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Below you’ll find the official policies maintained by IM Sports.

Ratings System

The IM Sports Rating System outlines how league standings, playoff seeding and divisional tiebreakers are determined across all sports.

FairPlay Program

The IM Sports FairPlay program was instituted to ensure that all IM Sports participants have an opportunity for recreation in the safest, most enjoyable atmosphere possible. IM Sports participants should not have to contend with ‘trash talking,’ excessively rough play or other forms of unsporting behavior.

A FairPlay rating (averaged over a season) below 3.5 renders a team ineligible for the playoffs.

  • The baseline FairPlay rating for all games is a 4.0.
  • A team that wins a game by an opponent’s “auto-loss” receives a 4.0 FairPlay rating
  • A team that receives an “auto-loss” will receive a 3.0 FairPlay rating.
  • A team that “forfeits” or “no-shows” receives a 1.0 FairPlay rating and is NOT eligible for playoffs.

Guidelines by Sport

Individual Sport Rules

Please click on a link below for a detailed list of the rules pertaining to your intramural sport.

IM Handbook

The goal of this handbook is to provide captains and their team members with the appropriate information to have the most positive and successful season as possible. Note that the use of male gender pronouns is for simplification purposes and the rules and regulations apply to all captains and team members.

In cases where policies are not outlined or are in conflict in the IM Sports Handbook, IM Sports Staff reserves the right to use common sense, fairness, and the “spirit of the Program” in providing interpretations on the policies and procedures contained in this IM Sports Handbook.

Rules and policies are subject to change without notice.

League Schedules

Captains should be watching the season schedule for updates and changes. Regular-season schedules will be posted by 5:00 p.m. the Friday before each season starts.

Eligibility

  • All current undergraduates and graduate students are eligible for IM leagues
  • All affiliate members with active memberships to the RSF
  • A penalty of forfeiting the game goes to any team who has ineligible team members on the roster

Identification Checks

Before every IM contest all team members on the roster will have to show a current and active Cal 1 ID or RSF ID card with a picture of the participant. Failure to do so will result in the team member being unable to play that game.

Multiple-Team Participation

IM Sports participants are eligible to play in any number of sports, but may play on only one team per division. If a division has multiple levels of competition, participants must choose only one level of competition to compete in. Participants discovered to have played for multiple teams within the same division of the same sport shall be suspended for a minimum period of two games from the team which they appeared second. This suspension will carry through to all teams and sports that the participant is on. In addition, both teams that the participant played on can have all games in which the ineligible participant played forfeited. Frequent offenders of this policy may face longer suspensions.

Example: Tom plays on a Open B Soccer team on Tuesday, and plays on a Open A Soccer team on Thursday and on a CoRec Basketball team on Wednesday. Tom is registered on the Tuesday team and when it is discovered on Thursday that he plays for two teams, he becomes suspended for the next two games from his Thursday team. The suspension makes him ineligible to participate in any IM Sports activity until he has sat out two games from his Thursday team. Thus, he will be forced to miss two games from all teams that he participates on.

Waiver of Liability

All team members must individually sign their player waiver on IMLeagues after they have created an account. No waiver, no participation until it is completed.

Team Roster Information

Captains must complete the team roster before each game.Players can be added to the roster up until playoff start, after that the teams still playing will have a player lock on them.

The Team Roster shall be the primary source to judge all eligibility concerns.

The Divisions commonly offered by IM Sports are

  • Open
  • Women’s
  • CoRec
  • Recreational

There are no restrictions on the number of divisions in which an individual may participate.

Penalty

Any team using an ineligible player will forfeit all games in which the ineligible player participated. Forfeiture of a game precludes a team from entering or advancing through the playoffs.

Automatic Losses

Any team that is not following the rules and regulations outlined will have to forfeit the game, thus taking them out of contention for a playoff spot.

As a courtesy to other participants, teams and individuals are encouraged to arrive early enough to check in with IM Sports Staff. If a team absolutely cannot make a scheduled contest, the Team Captain should notify the IM Sports Office at least 24 hours prior to the date of competition to request an automatic loss to avoid receiving a forfeit.

For games occurring on Sundays, captains must notify the IM Sports Office by 4 p.m. on the Friday prior.

If the minimum number of eligible players are not present and ready to play at the scheduled game time, the contest is recorded as an automatic loss and a win awarded to the team fielding the minimum number of eligible players. An automatic loss does not affect a team’s chances of making the playoffs.

Forfeits

If the minimum number of eligible players do not show up within 15 minutes after the scheduled game time, the contest is recorded as a forfeit. A team must start with the minimum number of eligible players as stated in the rules for the sport or a forfeit is declared. A forfeit makes a team ineligible for playoff competition. If neither team has the minimum number of eligible players to start or finish a game, both teams shall receive a forfeit.

  • Exception: In CoRec play, only the minimum number of eligible players (regardless of gender) is required to avoid a forfeit. However, an automatic loss will still be declared.
  • IM Sports Staff may also abandon a game and declare a forfeit for player and/or spectator misconduct.
  • During the first week of play, it is required that teams show up with at least the minimum number of eligible players to reserve their spot in the league. A team forfeiting their first scheduled game of the season may be removed from their league without a refund. The IM Sports Office will notify teams dropped from the league.

Playoff Schedules

Playoff schedules will be posted as soon as possible after the conclusion of the regular season. Teams should expect to play on short notice and at times different from their regular season schedule. Due to time constraints, rescheduling of playoff games is generally not available.

Playoff Eligibility

To be eligible for playoffs a player must be on the official online roster and must have played in at least one regular season game. Team rosters are not meant to be fluid. Players who have appeared in a game should not be removed without consent from IM Sports. Any player removed from a roster becomes ineligible in that same league/division and cannot be added back to the same roster or a different team roster later in the season.

All Outdoor Field Guidelines

Protocol: Head Injuries in IM Sports

This protocol recognizes the importance of identifying concussion-like symptoms displayed by IM Sports participants and responding with appropriate steps: initial assessment, involving EMS as appropriate, and properly documenting observed concussion-like symptoms. For additional details, see the Center for Disease Control Concussion Fact Sheet (PDF).

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