SELECTION POLICY

Policy Objective

The selection policy seeks to enable fair and equitable selection of individuals and teams for British University and Colleges Sport (BUCS) League matches, BUCS Individual competition and Varsity. Selection will be done by Men’s and Women’s Captains.

Performance Objectives

Win Varsity match against Oxford in all categories (Men’s 1, Men’s 2, Men’s 3 and Women’s)
Be within the top 3 teams in the BUCS team league table
Win a medal at BUCS Individuals and have at least three players pass through the group stages
Win or get to the finals of the Midlands Conference Cup.

BUCS

Eligibility

To be eligible to join any of the BUCS teams, players must fulfil the following criteria:

The player must be a current member of the club (i.e. hold a membership for the current academic year)
The player must be eligible under the criteria set by BUCS

Selection Criteria

Men’s 1st Team

The Men’s first team for the majority of BUCS team matches will consist of 8 members, who will rotate around for fixtures both home and away throughout the year. This will remain relatively fixed throughout the year. There will be 4 players at each BUCS fixture, that is a commitment that team members should be willing to play in regularly. Should there be a shortage of players in an emergency situation, players from the second team may get called up to play. Selection for the team will be based on the following criteria:

The coach and the men’s first team captain will be observing training sessions in the first weeks of the Michaelmas term, and at their discretion, and looking at prior rankings, may pick out talented individuals for membership in the team. This will be the primary form of selection.
If the team has not been fully selected, and there is no clear difference in ability between competitive squad members, there will be a trial set of matches for remaining places in the team that will take place in week 3 or week 4 of Michaelmas term with invitations to the trial given at the team captain’s discretion.
Players selected for the team are expected to attend competitive training sessions at least once a week, for at least 70% of the weeks. Failure to do so may result in a warning, from the captain, followed by a possible release from the team.

Womens 1st team

The women’s first team will be formed under the discretion of the women’s captain, who will rotate players for BUCS fixtures throughout the year. Selection for this will take place over the first weeks of the Michaelmas term, through observation in the Fresher’s tournament and in training sessions.

Men’s 2nd Team

BUCS selection for the men’s second team will primarily be at the discretion of the captain based on player ranking within the club and general player availability. However, players in the second team will have to have a competitive membership to be considered eligible for selection. There is no set number of players for the men’s second team, however, the decision on who to play will be down to the captain’s decision.

Varsity

Eligibility

To be eligible to join any of the Varsity teams, players must fulfil the following criteria:

The player must be a current member of the club (i.e. hold a membership for the current academic year)
Have attended competitive training sessions at least once a week, for at least 70% of the weeks in the Michaelmas Term.
1. This criterion may be waived for players, who have shown commitment to the club and have valid reasons for not achieving this criteria, as decided by the team captains. The players must inform the captain before the series of supervening circumstances before the training session.

Selection Criteria

Men’s Teams (1st, 2nd and 3rd)

Selection for each of the teams will ultimately be decided by the Men’s First Team Captain but will be guided by the following criteria

Members of the BUCS first team, as well as the best-performing members of the BUCS second team (by invitation), will take place for a place in the first team.
Previous national/international rankings and BUCS performances (both BUCS league/cup and BUCS individuals) will also be taken into account for the men’s first team.
Pairing combinations for the doubles matches may also be taken into account in the selection of doubles players

Women's Teams

Selection for each of the teams will ultimately be decided by the Women’s Team Captain but will be guided by the following criteria

Members of the BUCS first team, as well as the best-performing members of the BUCS second team (by invitation), will take a place in the first team.
Previous national/international rankings and BUCS performances (both BUCS league/cup and BUCS individuals) will also be taken into account for the men’s first team.
Pairing combinations for the doubles matches may also be taken into account in the selection of doubles players

Informing Athletes

The captains will send the team to the executive committee to be formalised. The captain has the right to seek the opinion of the coach if they are unsure about selection between two players.

Before any selection process, the final selection date will be disseminated to all athletes through written communication (via email) and verbal communication in training sessions. When the final team is selected, this information will be communicated through an email to all competing athletes. The selection criteria and rationale for decisions will be provided for athletes who request it.

The final team selection will take place a few weeks before Varsity to ensure athletes do not become complacent and continue training up to the match date.

Appeals Process

When an athlete is not happy with the selection process, they should raise the complaint with the Welfare officer before escalating further. Handling of complaints will conform to the process outlined in the club constitution.

To reduce the risk of complaints/perceived unfairness, athletes, if they request, will be provided with a detailed breakdown of selection match results and objective ranking of players based on this. Further rationale behind decisions can also be provided if requested.