Parent's Guide to USA Water Polo 14U Club Water Polo 2026-27

A game is always four periods of actual play: the clock stops at every whistle and restarts when the ball is put back into play, so a game takes much longer than the clock time.

Ties: where a result is needed, a tied game goes straight to a penalty shootout: each coach names five shooters plus a goalkeeper, teams alternate shots, and if still tied after five each, the same five keep shooting until one team scores and the other misses.

Size 4 (the women's compact ball) for both boys and girls at 14U.

USA Water Polo's Conduct of Championships sets these ball sizes for the National Junior Olympics and Champions Cup:

Under the USA Water Polo Rules (WP 3), a women's ball weighs 400-450 grams, measures 0.65-0.67 meters around and is inflated to 6.5-7.5 psi.

Under USA Water Polo Rules WP 4 and WP 5:

• Cap: the team's water polo cap, tied under the chin and worn the whole game, with soft ear protectors in the team color. Caps are numbered on both sides. Goalkeepers wear red caps: number 1, and 13 for the substitute goalkeeper. Field players' caps can't be solid red. A player who loses a cap replaces it at the next stoppage when their team has the ball.
• Padded cap or soft headgear (optional): allowed under the water polo cap if the game cap fits securely over it, it matches the cap color as closely as possible, and it has no large gaps. Referees can refuse it if it could cause injury.
• Swimsuit: non-transparent, or worn with a separate undergarment.
• Nothing that could injure anyone: remove articles such as jewelry before playing.
• No grease, oil or other substances on the body. If it's found after the game starts, the player is excluded for the rest of the game.

Under USA Water Polo Rule WP 5:

• Each team starts with seven players in the water, one of them a goalkeeper in a red cap. After the game starts, a team may choose to play seven field players with no goalkeeper.
• Players can be substituted at any time ("flying substitutions"): the player leaves at the team's re-entry area and the substitute enters once the player has surfaced there, or both players touch hands in the water in the team's lateral substitution area.
• Substitutes can enter from anywhere between periods, after a goal, during a timeout, or to replace a bleeding or injured player.
• No substitutions are allowed between the award of a penalty throw and the throw being taken.
• A goalkeeper who is substituted out can only come back in as goalkeeper.

At USA Water Polo national championships, a 14U team needs a rostered coach and 7 eligible players ready at game time or it forfeits 5-0. Junior Olympics zone qualifying rosters can list up to 18 athletes.

Under USA Water Polo Rule WP 21.14, a team may keep the ball for no more than:

• 30 seconds of actual play, or
• 20 seconds after an exclusion, a corner throw, or when the attacking team gets the rebound after a shot (including after a penalty shot)

If the team doesn't shoot in time, it's an ordinary foul and the ball goes to the other team.

The shot clock resets:

• to 30 when the defending team gains possession, or after a goal throw or neutral throw
• to 20 when the attacking team keeps the ball after a shot hits the post, crossbar or goalkeeper, or after a corner throw
• to 20 after an exclusion foul, unless more than 20 seconds were left, in which case it keeps running

The same shot clock applies at USA Water Polo national championships, including 14U.

An exclusion is water polo's version of a penalty box. Under USA Water Polo Rule WP 22, the other team gets a free throw and the player must swim, without leaving the water, to the re-entry area at the corner nearest their own goal line.

The player (or a substitute) can come back in after the earliest of:

• 20 seconds of actual play, signaled by the table
• a goal being scored
• their team regaining possession of the ball (signaled by a referee)
• their team being awarded a free throw or goal throw, once the player has reached the re-entry area

Common exclusion fouls include holding, sinking or pulling back an opponent who doesn't have the ball, intentionally splashing an opponent in the face, blocking a pass or shot with two hands outside 6 meters, and interfering with a free throw.

Things to know:

• A player who climbs out of the pool instead of swimming to the re-entry area is excluded for the rest of the game.
• Each exclusion counts as a personal foul; three means the player is out for the game.
• The 10U/12U rule that lets players re-enter as soon as they reach the re-entry area does not apply to 14U.

Three. Under USA Water Polo Rule WP 25:

• A personal foul is recorded every time a player commits an exclusion foul or a penalty foul. Ordinary fouls (the quick whistles for things like taking the ball under or delaying a throw) don't count.
• On the third personal foul, the player is excluded for the rest of the game. A substitute comes in at the next re-entry opportunity, or immediately if the third foul was a penalty foul.

Under USA Water Polo Rule WP 13:

• Each team gets two timeouts per game, each one minute long.
• Only the coach of the team in possession of the ball can call one, at any time, including after a goal or before a penalty throw is taken.
• After the timeout, the team with the ball restarts on or behind the half-distance line (a corner throw or penalty throw that was about to be taken is kept). The shot clock carries on from where it stopped.
• If the team without the ball calls a timeout, the other team is awarded a penalty throw.
• If the team with the ball calls a timeout it doesn't have left, the ball goes to the other team at the half-distance line.

The two-timeout limit also applies at USA Water Polo national championships.

Under USA Water Polo Rule WP 27:

• Bleeding: the referee immediately orders the player out of the water, a substitute enters straight away and play continues without stopping. Once the bleeding has stopped, the player can come back in as an ordinary substitute.
• Other injury or illness: the referee may stop the game for up to 3 minutes. Play restarts with the team that had the ball putting it into play where play stopped.
• Coming back: except for bleeding, an injured player cannot return to that game once a substitute has entered for them.
• A player may only leave the water, or sit or stand on the steps or side of the pool during play, because of accident, injury or illness, or with a referee's permission.

USA Water Polo's head-injury rule (the Rule 27 modification in Appendix F of the USA Water Polo Rules) says:

• If a player takes a substantial blow to the head, an impact that causes a substantial and sudden movement of the head, or a head injury, the referee must stop the game for up to 3 minutes so the player can be assessed.
• If, after that assessment, the referee suspects a concussion or head injury, the player is not allowed to take any further part in the game.
• Play restarts with the team that had the ball at the stoppage putting it into play where play stopped.

If you suspect a concussion, keep your child out of play until a health care provider has cleared them.

Under USA Water Polo Rule WP 26, referees use cards to control coaches, team officials and bench players as well as players in the water:

• Yellow card: an official warning to the head coach. A referee may also show a yellow card to a team when a player keeps playing in an unsporting way or simulates (fakes being fouled). If it continues, the player can be excluded for misconduct.
• Red card: the person must leave the pool area immediately. Disruptive or disrespectful behavior by an assistant coach, team official or bench player is a direct red card.
• If the head coach is sent off, an assistant coach takes over but must stay at the bench (they can still call a timeout).

At USA Water Polo national championships (National Junior Olympics and Champions Cup), under the Conduct of Championships:

• Red cards, brutalities and the resulting suspensions from Zone Qualification Tournaments carry over into the Championship Finals.
• Anyone who gets two red cards, misconducts or brutalities (in any combination) during the Championship Finals is out for the rest of the event.
• If a coach is red-carded and no other rostered coach is present, the team forfeits that game 5-0.