Copyright 2000 National Capital Squash Racquets Association

For Rules of the Game as approved by the United States Squash Racquets Association . SQUASH RULES OF THE WORLD SINGLES GAME

Skill Level Rating Verifiers
Old League Rules
NCSRA By-Laws

NCSRA Board Adopts New League Rules 

Summary of Changes:

• Redefined Division 1 skill level.
• Added reference to Division 1 as the Premier League.
• Adjusted player skill cutoff for Division 5.
• Reaffirmed scheduled match day for Division 5.
• Eliminated references to Division 6.
• Revised language pertaining order of merit.
• Changed terminology from League Coordinator to Division Coordinator where it hadn’t previously been changed.
• Updated means of reporting match results to Division Coordinators
• Updated provisions relating to players joining non-NCSRA squash associations [August update]

New Language appears like this.

Deleted language appears like this.

Revised Rules:

1. ORGANIZATION

a. The NCSRA will sponsor team competition at six five levels:

Division 1 (Premier League)—Unrestricted, for players at the highest skill levels, excluding touring professionals (defined as any professional squash player listed on the Professional Squash Association’s (PSA’s) website);

Division 2—For players at skill levels up to 5.0;

Division 3—For players at skill levels up to 4.4;

Division 4—For players at skill levels up to 3.8; and

Division 5—For players at skill levels up to 3.3 3.2.

Division 6—For players at skill levels up to 2.8.

The scheduled day for matches shall be Monday, Division 5; Tuesday, Division 2; Wednesday, Divisions 1 and 3; and Thursday, Divisions 4 and 6. The NCSRA Board of Directors may alter the scheduled day for matches.

b. Each division will be organized by a Division Coordinator with authority, as constrained by provisions of these rules, to schedule matches, define playoff criteria, and determine player eligibility for regular season matches, playoff matches and division tournaments. The Division Coordinator will enforce all rules and assess appropriate penalties for rule violations.

c. Except where otherwise specified in these rules, a Division Coordinator’s decision on any appeal, protest, or interpretation may be appealed to the Vice President of Leagues. Any such appeal must be made in writing by a team captain. On all appeals, the decision of the Vice President of Leagues is final.

2. ELIGIBILITY OF PLAYERS

a. All players must be members of the NCSRA prior to their second match as a team member or as a substitute. Team captains are responsible for verifying the NCSRA membership of all players who take the court for their teams.

b. Each player must have the appropriate skill level for the division in which he or she is playing, as follows:

Division 6: Players with skills above the 2.8 level are not eligible to play in Division 6. Any player with skills at or below the 2.8 level may play in Division 6.

Division 5: Players with skills above the 3.3 3.2 level are not eligible to play in Division 5. Any player with skills at or below the 3.3 3.2 level may play in Division 5.

Division 4: Players with skills above the 3.8 level are not eligible to play in Division 4. Any player with skills at or below the 3.8 level may play in Division 4.

Division 3: Players with skills above the 4.4 level are not eligible to play in Division 3. Any player with skills at or below the 4.4 level may play in Division 3.

Division 2: Players with skills above the 5.0 level are not eligible to play in Division 2. Any player with skills at or below the 5.0 level may play in Division 2.

Division 1: Any player excluding professional squash players as defined in rule 1a.

(Explanatory Note: Player eligibility will be determined by the most recently published NCSRA (or if required USSRA) rating at the deadline the coordinator provides for team submission. Eligibility then remains fixed for the duration of the League season, i.e. changes of skill rating during the League season do not change eligibility status.)

c. A player classified in a lower division may play as a substitute in a higher division.

d. Any match played by an ineligible player shall be scored as a default, and matches played below the ineligible player in the team line-up may be scored as defaults at the discretion of the Division Coordinator. Team captains will be notified when a match has been scored as a default.

e. Whenever possible, players will be given official skill level ratings. Any player who has not been officially rated may be given a provisional rating by the Division Coordinator, based on the player's performance in division matches, and the provisional rating will determine the player's division eligibility pending an official rating. A provisional rating may be appealed to the Vice President of Leagues. Such appeal must be made in writing within 30 days after the player is notified of the rating. The Vice President of Leagues may require the player to obtain an official rating.

f. The NCSRA encourages women players to play on club teams even if there is a separate “Women’s League”.

g. No player may play for more than one team in any single division during the same season, unless given specific written approval by the Division Coordinator. Such approval shall be limited to cases in which a change of residence or employment prompts the player to change his or her club membership.

h. To be eligible for Division Playoffs, a player must meet the requirements of Rules 2.a and 2.b, and must have played in a minimum of 25% of his or her team’s matches. (The 25% figure shall be rounded up to the next higher whole number if the calculation yields a decimal. A player who defaults a match is not credited with a reported match for this calculation, although the player who receives the default is.)

i. Members of USSRA District Associations other than NCSRA (e.g., Maryland SRA and Virginia SRA) who intend to play in NCSRA League matches must pay NCSRA a fee of $20.00 each prior to playing their second League matches during the calendar year.  Players who do not pay the fee prior to their second matches are considered to be non-NCSRA members and they are ineligible to play until NCSRA receives the fee.  All League matches played by non-NCSRA members subsequent to their first matches will be scored as defaults.  NCSRA suggests that these non-members attempt to recover the fee from their original US Squash District Associations, and that they renew their memberships with NCSRA as soon as possible to be eligible to play in the League and to avoid having to pay the fee again.

Players may pay the $20.00 fee by sending a check payable to "NCSRA" prior to their second league matches to:
NCSRA, PO Box 59673, Washington, DC 20012

3. MATCH SCHEDULING & TEAM CAPTAIN DUTIES

a. Matches will be played as indicated by the official NCSRA schedule prepared by the respective Division Coordinators. All matches must be played on the scheduled date. Team captains may not reschedule matches. Division Coordinators may reschedule a match, at the request of the team captains, if court conditions or weather conditions make it impractical or unsafe to play the match on the scheduled date.

b. The scheduled start time for all league matches is 7:00 p.m. This may be changed by agreement of both team captains. The home team captain is responsible for making at least two (2) courts available for league play on the designated night from the appointed time through the end of the last match of the evening. Where necessary, due to restricted court access, and strictly at the discretion of the respective league Division coordinator, a captain may request to enter a team that will as a matter of routine only make one (1) court available for league play. Failure to make adequate provision for court time may lead to forfeiture of matches, at the discretion of the Division Coordinator.

(Explanatory note: The home team captain for Division 6 matches, at least for the summer 2005 season, is responsible for making only one (1) court available for league play.) ** suggest alternative above which is time invariant.

c. The visiting team captain must contact the home team captain no later than noon on the day of a match to confirm the match line-ups.

4. MATCH PLAY

a. Each member of a team shall play his or her opponent in a match of the best three out of five games. Each game shall be played to nine (9) points, using point-per-serve scoring.

b. At the discretion of each respective Division Coordinator, players shall play all matches in their “order of merit” (the ordinal ranking of a team’s players determined by the team captain and the respective League Division Coordinator) or risk default for out-of-order play. Division Coordinators shall notify their respective team captains prior to the start of each season whether order-of-merit practices will be used during that season.  If order-of-merit practices are to be used, prior to the start of each season, each team captain shall submit a proposed order of merit for their players to the respective League Division Coordinator. The League Division Coordinators will work with each team captain and establish the official order of merit for each team in their respective Divisions based on such data as NCSRA /USSRA ratings, recent league and/or tournament results, and intra-club competition. Each League Division Coordinator shall then provide his or her Divisional teams’ orders of merit to the NCSRA Webmaster for posting on the NCSRA website. Such postings shall serve as the definitive source of every team’s order of merit for all League matches, including all playoff rounds. Although each team captain is encouraged to provide appropriate rationale for his or her team’s order of merit, the League Division Coordinator is the final authority on all such determinations. At his or her discretion, each League Division Coordinator may make one or more intra-season adjustments to his or her Divisional teams’ orders of merit. The timing of any intra-season adjustment to a Division’s order-of-merit rankings for the teams in that Division shall be at the discretion of the respective League Division Coordinator. However, in no case shall a League Division Coordinator adjust his or her Division’s order of merit with fewer than 1/3 of the regularly scheduled matches (i.e., excluding playoff matches) remaining to be played for that season. In computing the cut-off date for such intra-season adjustments, any fractional numbers of matches remaining shall be rounded up to the next integer. For example, if the regular season consists of matches scheduled to occur on eight nights during the season, the League Division Coordinator shall perform his or her last intra-season adjustment prior to that point in the schedule when three regularly-scheduled sets of League matches remain (8 X 1/3 = 2.67, which rounds up to 3).

(Explanatory notes: During the season a team may draw players from anywhere on its order-of-merit list of players, but they must play in the relative order as it appears on that list or risk default for out-of-order play. For example, if a team has 10 players and chooses players 2, 6, 7, and 10 from its ranking list, then the No 2 player must play at team position 1, the No 6 player at team position 2, the No 7 player at team position 3, and the No 10 player at team position 4.

New players may join at any time, and should be inserted in the appropriate position by the Captain as he or she determines appropriate. Ideally new players would be assigned an order-of-merit position in consultation with the League Division Coordinator before the player’s first game. If this is not possible, the League Division Coordinator, in consultation with the Captain, will assess the player’s level after the first match and accept or reject the proposed playing order. Willful abuse of the ranking of new players by team captains may result in default at the sole discretion of the League Division Coordinator.)

c. All play shall be governed by the Rules of Squash of the World Squash Federation, as endorsed by the USSRA.

d. Each team shall include at least two (2) players who are certified club referees, though they need not be present for each team match. All individual matches must be refereed, whether by a certified referee or another member of one of the teams. The home and visiting teams should both participate in refereeing.

e. The league ball shall be the ball adopted by the USSRA for sanctioned tournament and league play.

f. Each player shall wear lensed, protective eyewear that meets USSRA safety specifications. It is not acceptable to play without protective eyewear under any circumstances, including mutual agreement by both players.  A player who refuses to wear protective eyewear will forfeit his or her match.

5. REPORTING OF MATCH RESULTS

Both the home and visiting team captains are responsible for entering the official NCSRA match results in the score-entry system located on the NCSRA web site transmitting the official NCSRA match results to their Division Coordinator within one (1) week after the scheduled match. The reported results must indicate the names of all players, the winner of each match, and the number of games won and lost, including game scores, in each match. Failure to meet these requirements may result in a default of any or all matches and is not subject to appeal. The approved method for reporting match results will be established by the respective Division Coordinators. Team captains must retain a record of all their match results until the completion of the current season.

6. LEAGUE STANDINGS AND PLAYOFFS

a. Each individual match will count as a point won or lost by the team. The Vice President of Leagues, in consultation with the respective Division Coordinators, shall determine the manner and method in which playoffs and division championships shall be conducted, on a season-by-season basis. All pertinent information concerning playoffs shall be made available to team captains at the outset of each season. Team captains shall be advised of any changes on a timely basis.

b. If two (2) or more teams are tied at the end of the regular season, the following procedures shall be used to determine which team or teams advance to the playoffs and their seedings in the playoffs:

• First, the total individual matches won and lost in head-to-head contests between the tied teams during the season;
• Second, the total games won and lost in head-to-head contests between the tied teams during the season;
• Third, the total games won and lost by each team against all opponents during the season;
• Fourth, the number of matches defaulted by each team against all opponents during the season, with preference given to the team with the fewest defaults;
• Fifth, the Vice President of Leagues shall flip a coin to determine the winner.

c. If a playoff match is tied, the following procedures shall be used to determine the winner:

• First, the total games won and lost;
• Second, the total points scored;
• Third, the total individual matches won and lost in head-to-head contests between the tied teams during the season;
• Fourth, the total games won and lost in head-to-head contests between the tied teams during the season;
• Fifth, the Vice President of Leagues shall flip a coin to determine the winner, unless the tied match in question is a championship final in which case both teams will share the championship.

7. AMENDMENTS

These rules may be amended by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the Board members present at an NCSRA Board of Directors meeting which is legally constituted with a quorum present. This printing incorporates all changes up to and including September 8, 2005 May 22, 2007 August 9, 2007. All other versions are obsolete.

Adopted by the NCSRA Board of Directors

September 8, 2005 May 22, 2007 (further amended August 9, 2007)

Seven Local "Verifiers" have been Certified by the USSRA

According to Rule 2.b, all players in NCSRA-sponsored leagues are required to play at their own skill level. Any player who does not know his or her own skill level, can be rated by an official skill-level "verifier" certified by the USSRA. There are seven in the D.C. metro area:

Howard Day and Ghirma Meres at the University Club, 202-824-1367

Malcolm Jensen at Rio Center, 301-840-1888

Wendy Lawrence at Results the Gym, 202-234-5678

Hunt Richardson and Sarah Hammond at The Sports Club/LA, 202-974-6635

Andrew Strasfogel at Potomac Squash Club, 202-966-6194