This are the rules for the UIC Squash League Ladder Tournament:
Note especially the changes in the challenge section. There was some trouble in the first tournament. The new rules are stricter, but hopefully, prevent frustration on getting stuck on a rung!
I. The Ladder principle
Players
at the beginning are put into slots (rungs) randomly. (for easy
explanation we use 8 players)
Here is an example:
1-Matt
2-Greg
3-Ray
4-Brian
5-Mark
6-Mike
7-Natalie
8-Kim
Players can challenge other players on the 2 rungs above them. (e.g. Brian can challenge Ray or Greg)
Players can be challenged by the players on the 2 rungs below them. (e.g. Brian can be challenged by Mike or Mark)
If the player on the higher rung wins, the players stay on their current rung.
If the player on the lower rung wins, the players switch rungs. (e.g. If Mike defeats Brian, Mike moves up to rung 4, and Brian moves down to rung 6)
II. The Challenge
A challenge is made by email. A cc must be sent to the coordinator of the tournament (fbashi1@uic.edu). This is to officially fix the time and date when the challenge is made. The coordinator places the challenging player in the Challenging Zone on the league web page.
The person who is challenged has to respond as soon as possible, at least within 1 week of the challenge. If there is no response during this time, the challenging player will switch rungs on the ladder with the challenged person. It is recommended, to cc the response mail to the coordinator, too.
If a match is set up, time and date are posted to the coordinator who updates this info on the league web page.
After the match, one player sends the result (if possible with score) to the coordinator to update the ladder.
If one player does not show up at the set up time of the game, the player who showed up will receive the victory
A player who is already challenged cannot be challenged from another player at the same time.
The loser of a match
cannot challenge his opponent right away, but has to wait one week or until
the opponent have had a match with another player, unless the opponent does
not agree to a new challenge right away.
Example.: Kim plays a match against Mike and loses. She has to wait one week,
before she can challenge Mike again. But Mike tells her, that he plays Mark
on the next day. After that match, he could be challenged by Kim again, if
he is still in challenging range.
This sounds complicated, but it is not. An example: Natalie sends an email
(with cc to fbashi1@uic.edu )
to Mark saying "I challenge you, my preferred time is
MWF 6-8). On the next day, Mark replies (with cc) "Good, I couldn't wait
for a match, let's play on W 6.30. I'm gonna reserve the court." That is
it! After the match one of the both sends the result to the coordinator.
If somebody arranges a match in a different way, that is fine, as long as there are no complaints. Though, by posting everything on the web page, everybody can check what is going on, who can be challenged, when the matches are played. It makes the whole ladder more transparent for all participants and should be fun.
III. The Match
The official squash rules apply for all matches. They are posted on the blackboard at the squash court or can be obtained from worldsquash.org.
Here are the specific tournament rules
Ball : 1 yellow dot, unless both players agree to play with another type of ball.
Every match is best of 5 games.
The spin of the racquet decides who is the first server for the first set. The winner of the current set serves first in the next set.
Every game is to 9 point. If both get 8, the receiver choose how many points more (1 or 2) to play, hence, the game ends with 9 or 10 points, respectively.
After each game, a rest of 90 seconds is allowed.
FAIR PLAY!!!!
Any players joining the ladder after it has started must be added to the bottom.