National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2001
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The NCAA Women's Water Polo Committee is recommending that a men's and women's rules subcommittee be established to better coordinate rules changes for men's and women's water polo.
Water polo is the only sport for which NCAA rules are written that has different seasons for men and women. The women's committee, which met in Indianapolis July 9-11, will recommend to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet that a rules subcommittee composed of representatives of the existing men's and women's committees meet annually in February to discuss rules matters.
"At all levels of the game, men and women play under relatively the same rules," said Kaia Hedlund, women's committee chair and Big West Conference special projects coordinator. "The women's committee supports the use of a common rules book; however, we struggle with the process of evaluating and making changes with equal input from both committees.
"The members of the women's committee feel they should be involved in the discussions at the time they take place and not simply to review or approve all decisions after they have been made."
Currently, the women's committee conducts its annual meeting after the rules book has been initially edited, which Hedlund said means the committee can only make small revisions or corrections and not act as equal participants in the process.
"A process that was acceptable before the establishment of the NCAA championship for the women no longer seems fair," she said.
Under the proposal, three representatives from the men's and women's water polo committees would meet in February before the men's annual meeting in the spring to discuss rules changes for the upcoming year. For the 2001-02 rules book, the men's committee forwarded rules changes to the women's committee for approval.
If the travel costs for committee members are not approved, the committee recommends a conference call in mid-January with the two committees.
Other issues
In other actions regarding rules changes, the women's committee forwarded a proposal to the men's committee to eliminate Rule 20.18, the "wasting-time rule," for the 2002-03 season. Since a 35-second shot clock is used to control possession throughout the game, the committee believes wasting time is not an issue and is only called at the end of the game.
The committee also forward a recommendation to the Championships/Competition Cabinet requiring the secretary-rules editor to attend all meetings and the championship, and be available for conference calls.
Regarding officiating matters, the committee agreed to use the following selection criteria (not in preferential order) when selecting officials for the championship: a minimum of 12 women's games refereed; a women's conference game officiated; and level of professionalism. Regional representation also will be a priority in selecting officials.
"The committee felt it was important to involve referees in the championship who had been involved with the women's college game throughout the season," Hedlund said. "We also felt it was important to include referees from different regions of the country as much as possible. The number of girls and women participating in the sport is growing at a phenomenal level, and it is necessary for us to concentrate on ways to expand the pool of elite referees capable of calling games at this level. The talent level of the players has increased so much in the past few years that we need to make a major effort to support the training and development of referees."
The committee will send letters to conference commissioners and assignors for a list of their top six officials. A rating form also will be sent that evaluates an official's game administration ability, rules knowledge, professionalism, and interaction with student-athletes and coaches. Each conference will rate its top six officials twice during the season and submit the results to the national office by March 1 and April 1.
In other action, the committee plans to talk with various television networks about the possibility of broadcasting future events. The committee said it will not recommend the use of funds to broadcast the games on the Internet, as is done with the men's championship, unless the video quality improves.
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