Apparently the most common reason for watersports is recreation, where a number of people enter the water for relaxation and enjoyment. One of the best ways to relax is recreational swimming with its plentiful styles, like the sidestroke, dog paddle, breaststroke, butterfly, or freestyle. Much of the recreational swimming occurs in pools, seen as popular venues for this watersport, in addition to lakes, rivers, canals and creeks.

Another popular watersport, the modern pentathlon, consists of five events, including fencing, pistol shooting, freestyle swimming, show jumps on horseback and cross-country runs. Since 1912 the modern pentathlon has been featured on the Olympic program. A team event was included in the Olympic Games in 1952, while the event for women has been their part since 2000. Originally the modern pentathlon was held over four or five days. However, in an effort to improve the commercial image of the event, a one-day format was adopted. In recent years, the decrease in popularity of the modern pentathlon has led to some considerations for its removal from the Olympic program.

Having a reputation of an internationally recognized watersport, diving is recognized as a common recreational pastime in places that are major destinations for swimming. While not so popular as a participant sport, diving as an Olympic sport enjoys great popularity with spectators, due to its successful competitors from the United States, Canada, China, and Australia. Competitive diving usually implies competing at one of several major heights, notably one meter, three meters, five meters and ten meters. Generally a variety of dives are performed from different starting positions and in different directions. While competitive diving is closely connected with gymnastics, there is one significant difference: female and male gymnasts compete in quite different skills, while both male and female divers practice the same dives. In synchronized diving, two divers form a team and try to perform dives simultaneously. The event is spectacular, requiring ideal coordination between the divers. In 2000, synchronized diving was adopted as an Olympic sport.

Rating with the most popular watersports, rafting is a major recreational activity where a raft is used to navigate lakes, rivers or other body of water. Depending on the rafting difficulty, rivers are generally classified into six classes, ranging from easy to expert. If the proper safety measures aren't taken, rafting may turn out to be a dangerous activity.

Designed as a combination of football, swimming, ice hockey, basketball, wrestling and rugby, water polo is a popular team watersport, with a team consisting of six players and one goalkeeper. The main task is to score as many goals as possible, each goal being worth one point. Basic skills needed in this watersport include swimming, ball handling skills, and treading water. The sport enjoys the widest popularity in the United States, where almost all water polo players have prestigious academic backgrounds, including former USA captains Wolf Wigo and Tony Azevado.