Policies and Procedures

Intramural Sports Mission Statement

The Mission of the Intramural Sports Program at Brandeis University is to provide students, faculty, and staff quality sports programs and services, and to encourage all participants to value recreation and wellness. Our goal is to provide the Brandeis community the opportunity to participate with friends and colleagues in a variety of sports in a fun filled environment. We are committed to creating a healthy campus culture through competitive and organized tournaments and leagues.

Overview of Intramural Sports

Intramural Sports at Brandeis University continues to promote its rich tradition of friendly, competitive activities for everyone within the university community.  Since its inception, the Intramural Sports Program has served as a rally point for socialization, exercise and competition.  The Intramural Sports Program offers over 25 sporting events or leagues each year. If you want to play, register online at imleagues.com/brandeis.

Intramural Sports Program Features:

• The largest student program on campus
• Over 25 different sporting activities
• Male, female and co-ed divisions of play
• Convenient, flexible season schedules (teams select when they cannot play)
• Leagues organized to match skill level and ability
• Part time employment opportunities                                                                             

League Divisions
Intramural competition is offered in six (6) divisions:

• Men’s - Composed of individual men or men’s teams, however women are allowed to play in this league.
• Women’s - Composed of individual women or women’s teams
• CoEd - Composed of teams consisting of a minimum number of players of each gender. When participating in this division the male to female ratio can never be higher then 2:1, unless otherwise noted in the rules. 
• Open – Composed of teams consisting of each gender with no minimum or maximum.  Teams of all males may compete against teams of all females or any mix of genders. 

Competition Levels

Intramural Sports competition is divided into up to three (3) different leagues.  Each team or individual is encouraged to select the league which best suits their abilities and interests. The Intramural Sports Coordinator reserves the right to move teams to a more appropriate league when necessary.  All the divisions will play against each other in playoffs to get one winner per gender league. The following leagues are offered:

• “A” league is designed for teams/individuals with high skill levels, seeking intense competition.
• “B” league is available for those with prior experience in the sport seeking a moderate level of competition and skill.
• “C” league offers a “just for fun” atmosphere, which is comprised of those with little or no experience.

Registration for all Intramural Sports activities will take place on line

• Online registration is due on closing date at 11:59pm online.
• It is the responsibility of the team captain to submit a proper team name for their Intramural Sports team.  The following restrictions are enforced:  team names must be tasteful and inoffensive.  Greek team names are not allowed since Greek organizations are not recognized by the University.
• Online entry forms must be complete in order for them to be accepted by the Intramural Sports Staff prior to the announced deadline. 
• For each team sport, teams will select when they CANNOT play but they must leave half of the time slots open.
• The Intramural Sports Coordinator reserves the right to censor and change team names accordingly.
• Late entries will be accepted only if time and space allow.  Occasionally, teams entering a sport late will be inserted if another team drops out of competition, due to forfeits or sportsmanship issues.  At this point the teams on the “waiting list” will be inserted in the order of entry.

Registration and Forfeit Fees

Registration Fees must be paid in cash at the field/court. You have until your second regular season game to pay the fee or your team will be dropped from the league.

Teams that forfeit one game will be charged an extra $20 to get into playoffs.

Eligibility

1. All current Brandeis students, faculty, and staff are eligible to participate in intramural sports. Participants must bring a valid Brandeis ID card to all intramural events. Alumni, spouses, and guests are NOT eligible to participate.

2. Current varsity athletes are not allowed to play the same or similar intramural sport (e.g., varsity basketball players cannot play intramural basketball; varsity baseball players cannot play intramural softball).  Varsity players that quit mid season are also not allowed to play for their corresponding sport.

3. Certain divisions have limits on the number of former professional and/or intercollegiate athletes allowed per intramural team. Those restrictions will be included in the information sheets available during each sport’s sign-up period.

4. Players may only participate on one intramural team per sport (e.g., a player may not play games for a men’s A team and a men’s B team). Once a person plays for a team, that is the team he/she is on for the season. No switching teams! For certain sports, a coed league will be offered and players may play for one male or female team AND one coed team.

5. Women are eligible to play in the men’s league.

6. All players must be added to the team roster before they can participate in an intramural game. Players may be added to the roster any time during the regular season. No new players may be added during the playoffs.

7. Any team found to have used an ineligible player will forfeit all games in which that player participated. And are subject to further disciplinary action. 

Every player, whether they created the team or not, must create an IM Leagues account. This is done simply by going to imleagues.com/brandeis and clicking create account at the top. 

If a player plays on your team, but does not create an account by their next game, they will not be able to play in that game until they make this IM Leagues profile.

Duties of Team Captain

Team captains must have an active email account, phone number, and voicemail. The captain serves as the link between the players and the intramural staff. Captains are responsible for notifying teammates about rules, game times, scheduling changes, etc. It is the captain’s responsibility to verify the eligibility of each player on his/her team.

A captain’s meeting is held for each sport before the start of the season. It is the captain’s responsibility to make sure someone from the team attends if he/she cannot make it. League schedules, rules, and other important information will be discussed at the meeting. Any team absent from the meeting is still held responsible for knowing all the information covered.

Captains must control their own behavior, and also must assert some control over the behaviors of their teammates, coaches, and fans. Captains represent the team with the intramural staff and are the only players allowed to formally protest calls. Judgment calls cannot be protested, only rule interpretations.

Captains are also responsible for the IM Entry fee. This must be paid by a team's second game. If a team drops out of the league, the captain is still held responsible for this fee, and he or she cannot play IM's until it is paid. 

Sportsmanship is a vital part of the Intramural Sports Program at Brandeis University.  Clearly contests are important to participants, but the importance should not become so overriding that players lose sight of appropriate behavior.  The playing site is not a venue for physical or verbal abuse for players or spectators.  In order to encourage proper conduct before, during and after the scheduled contest, officials, supervisors and professional staff will make decisions on whether to warn, penalize or eject players, teams and/or fans for unsportsmanlike conduct.

• The current sportsmanship policy was created to place the responsibility of good behavior on the captains and teams themselves.
• Team Ratings:  The grades range from “A” (excellent) to “F” (poor). Player ejections, foul language, taunting opponents, and constant complaining are all examples of behavior that will warrant low conduct ratings. Team fans and coaches can also influence the team’s conduct rating. In order to be eligible for the playoffs, a team must end the season with at least a “B” (3.0) conduct rating average. Conduct rating averages are calculated similar to grade point averages. Any team falling below the three (3) average at the conclusion of the regular season will be automatically eliminated from any playoff opportunity.  The average is calculated by taking the total of all ratings and dividing that by the number of games played.

II.  Description for each of the ratings: (Yelllow=technical foul, yellow card, unsportsmanlike conduct), red=ejection

4/A Rating:      0 Yellow and 0 Red Cards

3/B Rating:      1 Yellow Card and 0 Red Cards

2/C Rating:      2 different players each receive a yellow card and 0 Red Cards

1/D Rating:      1 Red Card or 2 Yellow Cards on same player and 0 Red Cards or 1 Yellow Card and 1 Red Card

0/F Rating:      2 Red Cards and 0 Yellow Cards or 3 Yellow Cards (different players) and 0 Red Cards or 2 Yellow Cards and 1 Red Card

Ejection Policy

Any player ejected from an intramural event is ineligible to participate in any future intramural events until the player meets with the Intramural Sports Coordinator. All ejections come with a minimum 1 game suspension, but players may be suspended for as long as a full year or more depending on the severity of the incident and prior conduct of the individual. Grounds for ejection include, but are not limited to:

• Using foul language.
• Disruptive, abusive, or unsportsmanlike behavior.
• Threatening or disrespecting another player or intramural employee.
• Intentionally shoving or striking another player or intramural employee.
• Leaving the bench area to join an altercation.
• Playing while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
• Mistreating or vandalizing Brandeis facilities or equipment.

The philosophy of the Intramural Sports Program is to involve all eligible participants in the Brandeis community.  If a team forfeits a contest, the objectives of the Intramural Sports Program are not met, therefore participants are deprived of active involvement.  This procedure is designed to eliminate forfeits and encourage involvement.

• Teams will have ten minutes after scheduled game time to field the minimum number of players or a forfeit will be declared. Except for certain sports where noted in the rules.
• If a team forfeits a regular season game, that team must pay $20 to get into playoffs. Any member of the team can pay this fee.
• On a team’s second forfeit, the team is dropped from the league.

If a team cannot make a game, they are allowed one concede (they lose the game still) but they will not be charged a forfeit fee. They must notify the Intramural Sports Coordinator by 3pm the day of the game or by 12pm on Sunday for a Sunday game.

• Declare themselves as a nomad at sign in
• Be responsible for their actions
• Be a rostered participant on another team (if not rostered, we will just add them to that team)
• Exit the game if/when current team establishes playing minimum
  

  Nomads can only be used during the regular season. Rosters are locked during playoffs and only rostered players can play. 

Teams that qualify will advance to the playoffs.  If time permits, all teams who do not forfeit twice in the season and maintain a sportsmanship rating average of a B will advance to playoffs. Some leagues will take only take a certain amount of teams to playoffs. Look at the sport rules for details.

Games may be able to be rescheduled, however teams must request reschedules 24 hours or more in advance. Same day reschedule requests will not be accepted. If the game cannot be rescheduled, the team that requested the reschedule will forfeit that game. Reschedule requests for games played on Sundays must be made by the Friday before at 3pm.

PARTICIPATION IN INTRAMURAL SPORTS ACTIVITIES IS COMPLETELY VOLUNTARY.  These activities intrinsically involve risks of physical injury greater than those encountered in daily life, and by taking part in sports and other activities; participants acknowledge and assume risks inherent therein.  The Intramural Sports program does not carry accident or injury insurance to cover participants in sports activities.  Therefore, all students are strongly urged to have personal health insurance through the University insurance program, personal or family policies. 

Alcoholic beverages, drugs and tobacco products (including all vaporizers, cigarettes, hookahs, etc) are not permitted on or within the playing confinement of the Intramural Sports playing areas.  Contests will not be played and will result in forfeits if such substance abuse is present. 

The Intramural Sports Staff assigned to the playing contest have the authority and responsibility in making decisions regarding individuals who are not permitted to participate based on:

• A student's breathe smells of alcohol.
• A student's actions and language are unacceptable.
• Teams and/or individuals guilty of alcohol or drug use will be asked to leave the playing area and may be barred from further participation for the remainder of the year.
• Such violation may also be subject to prosecution under the terms of the University Student Conduct Policies.

The Intramural Sports Coordinator is ultimately responsible for running all aspects of the Intramural Sports Program and reserves the right to change any policy to ensure the safety and well-being of all participants.  If you have any questions, concerns, or problems, please contact the coordinator at jmizraji@brandeis.edu or (781) 736 3665.