Proposed 2014 Ruleset: Version 4.0 Beta

From the Rules committee chair, Nick Kruse:

NAH has completed the final proposal for the 2014 ruleset. Building on years prior, we have highlighted some critical safety concerns and filled in holes that had previously allowed for what we deemed to be unfair play as observed over the course of the season. Also, some technical descriptions, sizes and measurements were hashed out to a finer specification. We hope that you will find the ruleset to be more organized and worded better, on the whole.

The ruleset presented here has not been voted on by NAH yet, and is therefore a proposal. Organizers for upcoming off-season events have inquired about the release of this ruleset prior to the NAH schedule. We want to be supportive of this, in order to test the ruleset and to let referees and players gain familiarity with some of the bigger changes, so we are releasing this beta version. The Epiphanie tournament overseas and the Great Lakes Winter Classic up in Toronto this winter will use this ruleset as a feeler — we are hoping that all players involved in bike polo can gain familiarity with this document. Please, use it in any upcoming pick-up sessions or tournaments near you.

NAH Ruleset v4.0 Beta

Representatives and the board will be voting on this in two weeks time. There are changes in this ruleset that will affect, at the least, game play in the 2014 regional qualifiers and North Americans, so read over it. I will be sure to answer any questions. We are really confident in what we’ve produced here and hope that you will find that vast improvements have been made.

– Nick

Email here or via Contact Form.

Rules Voting for 2014

We’ve set up an informal poll on certain disputed rules that you can find here:

2014 Rules Votes

Have your voice heard for the future of competitive bike polo!

 

You can join in the discussion here and contact the Rules committee here..

Voting 2014

Here is where you can voice your opinion for 2014 changes. The wording of these polls is NOT how the exact rule will be written, but rather they are put in plain language so we can get a general idea of what the community would like to see next year.

These polls are only used unofficially, but in the future there will be a formal voting system in place for rules changes and more.

UPDATE: Voting is now closed

Rules Changes for 2014

SHOOTING
What should count as a goal?

HIGH STICKING
How should we define High Sticking?

GAME FORMAT
Tournament games should follow which format?

THE JOUST
Where should players line up to joust?

THE CREASE
The addition of a crease to the area of play around both goals on the court stands to serve two purposes. The first is that it allows us to define a “goaltender” and allows us to prevent physical contact onto this player from offensive players. The second purpose would be to eliminate the use of a “double goalie” in bike polo, a defensive maneuver in which a team jams the area in front of the net. The addition of a crease can address the first or both of these issues, depending on the size of the space.

BALL JOINTING
Should ball jointing be allowed in the offensive half?

ARM CONTACT
Should arm extension be regulated?

INTERFERENCE
Should off-ball contact be regulated?

The future of NAH Referee Certification

In an effort to advance the education of the rules for players and the confidence of referees, we have developed a site that will provide learning materials and testing capabilities to be used for the NAH Referee Certification system. This is our first effort and only an initial step in developing a final product. We will continue to produce these materials and refine the tests over this season. The NAH Referee Certification will feature questions in multiple choice, short-answer, and essay-style form. Because the site is capable of embedding video right into the course material, certain essay-style questions will feature real-life situations that test critical thinking and application of the rules.

If you would like to contribute to creating these course materials please use the contact form located here. One specific task we need help with is pinpointing fouls in videos so we can edit them down. This is a time-consuming task so any help we can get would be awesome. And again, please remember this is just the first test in a long process, and we appreciate any support we can get from the community.

Anyone who would like to volunteer to referee at the NAHBPC should go register and take the quiz. Additionally, all teams playing in the NAHBPC need to have one player register and complete the quiz. Please follow the instructions here: http://ref.nahardcourt.com/signup-for-nas/

The main page can be found here: http://ref.nahardcourt.com/.

Ruleset Version 3.3 for the 2013 Season

Sparing you the details of how this ruleset came about, here it is. This has been in use in various forms this season, but was finally assembled and is ready for release to the public. This will be in use at all NAH Sanctioned Tournaments, specifically the North American Championship. If you have any feedback, please contact your regional representatives.

2013 NAH Ruleset V3.3.