Rules for
Match Play in RISRA
MEMBERSHIP
1.0 Membership: Individual
membership in Rhode Island Squash Racquets Association (RISRA) is open to
anyone. A member is considered current when dues have been paid, a
waiver signed, and any other requirements established by the Board of RISRA
have been satisfied.
Information about membership may be found on RISRA's web site at www.risra.org, or by contacting RISRA at
GENERAL RULES
2.0 Principles:
The intent of these rules is to promote play of organized squash matches
such that:
1. The outcome of individual and team matches is determined only
by the abilities of the players involved, and is settled on the court.
2. All players involved know and see that the contests are fair and unbiased.
3. The status of squash in
2.1 Authority: Decisions
about application of the rules belongs, first, to the league coordinator for
the appropriate league (for team play) or to the draw expediter (for tournament
play). The President of RISRA may review and overrule any such decisions,
if he/she deems it in the best interests of RI squash. In cases where the
rules do not address a particular situation, or where unusual circumstances
seem to require an exception to the rules, the President is empowered to make
decisions as needed, in consultation with other RISRA Board members as
appropriate. In all cases, decisions should transparently uphold the
Principles described above.
In cases where a rule has been violated, the league coordinator or expediter is
empowered to impose penalties in order to restore fairness to the
results, in consultation with the President and other RISRA Board members
as appropriate. This can include the action of awarding a forfeit for a
match already played. Members who
routinely or knowingly violate these rules may be suspended from league or
tournament play by action of the RISRA Board.
In any situation in which the league coordinator,
expediter, or President may have a personal interest in a decision, such
official will request a disinterested RISRA Board member to make the decision.
2.2 Ball: All matches shall be played with the DUNLOP XX
YELLOW DOT ball.
2.3 Rules: All matches will be played in
accordance with the most recent rules of squash adopted by the World Squash
Federation (WSF).
2.4 Referees:
All matches are to be refereed, unless no individual is available when a match
is to be played.
2.5 Eye guards: The use of lensed eye guards
meeting the ASTM standard or other protective eye guards as may be approved by
the USSRA is REQUIRED for all RISRA play.
There are no exceptions to this rule. In those matches where the required eye
protection is not used, the player using the eye protection shall win by
default and the match shall not be played. The eye protection shall be worn properly for
the entire match.
RULES FOR LEAGUE PLAY
3.0 Player eligibility:
To be eligible for league play, a player must be a current member of
RISRA. Matches played by players whose dues are not paid or whose other
membership obligations have not been met are automatically scored as
defaults. RISRA members who are not members of a club may still
join a team and play league matches as long as they are allowed to play home
matches at the team's home courts.
3.1 Leagues: RISRA will arrange competition
among teams into leagues divided by skill level. Each such league will be
scheduled to play all of its matches on a particular night of the week, as
follows:
A League: Monday
B League: Tuesday
C League: Wednesday
D League: Thursday
The
RISRA Board may, from year-to-year, alter the specific league nights as it
deems appropriate.
3.2
Teams: In preparation for the season, each club shall
submit a list of proposed teams to be entered in each league. The RISRA Board
will review submissions to ensure that teams are placed in appropriate
leagues. In support of that review, clubs will have available lists of
possible player rosters for each team.
3.3 Ladders: Each club shall maintain an active
challenge ladder to determine player positions on each team. Ladder operation details shall be at the
club’s discretion. Player
positions on a team MUST accurately reflect relative player skill.
Players may not be arranged in alternative order for tactical
reasons. To this end, the club's ladder and record of challenge matches
must be available for review by the league coordinator and/or the President of
RISRA in case of any dispute.
A player may not play on more than one team in the same league during
the season (e.g.: a Brown Red A League player may not play a match for the
Brown Green A League team, nor for the U-Club A League team).
3.4 Lineups: Captains are required to exchange lineups prior to
the league match. The
visiting team captain is responsible for contacting the home team captain.
3.5 Rescheduled matches:
Matches shall be played on the evening of the scheduled date. However, in extenuating circumstances and if
both players agree, the match may be played at another time. The opposing playerplayer
who agreed to accommodate a reschedule request shall have choice
of court. Any rescheduled match is to be
played and the result reported within 14 days of the original scheduled date,
or a forfeit shall be scored against the team that originally requested the
reschedule. In the case where both teams
needed to reschedule a match, and the match was not played in 14 days, neither
team will receive the forfeit.
3.6 Forfeits:
If necessary, teams may forfeit a match at any position. However, teams may not move players down from
a higher position in order to fill a vacancy.
(If the #3 player must default, a captain may forfeit the #3 spot, or
may move players up from #4 and #5 to forfeit a lower spot, or may fill the
vacancy with a substitute. In any event,
rule 3.3 must be followed, and the skill order of the team as fielded must be
maintained.) Teams are encouraged to borrow players from a lower league and/or
a list of substitutes to avoid forfeiting matches. It is not permissible to borrow
substitute(s) from a higher league to fill in missing spots from the top down.
For purposes of this rule, a player who forfeits at
a position more than two weeks in a row or more than six times for the season
will be considered to have abandoned this spot.
In that case, all lower players on the team must be moved up to fill the defaulted position, and any forfeit,
if necessary, shall be at the lowest spot on the team. Again, rule 3.3 requires that the skill order
of the resulting team be maintained.
Unless otherwise agreed upon, the forfeit time for
league matches is 7:00 p.m. on the scheduled evening.
3.7 Substitutions:
A player may play in two league levels during the same week provided he/she
substitutes in a HIGHER league, (i.e.: a B Division player may substitute in
the A Division as well as play in the B Division during the same week, but an A
Division player may not substitute in the B Division.) A player may not substitute under this rule
for two consecutive weeks.
Note that there is no rule against a player moving
back and forth between two league levels, playing only one match a week, week
after week, perhaps because of other player absences and/or challenge match
outcomes.
3.8
Scores: Home team captains should report scores and players
via the web site within 3 days of the match date. Visiting team captains may also enter results
of a match, and are free to do so if the home team captain has not entered the
results. Players and captains receive
warning e-mails when an individual match result is incomplete, and if not
entered within 14 days of the scheduled play date, the match is scored as a
forfeit for both players.
3.9
Standings: Within a league level, team standings are determined
by a point system, as follows:
A team receives 2 points for an individual match
won by play or by forfeit
A team receives 1 point for an individual match
played and lost
A team receives 0 points for an individual match
forfeited
A tie in the standings is broken as follows:
First, the team that earned the most points in
head-to-head play among the tied teams is placed ahead, but if still tied, then
Second, the team that has forfeited the fewest
matches for the season is placed ahead, but if still tied, then
Third, the team whose players have won the most
games for the season is placed ahead, but if still tied, then
Fourth, the teams will be
placed using a coin toss, performed by a RISRA Board member who is not a player
in the league in question.
In leagues that have two
divisions, the standings for each division are determined as above, and are
independent of the standings of teams in the opposite division.
RULES FOR TEAM PLAYOFFS
4.0 Player eligibility: To
play in team playoffs, a team member shall have played a minimum of four league
matches, either as part of that team or as part of a lower level team or any
combination thereof. However, if a member
who is eligible to play in a higher level league is displaced from that league
to a lower league by a challenge he may play in that lower league’s playoff
matches. In those cases where there is no lower level
team, a player may be substituted who has not played four league matches. With one exception, once playoffs have started
a player may only play on one team – there are to be no substitutions where a
player plays on two teams in a week, and there are to be no movements of
players between teams (e.g. because of challenge matches or absences). The only exception is that if a team is
eliminated from the playoffs in one round, that team’s players may be used as
substitutes on a team in a higher league in subsequent rounds
4.1 Rescheduled matches:
If possible, league matches are to be played on the date scheduled. In cases where a player is unable to play on
that date, the player may request that his/her opponent play the match at a
later date. When so-requested, the
opposing team’s player is expected to make a good-faith effort to accommodate
the request. The opposing player shall
have choice of court. Any rescheduled
match is to be played and the result reported within 3 days of the
original scheduled date, or a forfeit shall be scored against the team that
originally requested the reschedule. In
the case where both teams needed to reschedule a match, and the match was not
played in 3 days, neither team will receive the forfeit.
4.2
Team selection: Teams are
seeded in a playoff tournament draw based on their league or division standings
at the end of scheduled league play.
In single-division leagues with 8 or more teams,
the top 8 teams enter the playoffs. In
single-division leagues with fewer than 8 teams, all teams are in the playoffs,
and first-round byes are given to the top-seeded teams as necessary to make the
draw even. In two-division leagues, the
top four teams in each division enter the playoffs.
4.3
Scoring: The winning
team of a playoff match is determined as follows:
The team that won more individual matches will be
the winner, but if tied, then
The team that won more individual match games will
be the winner, but if still tied, then
The team that won more total points will be the
winner, but if still tied, then
The #1 players on each team will play a one-game
tie-breaker match.
Players and captains are expected to retain a
record of game scores for each match in team playoffs, in case they are needed
for tie-breaking.
4.4
Playoff format: Team
playoffs are done as single-elimination draws. For all playoff matches except
the finals, the higher-seeded team shall have home court.
a. Single-division leagues: In a full 8-team format, the first-round
matches will be #8 at #1, #7 at #2, #6 at #3 and #5 at #4. If fewer than 8 teams are playing, the
highest seeds receive a bye, and there are to be enough first round matches
among the lowest seeded teams such that four teams advance to the second
round. The winners of the second round
advance to the finals.
The second round shall be played with the winner of
8/1 playing the winner of 5/4 and the winner of 7/2 playing the winner of 6/3
b.
Two-division leagues: The first
round of playoffs will be matches within each division, with #4 at #1, and #3
at #2.
The second round shall
be cross-division, with the winner of 2/3 in division A playing at the winner
of 1/4 in division B, and vice versa.
4.5 Forfeits: The regular season
rule regarding forfeits (see rule 3.6)
shall also apply to team playoff matches.
RULES FOR STATE
TOURNAMENTS
5.0 Tournaments: The following tournaments may be held for
participation on an individual basis:
·
Men’s and Women’s State Championships
·
Men’s and Women’s Skill-Level Tournaments
·
Men’s and Women’s Age-Level Tournaments
·
Men’s
and Women’s Handicap Tournaments
5.1 Player eligibility: To
be eligible for a State Championship Tournament, the player must be a resident
of Rhode Island or affiliated with a member club or be invited by the RISRA Board. To be eligible for skill-level, age-level,
and handicap tournaments, players must have played in a minimum of four league
matches during the current season, or must meet entry requirements established
by the RISRA Board. A player who has won
a skill-level championship must enter the next higher level tournament the
following year. The RISRA Board reserves
the right to assign a player to another tournament draw. A player may enter one skill-level draw and
one age-level draw.
5.2
Court: All matches are to be played on a 21-foot wide
court, unless both players agree otherwise.