A. Eligibility
Players playing in the B.C. Secondary Schools Badminton Championships must:
1. Meet all eligibility requirements of B.C. School Sports and the Local Sports association they belong to.
2. All teams must have a minimum of 6 girls and 6 boys in order to compete on their respective teams. A maximum of 8 boys and 8 girls on their respective teams are allowed on each score sheet.
3. Teams declare their eligible players prior to the start of the tournament. This form should be signed by the coach and turned in to the Championship Committee (or representative) at the coaches meeting. (Day 1 of Championship) Attached to this Team Line Up Form is to be your school’s official BCSS Registration form outlining all your players’ registrations.
4. All players should have participated in a qualifying tournament except for substitutes, which are approved by the zone Championship Committee.
5. At the Provincial Tournament the starting line-up of players should be given to the scorekeeper 10 minutes prior to the start of each tie. A different set of players may be used on the next and subsequent ties. After 6 matches have been won or lost, a coach can change his/her line-up with the knowledge of the other coach with no penalty.
B. Rules of Play
1. International Badminton rules shall be in effect unless modified by the Association. Before commencing a match, players determine the team via a ‘Bird Drop’ to have the choice of either: serving first, receiving first, or chose of end of court.
2. Games: All games will be played to 21 points – rally point scoring. If score reaches 20-20, first player/team to be ahead by two points wins. If score reaches 29-29, first player/team to 30 points wins. (See Laws of Badminton Section)
3. A Tie: is 7 matches with each game being best 2 out of 3. The winning team accumulates 4 or more games in the tie.
4. A match will begin 5 minutes after it has been announced for play, in which players can warm-up during that 5 minutes. A match MUST start 5 minutes after being called.
5. Coaching:
a) Coaches must be designated on the score sheets. Coaches must be registered in STARS to be an eligible coach.
b) Coaching will only be allowed for up to 120 seconds between games 1 & 2, and if necessary, games 2 & 3. Coaching occurs on the court. Players are not allowed to leave between games (Local Modification: Player may leave the court provided it is absolutely necessary and the coach is notified)
c) ONE coach per team can provide instruction to his/her player(s) between points once the bird touches the floor. This instruction cannot interfere with the continuous flow of the game . This coach must be designated on the official scoresheet for that match. Only ONE coach per team can provide coaching to their players between game
6. Officiating:
a) Players are to call their scores before each service
b) Players are to call the lines on their own side of the court. Calls are to be immediate and assertive. If players have doubt or did not clearly see the shot on their side, the decision goes to the opposition. In the rare incidence of a questionable call, or if there has been a series of questionable calls, players may request for line judges or a referee--players do this by speaking to their coach.
c) Officials are to be organized by other neutral coaches/supervisors within that pool or playoff grouping.
7. Service infractions: The contact height of a shuttle and racquet will be below the lowest rib. If a player is consistently serving illegally, and the breach is blatant, the coach noting the infraction is to speak to that player’s coach and request them to warn their player. If, in the opinion of a coach, the service rules continue to be breached, then a service judge can be requested. Again, this official is to be a neutral coach/supervisor from that pool or playoff grouping.
C. Format and Line-up Designation
Tournament Format:
The matches will be played in the following order and the first or top listed team being designated the ‘home team’ and the second or bottom listed the ‘visiting team’.
Singles A
Singles B
Doubles A vs B
Doubles B vs A
Doubles A vs A
Doubles B vs B
Doubles C vs C (or can use singles A and B to form a doubles team)
2. Line-up Designation:
a) The “A” doubles team should be the stronger of the teams listed. All other doubles teams should be played in order of strength. Since a Team can list a maximum of 8 players, it is understood that the better players would be placed in such a way that they would be playing against a team of similar strength.
b) All players must play in their designated position for the complete tie.
c) If a team does not have a minimum of 6 players listed at the official start time, then the school will default the matches that missing player(s) would have played.
d) Substitution due to injury:
i) If a player is injured in a match and cannot continue to play within a reasonable time (approx. 5 minutes) he/she shall default that match.
ii) A substitute may play in the remaining match if cleared by the scorekeeper and the opponents are notified. This match will count as an official match in the standings.
iii) Basic principle is that a team must default at least one match that a player cannot continue. A player injured in one Tie does not preclude them from participating in any remaining Ties.
3. Berths:
All teams must participate in an official zone playoff series to qualify to the Provincial Championships. No automatic berths will be given. No Zone will be given more than 2 direct berths to the Championships. However, other berths could be added based on teams participating in playoffs. This will be done based on strength of the teams and a rotation of these berths established by the Commission. Berths are provided to the following zones:
i) Fraser River North
ii) Fraser River South
iii) Fraser Valley East
iv) Island
v) Kootenay
vi) North Central
vii) North West
viii) Okanagan
ix) Vancouver Sea-to-Sky
4. Tournament Structure:
16 teams are divided into 4 pools. BLUE, RED, GREEN, and YELLOW Series.
At the completion of the Round Robin, the teams are ranked 1 to 4 in their pools.
The top two teams will be placed into the Championship Draw and the bottom two teams will be
placed in the Consolation Draw.
At the end of tournament play the teams will be ranked by placing 1st to 16th.
For placement in the Round Robin, teams will be ranked by the draw committee and placed in
the opening series. Teams from the same zone will not play each other in the opening draws and
whenever possible they will be placed such that they may not face each other until the quarter
finals.
5. Ties:
In case of a tie in the Round Robin series the following will be used:
1. If two teams are tied, the winner will be the team, which won the TIE between the two schools.
2) If 3 teams are tied: Then using only the three TIES that occurred among the 3 teams, the tie
will be broken by:
a) The school that wins the most matches is first.
b) If still tied: then the school that loses the least number of games is first.
c) If still tied: then the team with the least number of points against is first
d) If still tied: then the authority is given to the Commissioner to break the tie in a manner
that he/she feels is fairest.
6. Definitions:
Tie: Describes the play of one school against another school. There are 7 matches in a TIE played between 2 schools.
Match: Each match is the best 2 out of 3 games. A school must win 6 matches in order to win the TIE.
Game: All games within a match will be to 21 points (with exceptions as noted in the Laws of Badminton).
7. Dress Code:
1. Shoes appropriate for court play that are constructed of non-marking soles should be worn.
2. A player must be in appropriate badminton attire that consists of a shirt and shorts predominately white in colour. However, an appropriate school uniform using school colours or the official Tournament T-shirt are also acceptable.
3. Participants must be wearing uniforms or matching shirts of school colours.
4. The wearing of sweat pants during play is not permitted unless it is for medical reasons cleared by the commission. The wearing of a hoodie is deemed disrespectful and will not be allowed.
5. No headgear is to be worn except an approved sweat headband.
6. Any shirt or short that could be seen as having an offensive or inappropriate message will not be permitted, this could result in a forfeiture if the player does not have a replacement. Note: Specific Dress Codes of a facility will take president over these rules if they are stricter. i.e. allowing white attire only!