BCLA Minor Directorate Sanctioned Tournament Application Preamble

To All BCLA Minor Association Presidents and Host Association Tournament Coordinators:

Tournament Scheduling

Avoid scheduling your tournament for the same weekend as any other tournament in your region. Be aware of large tournaments in other regions that may draw teams away from yours.

Take note of Team BC Camp dates. Team BC District and Provincial Tryout Camps will be listed on the Tournament application page. Tournaments conflicting with these dates will not be approved.

Tournament Commissioners

Each Tournament must be assigned a current standing Commissioner by your local Commission Chair, so contact your commission chair in advance to arrange your tournament commissioner. Presidents of Associations are responsible to make certain that your Tournament Host Coordinator is engaging the assistance of a current Commissioner. Only the Tournament Commissioner can provide a ruling on game play.

Tournament Referee In Chief

Each tournament convener must nominate a Tournament RIC to be approved by the BCLOG(prior to April 1st)

Tournament Rules

Tournament Rules are required to be reviewed by the BCLA Minor Directorate. They should be submitted by email as soon as possible but must be received by the BCLA MD Tournament Administrator bclatournaments@gmail.com. four weeks before your tournament begins.

If you require assistance in completing a set of rules, please contact the BCLA MD Tournament Administrator.

You should be aware of the following mandatory rules and include them in your Tournament Rules:

Discipline:

1. Players or Coaches with outstanding suspensions can serve their suspension(s) prior to or during any tournament games.

2. Suspensions received during this tournament will carry over to exhibition, regular league or playdown play, if not served during the tournament.

3. Team officials (Head Coach, Assistant Coaches, and Managers) are responsible for the conduct of their players and parents on tournament property. Offences committed at a tournament are punishable by the Tournament Commissioner, should it be deemed necessary.

4. The tournament committee reserves the right to remove from the tournament any player, coach or spectator that behaves in a manner considered inappropriate for a Minor sporting event.

Player Eligibility:

1. All players must be properly registered with the BCLA.

2. Players in all divisions can only play in two games per day (this includes "call-up players").

Team Communications

Many issues in the past have come from poor communication between the Tournament and the applying/attending teams.

We strongly recommend immediately replying to team applications, to let them know their application has been received, and when they can expect to hear if they've been accepted or not.

When a team is accepted, we recommend an email something like this:

"The registration fee is due ____. Teams withdrawing less than , 30 days prior to the start of the tournament will not be eligible for a refund, unless a replacement team can be found. If a replacement team can’t be found, the cancelling team will be liable to the host for the registration fees. (MD operating policy 14.11) Please note that there is a "Failure to Show" fine that would be imposed for a team that defaults any game. This is a BCLA Minor Directorate process, and your Association President can provide you with the necessary information on this."

Record keeping

We ask all Presidents to ensure that Tournament Host Coordinators are aware of the required return of documentation at the conclusion of your Tournament:

- ALL Game Sheets (paper or electronic) are to be collected by the Commission-approved Tournament Commissioner.

- Electronic copies of all game sheets must be sent to all League Commissioner for the Leagues of all participating team within 7 days of the tournament conclusion by the Commissioner.

- Original game sheets must be retained by the Tournament Commissioner.

- Failure of the Tournament Coordinator to supply Tournament game sheets to Commissioners may result in the loss of future tournament approval.

- The Tournament Major Penalty Summary is completed online and must be completed for each of your sanctioned tournaments. A copy is automatically sent to the commissioners from each zone with a participating team and a final copy to the BCLA Minor Directorate Tournament Administrator. The Commissioner approved for your Tournament will assist with this. This is a required document, even if no majors were given.

These documents are necessary info for each Commission in BC to properly run and failure to return will affect the sanctioning of future tournaments in your association.

Final Notes

As we endeavour to allow an even distribution of tournaments throughout the province, we remind each Association that it is possible that not all applications will be approved. Factors include, but are not limited to, potential conflicts with other tournaments on the same weekend, any history of tournament cancellations, conflict with some other large scale minor sport event.

If you have any questions, contact the BCLA MD Tournament Administrator at bclatournaments@gmail.com..