TRENCH RULES TEAM Each team may have a maximum of 6 players on the court during the game. The minimum number to start play is 3. Co-rec teams must start all games with no more male than female players. Substitutes may enter the game only during time-outs, or in the case of injury. Co-rec may not substitute male for female. One person on the court must be deemed team captain. This person is the only one who may talk with the official regarding ruling questions and interpretations. Before the game starts, each team member will need to check in with the game official. You will need your CSS ID to check into the game. NO ONE WILL BE ALLOWED TO PLAY WITHOUT A VALID CSS ID. Each team is allowed to have 12 people on its roster. If you need to add/drop people from your roster, this must be done with the intramural supervisor before the game begins. Each person is only allowed to be on one team roster per season. PLAYING AREA All trench games will take place in the BWC fieldhouse. The playing area will be the basketball court perimeter lines and half court separating the two teams. The volleyball 10 attack lines will be used as the trench attack lines on each side of the court. The trench is the area of the track past the endlines of the basketball court between the curtains. End Line Attack Line Center Line Attack Line Endline Trench Trench 1
EQUIPMENT The official ball used in this league is a rubber-coated foam ball. Players will be required to wear colored jerseys to differentiate between teams. All players must wear clean, non-marking shoes. No metal cleats or plastic spikes will be allowed. FORFEIT All games will start at the designated times. Game time is forfeit time. NO EXCEPTIONS! The fieldhouse clock will be the official clock used to determine time. OFFICIALS Teams are asked to abide by the honor system and rule fairly whether or not a hit was legal or whether or not they are legally eliminated. There will be two trained officials working at each court to make calls and settle team disputes. All calls made by the official are FINAL. MATCH PLAY Teams will play a best 3 out of 5 games series, and the winner will be determined by whoever wins 3 games or whoever has the most wins & players remaining at the 35 minute game time cap. If a team wins the first 3 games, a fourth and fifth game will NOT be played. GAME PLAY The object of this game is to eliminate all opposing players by getting them out. The team with the last person standing in the court wins. There is a 35 minute time limit per match. In case of a tie at the end of regulation, an overtime period will be played. TIMING, TIME OUTS, & SUBSTITUTIONS There is a 5 minute time limit for each game. Each team is allowed one 30-second time-out per game. The court official s whistles starts and stops the clock. Players are in jeopardy until the official recognizes AND signals the beginning or a time-out or end of regulation time. * Exception: All LIVE balls in flight at time of an official s signal (to end regulation time or begin a time-out) remain LIVE and may eliminate an opponent, until they become dead. During time-outs, teams may substitute players. Substitutes may be players who did NOT start the game. Following a time-out, play will resume with the same number of players and balls on each side as when time-out was granted. 2
GAME START To start each game, teams will start behind the endline of their respective court space. There will be six balls placed on the center line. At the first whistle, both teams will race to the center and retrieve as many balls as they can. You will NOT throw balls at the opposing team at this time. Each team will hustle back to the endline with the balls in hand. Once all players are behind their respective endline, the official will then blow the whistle a second time for play to begin. Participants will begin to throw balls at the opposing team trying to get each person "out". A False Start will be called if the players cross their end line prior to the official s signal to start the game. Result: Play will be stopped and one ball from the offending team s side will be moved to the opponents side of the court. DECLARING A WINNER The first team to legally eliminate all opposing players will be declared the winner. If neither team has been eliminated at the end of the 5 minute regulation, the team with the greater number of remaining players will be declared the winner. If an equal number of players remain after regulation, a 1-minute sudden death overtime period will be played. In all overtime periods, the first team to legally eliminate any one opponent will be declared the winner. OVERTIME The first overtime period of any game will begin with a minimum of three players from each team. If less than three players were standing at the end of regulation, players must be added. The players starting the overtime may be any rostered players, not necessarily those left after regulation. The begin all overtime periods, players must first take position with at least one foot in contact with their attack line. Officials will blow the whistle, and players may move from the attack line to anywhere on their side of the court. All overtime periods begin with each team having three balls in hand. The official s signal starts the overtime period. The first team to eliminate any ONE opposing player will be declared the winner. There are no timeouts in overtime. Substitutions and/or additions must be made prior to the start of any overtime. At the end of each overtime period, if no players have been eliminated, an additional player from each team max of 6 will be placed back into play. The sudden-death format continues through all extra periods. 3
STALLING AND 5 SECOND RULE A team trailing during a regulation game must be given the opportunity to eliminate an opposing player. This requires a ball to be at the disposal of the trailing team. It is illegal for the leading team to control all the balls for more than five seconds. If the leading team controls all of the balls (i.e. all balls are located on their side of the center line, they must make a legitimate effort to get at least one ball across the attack line and into the opponent s backcourt. A 5-second violation will be called. An official must make the 5-second violation call. PENALTY FOR A 5 SECOND VIOLATION First violation: Stoppage of play and balls will be divided equally between the teams. Play will continue with balls in hand. Second violation: FREE THROW for the opposing team a penalty in which one player is allowed an unobstructed thro at their opponent(s) without risk of elimination. This is possible because a caught Free throw does not result in an out for the thrower. Third violation: Ejection of one player from offending team NOTE: The stalling procedure does not apply in overtime. YOU CAN ELIMINATE AN OPPONENT BY: Hitting them with the ball from the shoulders - down Catching a ball thrown by an opposing player on the fly or on a deflection off another teammate Dropping a held ball after trying to block an incoming ball with it (the held ball must hit the ground) YOU WILL BE ELIMINATED IF: An opponent catches a ball that you threw at him/her. You are hit by a ball from an opponent You intentionally hit an opponent from the neck and up with a ball * 4
You cross the centerline. You run out-of-bounds to avoid being hit by a ball or to pursue an opponent. You intentionally place your head and neck into the path of a thrown ball. You retain possession of a ball for more than 20 consecutive seconds. * Unnecessary roughness during the game will not be tolerated at any time and may lead to player or team expulsion. Players who maliciously aim for an opponent's head will be eliminated from the game by the official. SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES: If the ball hits 2 or more players before hitting the ground, both or all the players hit are eliminated. If the ball hits a player and is then caught by a teammate, the player throwing the ball is eliminated. Scenario: A player from Team A attempts to knock down or catch a ball thrown by a player on Team B who is trying to free a member from Team B in the trench. If the player from Team A touches the ball, and then the player from Team B catches the ball in the trench before it hits the ground, the member from Team A is eliminated, and the player from Team B is free from the trench and can enter play. NO ONE IS ELIMINATED IF: You throw a ball and unintentionally hit the opponent in the head. You are hit by a ball that accidentally hits you in the head. A ball hits the ground prior to hitting a player; this is considered a dead ball. THE NO ELIMINATION RULE IS AT THE DISCRETION OF THE OFFICIAL. THE OFFICIAL HAS THE FINAL CALL. 5
IN TRENCH RULES PLAYERS WHO ARE ELIMINATED GO TO TRENCH WHILE PLAYERS ARE IN TRENCH: They can eliminate their opponents in the same methods as above They can catch a ball thrown by their teammate and get back in the game (ball cannot be caught off of wall) BALL RULES Teams can only pick up balls on their half of the court anytime during the game When a Team's Trench is unoccupied, the opponent may pick up balls in that team's trench. When a player is in the Trench, no balls can be taken from it by the opponents PLAYERS RETURNING TO PLAY When a player gets back into play from the Trench, they can be eliminated as soon as they cross the midline back onto their "in play" area. Players MUST run OUTSIDE of the court on the sidelines when heading to and from the Trench. Players not following this rule will lose one ball from their team to their opponents. BASKETBALL HOOP RULE Basketball hoops will remain lowered, and any player making a basket on the opponent's side of the court will free everyone in their trench to re-enter the game. If a ball is caught off of the backboard, basketball rim, or any attempt at making a basket, the person throwing the ball will be called out. SPORTSMANSHIP Teams will be rated by the referee at the end of the game on sportsmanship. For more information, view the Campus Rec website. 6
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