Rules discussions were at the center of the NCAA Men's Water Polo Committee's annual meeting February 11 in Indianapolis.

The meeting featured a conference call that provided for a joint rules discussion with members of the Women's Water Polo Committee.

The conference call was in lieu of an in-person meeting between the committees, something for which the groups have requested funding in the future.

"We are in the unique situation of being the only rules-making bodies (for one sport) that play championships during different seasons," said Kaia Hedlund, who chairs the women's committee. "We have requested funds to allow for an in-person meeting next year."

As far as rules changes for the coming year, only minor modifications were made to language regarding yellow and red cards. However, members of the two committees spoke at length about the issue of dialogue between coaches and officials.

Rule 7.4 will now allow for an official to warn a coach before issuing a yellow card. After a yellow card is issued, the coach still is permitted to progress to the four-meter line when his or her team is on attack.

"Our rules are very specific that coaches and referees should not speak at all," Hedlund said. "This isn't what is happening in our game. We want to be sure that relationships between coaches and referees do not allow for an advantage or a perceived advantage in the game. The use of yellow or red cards to clean up the talking during the game will be a point of emphasis in the rules this year."

In another change, the committees determined that if a player with three personal fouls is discovered to be playing in the game through the failure of the desk to signal the third personal foul, the player will be removed when the error is discovered. The game clock also shall be reset to the time of the third foul and the game shall be replayed from that point. Previously, the game clock was not reset and any goals scored by the offending team during this time were removed.

"The removal of the goals was a drastic penalty for the offending team, especially since the penalty was caused by a desk error that doesn't occur very often," said Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Commissioner Al Beaird, who chairs the men's committee. "In addition, the correction of the error usually will involve replaying only 30 seconds or so. It may force coaches to emphasize having educated desk staff to ensure that this doesn't happen."

Other rules changes

In 2000, rules were changed to eliminate the concept of a different penalty for ordinary fouls committed during dead time. However, since this change was not implemented by the Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur, the international governing body for water polo, the NCAA rule will be reversed so that those fouls are exclusion fouls.

Another change that coincides with the international rule is the location where a free throw is taken after a foul is awarded. The free throw will be taken at the place where the foul occurred, except in cases when the ball is farther from the defending team's goal, at which point it will be taken from the location of the ball or where otherwise provided for in the rules.

Starting in 2004, goalkeeper caps must be quartered -- red and white for the visiting goalkeeper and red and dark for the home goalkeeper. Currently, quartered caps are required only in cases when the home team has red caps and was responsible for supplying the quartered cap to the visiting team. This change means that goalkeepers will use their own caps and will have the correct caps no matter the color of the home team caps.

In other rules matters, the men's and women's committees:

Decided to retain the maximum length of 25 meters for the women's water polo course, even though the international game has been changed to 30 meters.

Agreed to survey coaches this month about overtime procedures and the number of timeouts permitted during a game. The committees will use the feedback to discuss the issues again during a conference call.

A complete list of rules changes is available on the NCAA Web site (www.ncaa.org) under water polo championships.

In actions pertaining to the men's game, the men's committee asked the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet to begin granting bids three years in advance of the tournament to help hosts better prepare for marketing the championship. Bids currently are being accepted for the 2005 championship until November 1. Interested parties should contact Chris Schneider, NCAA assistant director of championships, at the national office.