carefully assess their strengths and weaknesses