B. C. Junior Girls Basketball Association
Rules and Guidelines for the 2009-2010 Season
I. General Information:
1. The B. C. Junior Girls Basketball Association is established to oversee the operation of the B. C. Junior Girls Basketball Tournament and to assist in the growth and the publicizing of junior girls basketball throughout the province. This association will be responsible for enforcing eligibility rules, berth allocations, tournament rules, awarding of the tournament host role and publicizing junior girls basketball on a provincial level.
2. The dates for the 2010 B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament are March 4-6, 2010, at W. J. Mouat Secondary School and University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B. C.
3. The Annual General Meeting for the association will be held Saturday, March 6, 2010, at a site to be determined. Coaches interested in attending this meeting should contact the tournament director at Don Hildebrand or the association president for specific details. All junior girls basketball coaches in B. C. are invited to attend the coaches breakfast and AGM. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a. m. This meeting is a required annual event held in conjunction with the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament.
4. The election of the association executive and zone representatives for the following season will take place annually during the AGM held during the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament.
5. The B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament is intended as a showcase for junior girls basketball throughout the province. The tournament will also be used to help promote player development throughout the province.
6. All teams qualifying for the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament will be guaranteed to play four games - two games Thursday, one game Friday and one game Saturday. Game times Thursday will be set at 9:30, 11:00, 12:30 2:00, 3:30, 5:00, 6:30 and 8:00 p. m.
7. Provincial Top 10 rankings will be compiled regularly throughout each season. The president, the executive and the webmaster will be responsible for compiling these rankings and posting them on the association website. The president and the webmaster will be responsible for releasing these rankings to the various media representatives throughout the province. Zone reps will be asked once before Christmas and every two weeks after Christmas to rank the teams in their zone and to include as many zone game results as they have gathered. Teams which do not submit nor post their game results on the association webpage will NOT be included in the provincial rankings.
8. Schools wishing to host the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament should present their hosting proposal at the AGM. The successful bidder will host the tournament for ONE season. The host may bid to host the tournament for a second season at the AGM. The host school receives an automatic berth into the provincial tournament. The association will provide a $400 grant to assist the tournament host with covering organization and administration costs.
9. The game directors for every game played during the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament will keep a second backup scoresheet with a record of fouls and the running game score. This second scoresheet will NOT be used to overrule the official scoresheet, but only to act as a form of verification.
10. The teams losing their first game during the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament will play for NINTH to 16TH place.
11. The two wildcard berths will be allocated during a conference call with the BCJGBA executive and informed zone reps prior to the start of zone playoffs. Challenge games will NOT be used to determine wildcard berths due to costs and the amount of missed class time. These wildcard berths will be allocated to a zone and not a specific team and will be based upon performance and merit.
II. B. C. Junior Girls Basketball Executive (2009-2010 season):
President / Secretary Treasurer: Brett Westcott, Spectrum Community School
Vice-President: Barb Waring, Salmon Arm Secondary School
Tournament Director: Don Hildebrand, W. J. Mouat Secondary School
Zone Representatives:
Northwest: Anna Ashley, Prince Rupert Secondary School
North Central: Ray Asai, Bert Bowes Junior Secondary School
West Kootenays: Bruce Fuhr, L. V. Rogers Secondary School
East Kootenays: Craig Lindsay, Mount Baker Secondary School
Okanagan: Lynn Durkee, Salmon Arm Secondary School
Fraser Valley: TBA
Lower Mainland: Ramin Sadaghiani, Handsworth Secondary School
Vancouver Island: Arlene Fitzgerald, Wellington Secondary School
The role of the zone representatives is to fulfill the following duties:
1. to disperse information regarding eligibility and berthing to all schools in their zone prior to the start of the season in November
2. to collect team registration fees and registration forms from teams in their zone and forward this material to the association
3. to contribute regularly the provincial rankings by forwarding scores from as many games which take place in their zone as possible
4. to mediate any disputes within their zone relating to the B. C. tournament and to seek clarification if needed from the association executive
5. to act as a contact person for the tournament host and the association during the season
6. to be prepared to assist in the seeding of teams for the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament
III. Player Eligibility:
1. All players must be under 17 years of age as of December 31; if the player has her 17th birthday December 31 or earlier then she is NOT eligible; if her 17th birthday falls January 1 or later then she is eligible.
2. All players must be registered in grade 8, 9 or 10 during that school year to be eligible to play in the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament.
3. All other B. C. School Sports player eligibility rules will apply when determining player eligibility for the B. C. Junior Girls Tournament.
4. Teams wishing to pursue qualification in the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament must follow the B. C. School Sports rules and limits for players at a higher level of competition during the season.
IV. Team Registration:
1. In order to be eligible for the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament, teams must register with the B. C. Junior Girls Basketball Association. Teams must forward a $15 registration fee and a team registration form to the zone representative or the association president by JANUARY 15, 2010.
2. A late registration deadline will be FEBRUARY 1, 2010. Teams which register with the association between JANUARY 16-FEBRUARY 1 must pay a $75 late registration fee.
3. Teams which do not register with the association by FEBRUARY 1, 2010, will NOT be eligible to participate in the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament. Registration is considered complete when the zone rep or the association president receives all the require registration materials postmarked by the appropriate deadline date.
4. All teams must be prepared to present birth certificates as proof of age for all participating players prior to the start of the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament.
5. Any zone or school wishing to appeal any decision made by the association must make their appeal to the association president. Through a conference call with the association executive and the zone reps, the president may make the final decision regarding the appeal. The party initiating the appeal will be responsible for covering any and all costs related to the appeal. A conference call may be organized to address any appeal with the party initiating the appeal paying any and all costs incurred with the appeal.
6. All zone tournaments and playoffs leading toward qualification for the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament must be completed at least two weeks prior to the last day of the provincial tournament. The deadline for the completion of these playoffs this season is 10 days prior to the B. C. Tournament starting or Monday, February 22, 2010.
V. B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament Playing Rules:
1. A size 6 women’s basketball will be used in all games.
2. The home team, as determined by the tournament draw, will wear light-colored uniforms in each game. The visting team will wear dark-colored uniforms.
3. Teams are allowed to use fullcourt zone presses.
4. Teams are allowed to use halfcourt zone defences.
5. The B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament will use modified FIBA rules in all games as used in the senior girls association games. All rule changes used in the BCSSGBA will also be used in the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament.
VI. B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament Berthing and Seeding:
1. The maximum number of berths which any zone may receive for the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament is FOUR (4). The host berth does not count for any zone in this total.
2. The allocation of zone berths will be as follows:
East Kootenays - 1North Central - 2
West Kootenays - 1Fraser Valley - 2
Northwest - 1Vancouver Island - 2
Okanagan - 2Wildcards - 2
Vancouver and District - 2Host - 1
TOTAL = 16 berths
3. The strength of teams within a zone will be the only criteria used for determining the allocation of the two wildcard berths. The wildcard berths will be allocated following a conference call between the BCJGBA executive and the zone reps prior to the start of the zone playoffs. Wildcard berths are NOT allocated to a specific team; they are allocated to a zone based upon the allocation criteria and the related discussion. Both the wildcard berths may be awarded to the same zone if the strength of the zone merits such a decision.
4. Once the 16 qualifying teams are determined, all the teams will be seeded one to 16 in a seeded draw. This seeding will be done through a conference call between the BCJGBA executive and the zone reps. Zone reps who have a team participating in the event will NOT be permitted to vote on the acceptance of the final tournament draw. The first-round contests will be:
1 vs. 162 vs. 15
8 vs. 97 vs. 10
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4 vs. 133 vs. 14
5 vs. 126 vs. 11
The seeding recommendations are teams from the same zone WILL NOT play in the first round of the tournament and preferably not until the third round, although this second recommendation cannot be guaranteed. It is not necessary automatically to seed a non-qualifying host school as the 16th seed if their season performance indicates a closer examination of the tournament seeding. The seeding of the B. C. Tournament will also honour the zone placements meaning a team cannot be seeded higher than another team which places higher in its zone qualifying tournament.
5. A conference call between the BCJGBA executive and zone reps will do the seeding for the draw. All teams participating in the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament will be notified by email of their opening game opponent, tipoff time and game location.
6. The qualification process for the Lower Mainland zone, if a Lower Mainland qualifying tournament is not held, will be as follows:
-Vancouver #1 vs. Independent #1 at the home of Vancouver #1
-winner to play the lowest remaining Vancouver and District qualifying team for the final Lower Mainland berth at the home of the V&D team
-these games must be completed at least SEVEN days prior to the start of the B. C. Junior Girls Championship Tournament
If coaches have any questions or problems relating to any of these rules and guidelines, they should contact their zone rep or the association president to seek an official interpretation or information.
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