Although only minor changes stemmed from the discussion, the focus of the Men's and Women's Water Polo Rules Committee's meeting in February centered on physical play.

A memo from the Collegiate Water Polo Association indicating concern for sportsmanship and enforcement of regulations against rough play prompted the committee's discussion.

"The concern was that rules were not being enforced to ensure that water polo was being played as a fluid and beautiful game, as it should be," said Jamey Wright, rules committee chair and women's water polo coach at the University of California, Davis.

Committee members said the rules were in place to curb overly physical play, and they agreed to make those rules a point of emphasis for the 2005-06 rules book.

"The instructions to referees are very specific and should serve as a guide to call the game as it should be," Wright said. "We are looking to make some updates to the instructions and will distribute those to coaches, conferences and referees during the current women's season. There is no sense in waiting for the next rules book to make sure that the rules are being enforced."

The committee did vote to include overaggressive fouls in the definition of misconduct. Overaggressive fouls -- hard fouls found to be unacceptable within the spirit of the rules -- include deliberate elbowing to the head, face or neck, or head-butting an opponent, all of which are exclusion fouls.

The committee also decided to consider the so-called "minor act of disrespect" foul the same as other exclusion fouls, with a 20-second period of exclusion. A player committing three exclusion fouls of any type will be removed from the remainder of the game. If a player commits a minor act of disrespect immediately after receiving an exclusion foul, the player will be excluded for the remainder of the game.

Those rules changes and all others voted on by the committee have been approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel and will be included in the 2005-06 rules book.

When a player on each team commits an exclusion foul simultaneously (during dead time or live time), both players will be excluded, the offensive team shall retain possession of the ball and the 35-second clock will be reset. The current rule calls for a neutral throw, but this change ensures that the offensive team will retain possession of the ball.

Committee members also agreed to a first-ever penalty for illegal caps. If players' caps do not meet specifications, the team will be required to change caps unless there is mutual agreement of both teams that the game will be played with non-conforming caps. Otherwise, the game will be declared a forfeit.

Men's Water Polo Committee actions

The Men's Water Polo Committee met in conjunction with the rules committee and took the following actions during its February 8-10 meeting in San Diego:

* Received three bids to host the 2006 and 2007 championships. Members will make a recommendation in June.

* Previewed an operations and promotional plan for the 2005 championship at Bucknell University December 3-4. The championship will be held at an Eastern location for the first time since 1989, when Indianapolis hosted the championships. Ticket information will soon be available at www.ncaasports.com.

* Heard requests from the water polo community concerning issues that were deemed legislative, such as the number of coaches allowed. Committee members informed institution and conference representatives that their requests should be handled through the NCAA legislative process.

Other highlights

Men's and Women's Water Polo Rules Committee
February 7/San Diego

* Agreed that no-contest and forfeit provisions will be combined to specify that the non-offending team in these situations will be able to advance in tournament play. The score of a forfeited game is 5-0 or the existing score, whichever reflects a greater goal difference. The goals are not credited to any player, and referees are paid a full fee. Withdrawal of a team from competition in a tournament, either before or during the game, to gain an advantage in placement shall result in disqualification from the rest of the tournament.

* Ruled that head coaches and other team officials who receive a red card may sit in the stands for the remainder of the game but may not communicate with the team.

* Agreed that if the team calling a timeout is ready to resume play at the proper time but the other team is not and is still at the side of the pool, the referee must warn the coach of the offending team on the first offense. After the warning, on the second offense the referee will ask the coach to call a timeout or receive a yellow card. On the third offense, the referee will ask the coach to call a timeout or receive a red card.

* Ruled that if a television timeout is called after a goal, play will start after the timeout with both teams lining up within their respective halves of the field of play -- the same procedure used after a goal is scored.