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2016 Tournament Information for Coaches and Athletic Directors
This document contains entry information for the 63rd Annual New England Interscholastic Squash Championships, to be held February 26–28 at Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts (Class "A"), Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut (Class "B"), and Portsmouth Abbey School in Portsmouth, Rhode Island (Class "C"). Please review the following information carefully so that you can submit all entry materials in time for the Executive Committee's seeding meeting. As in the past, we will use the information reported on the U.S. Squash website to determine all questions of classification and seeding. But I need to know immediately if any school is not planning to participate in this year's tournament. Please be sure all your team's results online are accurate and complete. In keeping with our established policy, the Executive Committee will use its ranking system to determine the 16 teams with strongest records to compete in the Class "A" division at Deerfield. We also will identify eight schools to compete in the Class "C" division, which will be played at Portsmouth Abbey. The remaining NEISA teams will compete in the Class "B" division at Choate. I expect the groupings will be finalized in few days; likely placements and bubble teams are indicated by the order on the U.S. Squash league website. We plan to start first-round play in the "A" and "B" divisions promptly at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The "C" competition will again be a one-day event and start at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. At all three venues, matches will be scheduled to afford teams traveling greater distances slightly later start times, but we expect all competitors to be on site and ready to play by 7:00 p.m. Friday in the "A" and "B" tourneys and 10:15 a.m. Saturday in the "C" event. We aim to conclude the "A" and "B" tournaments no later than 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. First match starting times will be posted on the NEISA website by the evening of Thursday, the 25th. Athletic trainers will be available at all three sites during competition. In accordance with NEPSAC rules, individual competitors must have been 19 years of age or younger on September 1, 2015. Official U.S. Squash rules will be observed. Note that these rules require protective eyewear designed for athletic competition with polycarbonate lenses; no competitor will be allowed on court with prescription eyeglasses that do not meet this safety standard. Please review the updated U.S. Squash policy on protective eyewear here. Individual trophies will be awarded to the champions, finalists, and third-, fourth-, and fifth-place finishers in each of the seven flights in "A" and "B" divisions, and to the top three in all "C" division flights. NEPSAC championship plaques will be given to the top three teams in each class. Team sportsmanship trophies will be awarded to one school from the northern/eastern division and one from the southern/western division; these awards are meant to recognize those squads upholding the highest standards of fair play and sportsmanship in the course of both the regular season and the New England tournament. Ballots will be distributed online. The ballot is based on the principle of approval voting, so each school may vote for as many teams as it deems fit. The Committee urges coaches to discuss the award with their players and decide as a team how to vote. The Brandes Trophy will be awarded to the New England prep school team posting the best regular season record. Note that for the purposes of these awards, we are interested only in results involving regulation match play between NEISA varsity teams; in other words, we do not want you to include information from scrimmages and play days or from matches with college squads, prep school JVs, or school teams from outside New England. The Committee will use the team records online to determine the Brandes winner. No later than Friday the 19th, coaches should e-mail me (tournament@neisa.org) the names of seven players in order of team position so I can prepare the entry list before the seeding meeting. Players should be entered in flights in order of ability. Note that all challenge matches should be resolved at this point in the season, as you will not be able to make changes in line-up unless an entered player withdraws due to illness or injury, so please plan accordingly. In the event that one of your entered players is unable to play at the start of the tournament, you have the option of either replacing the missing player in the event by allowing an alternate to play in the #7 flight and moving the other players up OR leaving your team's entry vacant in a particular flight, thus keeping players in their respective flights for the tournament. If you know of any change in your line-up in the days immediately preceding the tournament, please call me so that adjustments in the draw sheets can be made. Such changes can be accommodated by calling me before 3 p.m. on Thursday the 25th. The Executive Committee will meet via teleconference on the evening of Monday, February 22nd, to seed players and create the draws in each of the seven flights in each of three tournament divisions. (Those seedings will be provisional until after Wednesday's results have been posted and the Committee may revise decisions before posting the draws on Thursday.) It is essential that results from matches on Wednesday, the 24th are posted promptly that evening. All draw information will be available on the NEISA website (http://www.neisa.org). I am sending athletic directors financial information and a dues/entry fee invoice. The 2015–2016 fee for NEISA dues and tournament entry for each team is $360; checks should be made payable to "Choate Rosemary Hall." ($25 of the total fee is allocated toward annual NEISA dues; $150 is the team membership charge for U.S. Squash team memberships in lieu of sanctioning fees; and the remainder covers tournament costs--including balls, trophies, athletic trainer coverage, custodial and other facility costs, supplies, and assorted odds and ends). Schools with both boys' and girls' teams should pay $695, as we have centralized billing now that the two associations are coordinating tournament venues and expenses. All entry materials should be returned to: Ned
Gallagher, NEISA In the meantime, should you have any questions, please e-mail me. Good luck with the remainder of your season!
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