The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Water Polo Rules Subcommittee has decided to retain the 35-second possession clock rather than adopt the 30-second clock applied in the international game. Subcommittee members want more information before reconsidering a time reduction next year.

Carin Crawford, subcommittee chair and head women’s coach at San Diego State University, said the group wants to see the effects of the changes the panel made last year that align with international rules, including the adoption of eight-minute periods and a five-meter line, before making further adjustments.

“We wanted to see the effects of a longer period on our student-athletes and the depth of our teams. The jury is still out on whether 30 seconds or 35 seconds is appropriate for our game,” she said.

The jury is out because water polo is the only sport for which the NCAA writes rules that is played in two different seasons (men in the fall and women in the spring). The subcommittee has yet to observe the impact of the eight-minute period in the women’s game. Members also will survey men’s and women’s coaches next fall about both the longer periods and shorter clock.

Compared to last year’s extensive changes, the subcommittee’s took primarily clean-up actions at this year’s annual meeting January 29 in New Orleans. One significant clarification allows for protests to be filed during the course of a game.

“Lodging a protest during the game allows for the situation to be resolved, if possible, and to move forward immediately,” Crawford said. “If the coach waits to bring up the issue until the game is over, it is possible that the game will have to be replayed from the point of the protest, which is not in the best interests of the student-athletes.”

That and all rules-change proposals must be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel before being implemented into the rules book. The complete list of rules changes will be sent to all coaches and commissioners for comment before being submitted to PROP for review in March.

Among the more significant proposals are:

• A change in the tournament-advancement protocol, which is listed in the appendix of the rules book. If three teams are tied in points in a bracket, the goal differences among them shall be calculated. If the tie is broken, the team with the greatest goal difference advances first. The second and third places are determined by which team won the game between those two teams, not goal difference, because head-to-head competition is considered the optimal way to break the tie.
• Expanding referees’ postgame report responsibilities to include notification of brutality and fighting.
• Requiring five game-quality balls to be available for all games. The coach must have a team member from the bench immediately retrieve a ball that goes out of bounds over the end line and return it to the bench for use as a counter ball.
• Allowing goalkeeper swim caps to be a color that matches either panel of the goalkeeper’s water polo cap. The previous rule only allowed for red. The referee must check for the correct color of any swim caps during the pregame meeting.
• The penalty for a minor act of disrespect committed immediately after an exclusion foul as the player exits the pool will be changed to exclusion for the remainder of the game and no penalty throw will be awarded. A player who commits a minor act of disrespect as the player leaves the pool after a third personal foul will be awarded a red card.
• The rules will specify that red cards are issued to individual players on the bench and not to players in the water unless otherwise stated in the rules. If a player is disrespectful to the referee while leaving the water after a third personal foul, the referee may assess the player a red card. If a referee removes a player, substitute player, coach or other team official whose behavior prevents the referees from carrying out their duties from the precincts of the pool, the referee will also assess a red card to that individual. 
• A referee may not shorten a timeout unless instructed by the team calling the timeout.
• The maximum halftime in televised games shall be 10 minutes.