What if a player leaves the water during play?

Two 2026-28 rules cover this:

Voluntarily leaving the field of play (Rule 4-27)

• A player who voluntarily leaves the field of play may re-enter immediately once they reach the re-entry area nearest their own goal line.

Climbing out of the pool (Rule 7-2-4)

• If a player climbs out at the side of the pool instead of swimming to the re-entry area, the player is excluded for the remainder of the game, with substitution after the earliest re-entry occurrence.
• This applies to any player, including one leaving voluntarily: no player may leave the water to walk to the re-entry area.