Eligibility & Compliance

Understanding NCAA requirements and CSA-specific regulations for player participation

General Eligibility Requirements

Eligibility for intercollegiate squash competition shall be determined by each College Squash Association member institution in accordance with NCAA rules.

These rules are complex, and they are different for each NCAA Division.

Varsity Teams

Any questions about eligibility should be referred to an institution's NCAA compliance staff member for a ruling.

NCAA Division Overview:

  • NCAA Division I: First year graduate students may be eligible if they have one of their 4 years of eligibility remaining and if they are within the 5-year window beginning the day they enrolled in college. Ivy League rules are more restrictive and are similar to NCAA Division III rules.
  • NCAA Division III: First year graduate students are only eligible if they are enrolled for a graduate degree at the same institution they attended as an undergraduate, have a year of eligibility remaining, and fall within the 5-year window.

Individuals should check their NCAA Division Manuals and speak to their NCAA compliance staff members to clarify any eligibility questions they may have about their teams.

Club Teams

Non-varsity teams do not generally have access to their institution's NCAA compliance staff. Therefore, associate members do not have the ability to clear a player's eligibility for extenuating circumstances.

Club Team Requirements:

  • Player must be enrolled at the associate member institution
  • Players only have four years of eligibility
  • Injury waivers will not be granted
  • Club programs may not have graduate students participate in college squash competition

Gender Participation Policies

Players on varsity teams must play for the team of their gender identity, subject to the policies regarding transgender student-athletes shown below.

General Gender Rules:

  • If a school only has a men's team, a woman may represent the school in CSA matches
  • If a school only has a women's team, a man may not represent the school in CSA matches

Club Team Gender Flexibility:

For club teams with both men's and women's programs, a woman may play on a men's team, under the following conditions:

  • At the beginning of the season, the player chooses which gender team she will represent
  • Once she has played an official match for one gender, she may not play on the team of the other gender until the following season, when a new decision can be made

Transgender Student-Athletes

In consultation with the US Squash Transgender Athlete Policies, the CSA maintains the following policies for transgender student-athlete participation.

For transgender student-athletes undergoing hormone treatments:

  • A transgender male (female to male, or FTM) student-athlete who has received a medical exception for, and is being treated with, testosterone for purposes of CSA competition may compete on a men's team, but is no longer eligible to compete on a women's team.
  • A transgender female (male to female) student-athlete being treated with testosterone suppression medication, or who has undergone surgical intervention to suppress testosterone production, for gender transition, may continue to compete on a men's team but may not compete on a women's team until completing one calendar year of documented testosterone-suppression treatment or one-year post-surgical intervention.

Transgender student-athletes NOT undergoing hormone treatments:

  • may participate in competition in accordance with his or her assigned birth sex
  • In this case, a transgender male (FTM) student-athlete may participate on a men's or women's team, and
  • a transgender female (MTF) student-athlete may not compete on a women's team

Students identifying outside of the gender binary NOT undergoing hormone treatments:

  • may participate in competition in accordance with the individual's assigned birth sex
  • In this case, a student-athlete assigned female at birth may participate on a women's team, and
  • a student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete on a women's team

Ethics & Conduct

The foundation of squash lies in ethical play and mutual respect among all participants

Core Principle

Ethics cannot be legislated. If a coach or player decides to cheat, they cannot be stopped, no matter what rules are in place. The only truly effective deterrent to poor behavior and cheating is the existence of unilateral ethics (an honor code of squash) accepted by all participants.

Coaching Standards

An ethical squash coach upholds the highest standards of the game of squash in their own play, teaches these standards to their players, holds their players responsible to these standards, and alerts other coaches when any player appears to be falling short of these standards.

Essential Coaching Responsibilities:

  1. Safety First: The safety of all participants is more important than anything else. Coaches must demand that players wear protective eyewear on the court at all times.
  2. Rules Education: Adherence to the rules and ethics of squash is essential for fair play. Coaches should teach players the rules of squash.

Player Ethics Code

Coaches should teach — and players should learn and follow — the ethics of squash:

  1. Always put opponents' safety first, above all else, and never swing at a ball if there is any chance of hitting an opponent with either racquet or ball.
  2. Treat opponents with respect, on and off the court.
  3. Be courteous to opposing teams and coaches, on and off the court.
  4. Respect officials, on and off the court, and accept refereeing decisions without undue arguing or distress.
  5. Call double hits, downs, not ups, faults, out balls and strokes against oneself (whether or not there is a referee).
  6. Allow opponents full and clear access to every ball.
  7. Make every effort to play every ball and only call lets when it is absolutely necessary.
  8. Allow opponents ample room to swing for every shot.
  9. Make an effort to become a competent referee and marker.
  10. Do not compromise the ethics of squash, regardless of an opponent's behavior.

The Ultimate Test

Perhaps the most difficult part of ethical play is #10, as it is where players' ethics are truly tested. The true test of ethical play is how an athlete behaves when playing a close match against an opponent who cheats, behaves poorly, or ignores the ethics of squash.

Ethics Procedures

Upon observing any breakdown of squash ethics by an opposing player, a coach should immediately alert the opposing coach to the problem and then both coaches should watch the match until they can come to an agreement on whether or not there is a problem and how to best address that problem.

Match Intervention Guidelines:

  • Comments about rules or behavior should be limited to 90-second periods between games or after a match
  • Exceptions must be made in cases of extreme danger or extremely unethical behavior
  • If a player insists on repeating problematic behavior, the coach should remove the player from the court and default the match

Incident Reporting:

Should a conduct or sportsmanship issue occur at a college match, an incident report should be submitted to the CSA.

Line-up Protests:

In the case of dual match line-ups, opposing coaches should have an opportunity to question a line-up change until a satisfactory explanation is offered. Protests must be emailed to admin@csasquash.com within 24 hours of the match.

Safety & Eyewear Requirements

Mandatory protective eyewear policies to ensure player safety in all squash activities

Mandatory Requirement

In accordance with the rules of squash adopted by the College Squash Association, collegiate players are required to wear approved eyewear in any practice, warm-up, or competition (singles or doubles).

When Eyewear is Required

This mandatory requirement applies to:

  • Any dual match, individual tournament, or team tournament where players are representing their respective institutions
  • Any approved US Squash event
  • Any participants representing the U.S. in international collegiate competition
  • All practice sessions and warm-ups

Approved Eyewear Standards

The College Squash Association follows US Squash's policy on Protective Eyewear, including US Squash list of Approved Eyewear.

Important Requirements:

  • Approved eyewear must be worn for the entirety of a match, from the beginning of the warm-up until the match's conclusion
  • Standard eyeglasses may not be worn in lieu of approved eyewear, even if the eyeglasses have plastic lenses
  • In the event of a player not having approved eyewear and a suitable replacement not being found, the player must forfeit the match

Coach Responsibilities

It is up to each institution's coach to:

  • Make sure that each member of their team has approved eyewear before the start of each season
  • Ensure suitable replacement pairs are available for the duration of the season

Disclaimer

The College Squash Association does not test or certify eyewear. It is an individual's responsibility to ensure that their eyewear meets or exceeds the standards of US Squash's Protective Eyewear policy.

Media & Broadcasting Policies

Guidelines for recording, broadcasting, and media coverage of CSA events and matches

Commercial Use Restrictions

The College Squash Association has been and, in the future, will be entering into transactions with various media companies to provide media coverage for its various events.

Prohibited Activities:

  • Photographing, video recording and other audio/visual recordings for commercial non-personal use
  • Broadcasting, publishing and disseminating content for any and all commercial purposes
  • These restrictions apply to all media, including outlets such as YouTube

Educational & Personal Use

This policy allows for video recording for educational and personal purposes but prohibits others from recording and then attempting to sell or post on other sites.

Permitted Uses:

  • Any photographs, video recordings or other audio and/or visual recordings created by a spectator may be used solely for personal non-commercial use
  • Colleges and universities participating in the match may record video for educational and personal use
  • Content may not be broadcast, published or disseminated, or used for commercial purposes without prior written consent of the CSA

Media Access & Credentials

Regular Season Events:

The host college, university, or squash venue controls media access. Please contact the college's or university's sports information department to inquire about media credentials.

Championship Events:

Members of the media are required to obtain credentials to cover CSA championship events. Media members should contact admin@csasquash.com to request credentials.

Player Rights & Consent

Automatic Consent:

For College Squash Association regular and post season matches, players participating in the event automatically consent to the photographing, video recording, and publication of their matches by the College Squash Association, the college/university, and/or any College Squash Association media partner.

Player Objection Rights:

  • If a CSA team member objects to being photographed or video taped during their match, such activity must stop immediately by parties other than those approved by the CSA
  • For players under 18: if the player, coach, parent or guardian objects to photographic devices within the court by non-approved parties, the objecting party may request the use be discontinued

National Championship Rules

Comprehensive guidelines for team and individual championship participation and formatting

Championship Overview

The College Squash Association hosts annual team and individual championships for men and women. These guidelines apply for both women's and men's tournaments.

Team Championship Eligibility

Minimum Match Requirements:

  • Varsity teams: Must compete in ten (10) matches against other CSA teams with at least 6 different opponents
  • Club teams: Must compete in eight (8) matches against other CSA teams with at least 5 different opponents

Entry Process:

  • All varsity teams will automatically be entered in the National Team Championships
  • Club teams must declare their intent to compete via registration form
  • Remaining spots selected based on team rankings at the end of the regular season
  • Teams must submit payment by deadline and meet minimum match requirements

Team Championship Line-ups

Submission Requirements:

  • Final line-ups must be submitted to Tournament Director by Noon (EST) on Monday prior to championship weekend
  • Teams may submit line-ups of 11 players
  • All 11 players may compete in top 9 positions as long as they play in appropriate order
  • Teams must bring at least 9 players unless exemption is granted

Line-up Review Process:

  • All line-ups posted for review Monday evening prior to championship weekend
  • Coaches have until 3:00 PM Tuesday to protest team line-ups
  • CSA Rules and Regulations Committee reviews protests
  • Decisions communicated by Wednesday at noon

Championship Divisions

Men's National Team Championships:

  • Potter Cup (A Division) – Teams ranked 1–8
  • Hoehn Cup (B Division) – Teams ranked 9–16
  • Summers Cup (C Division) – Teams ranked 17–24
  • Conroy Cup (D Division) – Teams ranked 25–32
  • Chaffee Cup (E Division) – Teams ranked 33–40
  • Serues Cup (F Division) – Teams ranked 41–48
  • Hawthorn Cup (G Division) – Teams ranked 49–56
  • H Division – Teams ranked 57–64

Women's National Team Championships:

  • Howe Cup (A Division) – Teams ranked 1–8
  • Kurtz Cup (B Division) – Teams ranked 9–16
  • Walker Cup (C Division) – Teams ranked 17–24
  • Epps Cup (D Division) – Teams ranked 25–32
  • E Division – Teams ranked 33–40

Individual Championships

Entry Requirements:

  • Each varsity school guaranteed one (1) entry per gender
  • If sending only one player, they must have represented their team in top three ladder positions at Team Championships
  • Teams may enter up to nine (9) players maximum
  • Remaining positions based on most recent individual rankings

Tournament Format:

  • A Flights: Men's (Pool Trophy) and Women's (Ramsay Cup) - 16-person draws
  • B-E Flights: Players seeded 17th-80th divided into four regional draws (North, South, East, West)

Important Note

Players and coaches must be available for all assigned match times. No special accommodations (court changes, time changes, etc.) will be made.

Privacy Policy

Our commitment to protecting your data and privacy when you use our website and services.

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