Pool: Nine-ball Championships 2023-24

ENTRY OPENING DATE

Tuesday 3 October 2023

STAGE 1 ENTRY CLOSING DATE

Tuesday 14 November 2023 11:59pm – Student/Competitor Deadline (Students/Competitors must apply by this deadline)

Thursday 16 November 2023 11:59pm – Institution Administrator Deadline (Institutional Administrators are given 48 hours after the student/competitor deadline to approve entries)

ENTRY COSTS

£37.50 per competitor: This provides entry into the Individual Competition, as well as the Team Competition if they enter as part of an institution team.

There will be no accommodation or travel included in this entry fee. It is strongly advised that competitors ensure any accommodation or travel they book has a free-cancellation option to cover the eventuality that their entries are either not accepted due to the ‘team cap limit’, or an emergency means the event cannot complete on these dates.

SINGLE ENTRY

This competition will NOT operate a staged entry process. As such, please ensure all entries are submitted through BUCS Play prior to the closing date listed above.

“Stage 2 Entry” will be opened on Friday 17 November 2023 for the addition of reserves only and will remain open until 11:59pm on Tuesday 5 December 2023.  Note that this deadline is different to the usual Thursday closing of BUCS Play events to enable institutions to add reserve players (and then use them to replace withdrawn entries) for the duration of the team element of the Championships.

Teams are to be made up of either three or four competitors, with three to play in any given match.

An institution unable to raise the minimum of three competitors needed for one team may enter a single competitor into the event to play in the Individual Championship only.

There will be a total team cap for this event of 48 teams. This is to ensure we can schedule the tournament successfully over four days, while not comprising the player experience so they still play a sufficient number of frames.

To accommodate this team cap, teams will be accepted and preference will be given to first teams, then second teams, etc then to teams highest in the competition rankings. For example, if 60 entries are received comprised of 40 first teams, 14 second teams, and 6 third teams, then all of the first teams, and the 8 highest-ranked second teams would be accepted (with the highest ranked second team not entered being first reserve, and so on down the ranking list). These rankings are based on the rankings of the previous three seasons from the higher teams from that institution.

If your institution enters multiple teams then, other than in exceptional circumstances, competitors ascribed to a particular team on the Player Details Form will unable to play for any lower-ranked team in the tournament. As such, please make your team selections carefully. In case of a change/substitution, competitors may be shuffled up from lower- to higher-ranked teams (e.g. seconds to firsts) or from the reserve list into the lowest-ranked team, but no player (including a reserve) can leapfrog a competitor named above them on the Player Details Form supplied to UPC by the institution’s main contact.

There is no maximum number of individuals who can play in the individual competition, but all competitors must either be part of an institution team, or be the only player from that institution, to play at the event. For example, an institution with exactly five competitors may only enter a team of a maximum of four players; for the fifth player to play at the event, the institution must find at least another player so they can play on a second team.

To apply for the Individual Competition all eligible competitors must follow these steps:

1. Competitor to apply to the event on BUCS Play (Instructions on how to do this can be found here)
2. Institution administrator approves entry (Instructions on how to do this can be found here)
3. BUCS approves/denies entry into competition and publishes confirmed entry list

Any data will be handled in accordance with BUCS Privacy Policy

Each institution must also appoint one of its attendees to be the institution’s “main contact” for the event. The main contact will be required to email a Player Details form to the UPC Tournament Director, Stephanie Laba. This form will include which of their institution’s competitors are ascribed to which of its teams, who the team captains are, whether any competitors require reasonable adjustment, and who will serve as the main point of contact between UPC and their institution’s delegation at the event in case of any matters that are not applicable to the team captain(s).

By participating in this event you agree to adhere to BUCS General Event Disclaimer

To check whether you are eligible to compete in BUCS competitions, please visit REG 4 Individual Eligibility.

Whilst this event does not have a para-sport category, UPC values players from all backgrounds and aims to create and maintain an inclusive playing environment. The UPC is committed to making reasonable adjustments for any competitor who feels they need it, and where a competitor feels that this may apply to them at an upcoming event, they should notify UPC as soon as possible prior to the event to enable reasonable adjustments to be put in place.

The playing arena is up a flight of stairs, so it may not be possible for some to play in the event. If this pertains to any competitor, we recommend they get in touch as soon as possible to discuss options for access.