This handbook is designed by the IM-Rec Sports Department to serve as an informative and procedural reference for persons involved or interested in participation in the Intramural Sports Program. It is the responsibility of those who participate in Intramural sports to be knowledgeable of the information contained in this handbook.

NAMES AND PHONE NUMBERS

Lynde Dobson, Director of Intramural Sports
RJ Canning, Assistant Director of Intramural Sports
Nick Carullo and Brad Larkin, Coordinators of Officials

AFC - Intramural Sports Office 924-3791
AFC - Front Desk 924-3793
North Grounds Recreation Center 924-7380
Slaughter Recreation Center 982-5101
Memorial Gym 924-6204
The Park 982-3068
Intramural Sports Hotline 924-PLAY x 2
e-mail intramurals@virginia.edu

SAFETY

Participation in the Intramural Sports Program is completely voluntary. Individuals participate at their own risk and absolve the University of Virginia of responsibility for any injuries incurred during the activity. All individuals should be in good physical condition. Participants are encouraged to provide their own health insurance and to receive a health examination yearly.

All participants must wear shoes. For outdoor sports, rubber cleated shoes and screw-in cleats will be allowed. Metal cleats of any kind, open heel and/or toe shoes are prohibited. For indoor sports, court shoes must be worn. Any item deemed to be dangerous by the Intramural Supervisor may not be worn during a game.

All types of jewelry (aside from medical bracelets) are prohibited in every sport - no exceptions.

BLOOD POLICY

The following is the IM-Rec Sports Department’s policy for bleeding during Intramural sports:
1. If an Intramural participant is bleeding, he/she will be removed from the contest immediately.

2. If an Intramural participant has blood on his/her clothing, he/she will be removed from the contest upon detection. The blood may or may not be his/her own. The participant is ineligible to re-enter the contest until the clothing saturated with blood has been removed.

3. Before any participant re-enters the contest, all bleeding must be stopped and any open wound or laceration must be covered.
It is the suggestion of the IM-Rec Sports Department that each player bring an extra pair of shorts and T-shirt. If clothing saturated with blood cannot be replaced, that individual will not be allowed to participate.

ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility status is the responsibility of each individual participant and team captain. The IM-Rec Sports Department does not assume the responsibility for the eligibility of participants, but will assist in the interpretation of the rules and question cases brought to its attention. The IM-Rec Sports Department reserves the right to check eligibility when deemed appropriate. Teams may request to have eligibility checked; however, the request must apply to specific individuals.

All University of Virginia students are eligible to compete in the Intramural Sports Program. Faculty, staff, and spouses are eligible to participate provided they purchase a Recreation Membership. During the Summer, students not taking classes must BUY a membership to participate in Intramural Sports.

Sport Clubs - Intramural sports teams have restrictions regarding the use of sport club players participating in their sport or related Intramural sport. An Intramural team may have a maximum of two related sport club players on their roster. A sport club player is defined as an individual whose name is recorded on the club roster during any part of the academic year.

Intercollegiate Varsity Athletes - Intercollegiate varsity athletes are not permitted to participate on Intramural teams in their sport or related Intramural sport during the academic year. An individual retains his/her status as a varsity athlete for the entire academic year in which they practiced with their respective varsity team. A varsity athlete is defined as an individual whose name is recorded on the varsity roster during any part of the academic year.

Professional Athletes - Professional athletes are not permitted to participate on Intramural teams in their sport or related Intramural sport during the academic year. An individual retains his/her status as a professional athlete for 12 months after their last competition or practice. Refer to the Director of Intramural Sports for clarification of professional status.

SHOWING IDs

Each player must present a valid UVA student ID or current Recreation Membership Card and photo ID to be eligible to participate - No Exceptions. This must be done for EACH contest.

Exception: Once per season, participants who have misplaced their UVA Student ID or Recreation Membership Card still have an option to participate in that evening's game. Participants may check-in with a picture ID at the game site provided that individual has played with the particular team that they wish to check-in for in AT LEAST ONE GAME THAT SEASON. Again, this option may only be utilized by an individual once per season. Individuals participating in indoor sports will have to pay a guest fee and be sponsored by another student or Recreation Member to access the facility.

GAME TIME IS FORFEIT TIME! If a team does not have the minimum number of players checked-in and ready to play by game time, the game will be recorded as a forfeit.

TEAM ROSTERS

Team rosters including names, ID numbers (or UVA emails), and signatures of all players must be completed. Eligible participants can add their names to the roster online and at the game site throughout the regular season and playoffs. Teams competing in weekend tournaments can add eligible participants to their roster anytime during the tournament. Participants who participate in a game and are not listed on the Team Roster are considered ineligible. Teams are encouraged to arrive early each week to allow time for the completion of the Team Roster. In order to increase communication with all team members, by participating in Intramural Sports and adding their ID number or UVA email to the roster, participants agree to allow the Intramural Sports program to use their email address for communication concerning upcoming schedules, leagues, and Intramural announcements. The Intramural Sports program will not provide any external agent with access to these email addresses.

An individual may participate on only one team in each league (see League Classifications) for each particular sport. For example, a participant may be on a flag football team in the Fraternity League and in the Men's League, but may not play for two different Men's League teams. An individual's participation on a team in any particular league limits that individual's participation to that particular team for the season. Participants CANNOT play for one team during the first week of the season and then switch teams for the rest of the season.

An individual who illegally plays for a second team is considered ineligible for the season and cannot legally play for the original team or any other team. A team found playing with an ineligible or illegal player will be charged with a concession and may be removed from the league. It is the team captain's responsibility to monitor the eligibility of his/her team members carefully.

Teams in the Women's League will compete for the Women's All-University Championship. Teams in the Co-Rec League will compete for the Co-Rec All-University Championship. The winners of the Men's, Dormitory, and Fraternity Leagues will compete for the Men's All-University Championship. Individuals can play on only one team during the All-University Championship Game.

LEAGUE CLASSIFICATIONS

Men's - Teams consist mainly of male students, faculty, staff and spouses. Females may participate in this league.

Dormitory - Teams may consist of male and/or female 1st Year students and staff who reside in the a UVA dorm. The dorm name must be included in the team’s name and all players must live in that dorm.

Fraternity - Fraternities registered with the Dean of Students Office may compete in the Fraternity League. Teams may consist of the full-time UVA students (minimum 12 credit hours) that are listed on the charter in the Inter-Fraternity Council Office. Full-time grad students can participate in the league if they were an undergraduate member of the fraternity at UVA.

Women's - Teams may consist of female students, faculty, staff, and spouses.

Co-Rec - Teams may consist of students, faculty, staff, and spouses. Teams are required to have both male and female participants.

DIVISION CLASSIFICATIONS *NEW FOR FALL 2012*

Divisions - Most Men's and CoRec Leagues will now be featuring Competitive and Recreational Divisions. Competitive divisions are geared toward experienced participants who are looking for more challenge game play. Recreational divisions are geared towards participants who playing with a ‘just for fun’ mentality. All Varsity Athletes must always compete in the Competitive Division, and club athletes participating in their associated sport must also compete in the Competitive Division. Restrictions of the number of club athletes participating in associated sports still applies.

PLAYOFFS

Every team that accumulates enough sportsmanship points (see Sportsmanship section) and does not forfeit during the regular season is invited to participate in the playoffs. Regular season record and the total number of sportsmanship points accumulated will determine the seedings for the playoff schedules. New participants will be able to add their names to a team roster at the game site throughout the playoffs as long as they have not played for any other team in the league during that season. In order to be eligible for playoffs, teams must have a representative in attendance at the Playoff Meeting for their sport. Failure to attend will result in disqualification from the playoffs. All captains will be notified of the meeting via paper handouts at games, and by email as the meeting date approaches.

INTRAMURAL SPORTS HOTLINE

If the weather is inclement, participants are encouraged to call the Intramural Sports Hotline at 924-PLAY (extension 2). The Hotline will be updated by 4:00pm daily. Often times the weather will worsen during the course of an evening. Participants are encouraged to continue to call the Hotline for further updates.

RESCHEDULING GAMES

In the event an Intramural game is postponed, team captains are responsible for obtaining rescheduling information. The information will be posted by 12:00pm the next workday on our web page. During the regular season, games will not be rescheduled due to time and space limitations.

FORFEITS AND CONCESSIONS

Forfeits - Game time is forfeit time! Teams that do not have the minimum number of players needed to start a game at game time will be assessed a forfeit. The forfeit will result in expulsion of that team from the remainder of league play for that sport.

Concessions - A concession is an unplayed game that is recorded as a loss but is not considered a forfeit. Teams are only allowed one concession per season. A second concession by a team will result in a forfeit and that team will be dropped from the league. THE ONLY WAY TO CONCEDE A GAME prior to the start of the game is to contact the Intramural Office no later than 6:00pm on the day prior to the contest. Weekend concessions must be made by 6:00pm on Friday. Once a game has begun, a team may concede at anytime during the game.

Teams that forfeit will have the opportunity to get back into the league by submitting another team entry fee which will add them back to the bottom of the waiting list. This fee must be paid within 48 hours of the forfeit, or else the team will be permanently removed from the league.

SPORTSMANSHIP

The IM-Rec Sports Department believes that good sportsmanship is vital to the conduct of every Intramural contest. Individuals who are associated with the University of Virginia are expected to abide by the Standards of Conduct. If Standards of Conduct violations occur, the Director of Intramural Sports will determine what sanctions, if any, will be levied. Sanctions may include, but are not limited to, probation, game/league suspension, assessment of forfeiture, departmental service, and in severe cases, indefinite suspension. In addition, information regarding violations of the Standards of Conduct will be forwarded to the UVA Judiciary Committee.

The Intramural Sports Program expects all participants to conduct themselves in a sportsmanlike manner. In order to be eligible for the playoffs, a team must accumulate an average of 3.25 points over the course of the four regular season games. Following each game, the Intramural Officials, Scorekeepers, and Supervisors will evaluate and issue sportsmanship points to all teams. The breakdown of points is as follows:

5 = Normal game - Questioning an Official on rule interpretation only.
4 = Some static - Some questioning of judgment or repeated complaints.
3 = Difficulty - Repeated questioning of judgment and/or issuing an unsportsmanlike penalty/technical foul.
2 = Harassment - Consistent harassment and/or multiple unsportsmanlike penalties/technical fouls.
1 = Ejection - Any ejection resulting from unsportsmanlike conduct.
0 = Forfeit/Fighting - Includes verbally and physically threatening an employee.

During the playoffs, a score of at least 4 points will guarantee advancement of the winning team. A winning team with a sportsmanship rating less than 4 points will be reviewed by the Intramural Staff to determine if they may advance. The team captain may be called into the Intramural Sports Office to meet with the Assistant Director and Director in order to discuss terms in which the team will advance to the next round.

OFFICIALS' RATINGS FORM

At the conclusion of each game, participants will have the opportunity to fill out an "Officials' Rating Form". This form will be reviewed by the Intramural office and will be used, in part, as a tool to assess the performance of IM Sports Officials. The rating system will also provide participants with the opportunity to formally voice their opinions (positive or negative) about the students who officiate their games. The breakdown of ratings is as follows:

5 = Superior game control - they displayed comprehensive rule knowledge and exhibited excellent professionalism and effort.
4 = Good game control - they displayed satisfactory rule knowledge and exhibited good professionalism and effort.
3 = Fair game control - they displayed average rule knowledge and exhibited acceptable professionalism and effort.
2 = Poor game control - they displayed below average rule knowledge and exhibited inadequate professionalism and effort.
1 = Unacceptable game control - they displayed unacceptable rule knowledge and exhibited intolerable professionalism and effort.
0 = No game control - they displayed no rule knowledge, professionalism, or effort.

EJECTIONS

The Intramural Sports Program reserves the right to eject any team, participant, or spectator who interrupts the flow of a game in any manner. Ejections may occur before, during, or after any contest. Individuals that are ejected from an Intramural contest may be asked to leave the facility/field and are ineligible for further competition (regardless of the sport) until meeting with the Assistant Director of Intramural Sports. If an ejected player does not meet with the Assistant Director of Intramural Sports before 12:00 noon the day of the team’s next scheduled contest, then the entire team will forfeit that game and will be dropped from the league! Unsportsmanlike ejections warrant a minimum one game suspension. In addition, two ejections from one team in a game will result in an automatic forfeiture of that game.

PROTESTS

Protests are restricted to matters of rule interpretation and player eligibility. Protests concerning judgment calls by an Official will not be recognized or reviewed. Legitimate protests will be reviewed by the Intramural Staff. In the case of a rule interpretation, notification of a protest must be made to a game Official at the time of the alleged infraction and prior to the next live ball. The Official must hear the words “I want to protest this game” from the team captain. If the Official does not immediately stop the game and get an Intramural Supervisor, it is the captain's responsibility to find the Intramural Supervisor immediately. The Intramural Supervisor will then make a decision on the protest. If the protesting captain does not agree with the Intramural Supervisor's decision, a Protest Form (see Appendix) must then be completed by the protesting team with the assistance of an Intramural Supervisor. The game will continue and the Protest Form will be reviewed the next business day. Games in which a protest is found to be valid will be replayed from the point of the rule infraction (provided the protesting team has lost).

The IM-Rec Sports Department will not assume responsibility, but reserves the right to verify the eligibility of participants. Participants within the program have the primary responsibility for monitoring player eligibility. Protests do not have to be made by the captain or players. When an eligibility protest is filed, it is recommended that the Supervisor notify the opposing team captain of the protest and allow that captain to take care of the situation if possible. If the player(s) in question is removed from the game and is found to be ineligible, the team will be charged with a concession. If the player(s) in question continues to play in the contest and is found to be ineligible, the team will be charged with a forfeit. Any player found to be ineligible will not be allowed to participate in future contests.

Exception: Protests of players arriving after the deadline must be made immediately upon the player entering the game.

If the protesting team loses the game, the team captain must complete a Protest Form before leaving the game site.