The NCAA Men's and Women's Water Polo Rules Committee conducted its first in-person meeting February 9 in Indianapolis and took care of several philosophical issues before determining its initial set of rules changes.

The committee, which includes three members of the NCAA Men's Water Polo Committee and three members of the NCAA Women's Water Polo Committee, decided to remove the statement from the rules book that was added in 1998 and specified that the FINA/United States Water Polo rules had been adopted with certain exceptions.

"The text at the beginning of the rules book was misleading to the water polo community, but I don't think our philosophy has changed all that much," said Jamey Wright, newly appointed rules committee chair and head women's water polo coach at the University of California, Davis. "We will consider potential rule changes that enhance and promote the collegiate game, even if such rules have not yet been adopted or considered at the international level."

The NCAA rules book will continue to bold sections of the rules that are different from FINA/U.S. Water Polo Rules to help referees who must be familiar with both sets of rules.

The committee also decided to send a call for rules-change proposals to women's water polo coaches in early April and to the men's water polo coaches in early October. Such proposals will be added to other questions created by the committee to form the annual survey that will be distributed in November. The results will be used at the committee's annual meeting in February.

Among the more significant rules changes made during the committee's inaugural meeting was an interpretation clarifying how a direct shot on goal may be taken after that player's team has been awarded a free throw for a foul committed outside seven meters. The interpretation, which will be distributed immediately to referees, will add the following language: "A player may retrieve the ball or receive it without delay from inside seven meters, look in the general direction of the goal, and then take an immediate shot at the goal." The committee was concerned that in some cases, players were being forced to take a shot without even looking at the goal.

The committee will issue points of emphasis in the 2004-05 rules that remind officials to inform the desk and both coaches when a 20-second timeout has been called by a coach. The 20-second timeout was added for the first time last season, and there was occasional confusion about whether a full timeout or a 20-second timeout was being called.

Officials also will be urged to accurately time timeouts and the intervals between periods to ensure consistency.

The rules committee also changed a rule regarding goalkeeper caps (Rule 4.4). The current rule concerning the color of numbers on the goalkeeper caps will be reversed so that the color of the numbers on the goalkeeper caps matches the color of the numbers on the field-player caps on the same team (white numbers on the goalie cap of the home team and dark numbers on the goalie cap of the visiting team). This will make the numbers visible on the quartered goalkeeper caps, making the caps easier to read.

The committee also reduced the height requirement of cap numbers from 10 centimeters to at least eight centimeters. This will follow more realistically the size of numbers that are being used on caps since a 10-centimeter number will not fit on most caps.

Other highlights

Men's and Women's Water Polo Rules Committee
February 9/Indianapolis

In addition to the rules changes described in the accompanying article, the rules committee made the following recommendations for rules changes:

Substitution during temporary stoppage of play (Rule 5.6, page 23) -- Add a note specifying that players should not be substituted either from the re-entry or from the side of the pool during a temporary stoppage of play, such as while a player is retrieving a cap or while a referee is checking on an injury.

Television timeouts (Rule 12.8, page 39) -- The rule will be rewritten to allow for television timeouts of no more than two minutes once per quarter after the four-minute mark. The television timeout may be called after a goal, before a neutral throw or before a corner throw.

The rule previously read that only a one-minute timeout was allowed, and the committee noted that current timeouts were closer to two minutes. The rule previously stated that the timeout could be taken between three and five minutes into each period. The committee decided to specify that the television timeout shall be called after the four-minute mark once per quarter.

Coin toss (Rule 13.1, page 41) -- The referee shall toss the coin in the presence of the captains. The winner will have the choice of ends. The referee always tosses the coin; therefore, this change brings the rules in line with actual practice.

Neutral throw (Rule 18.2, page 49) -- Add wording to specify that the ball may be played before it touches the water. Since this is how the neutral throw is conducted, the change brings the wording of the rule into conformity with current practice.