Intramural Sports at Indiana Wesleyan University

Teams:

Intramural racquetball will be run as a singles or doubles racquetball ladder tournament. Eligible participants include all current IWU students, faculty, staff, and administrators.
Failure to show up for a match within 5 minutes after the scheduled starting time will result in a forfeit. Forfeiting a match will result in the person being removed from the league.

Equipment:

Players must supply their own racquets and racquetballs. It is also strongly recommended that protective eyewear be worn at all times. Racquets can be checked out at the RWC check-in desk.

Rules of the Ladder:

Players will be randomly assigned positions at the beginning of the tournament.
Players register for A League or B league.
A League is for players that play regularly, have a good knowledge of court strategy and positioning, and are able to select the right shot most of the time.
B League is for more recreational players that are still working on their basic racquetball skills.
All necessary contact information as well as ladder standings, will be posted on the website and the Schedules bulletin board outside of the Campus Rec Office.
In order to move up the ladder, you may challenge someone anywhere from (1) or (6) levels above you.
After each game the player who wins is responsible for contacting the Campus Rec office the results of the match.
If you beat the player you challenged, you take their spot, and the loser moves down one spot. If a player challenged an individual more than one spot above and wins, the loser will still only move down one spot, consequently pushing the player underneath to a lower level.
If you beat the player who challenged you, there is no movement of positions on the ladder. Keep in mind your position can be go down even when not playing a match.
You are able to make (2) challenges a week but is mandatory that at least one challenge is made per week.
If a player makes a challenge to a player above him but that player had already set up another match, that particular challenge is only valid if the player lost. For instance, player #4 challenged player #3 but was then challenged by #6. If player #4 beats #3 then he moves up and the challenge by #6 is no longer valid. However if he loses to #3 he remains in his spot on that ladder and will have (4) days to set up the match against #6.
If challenged, you have (4) days to set up and play a match. If the (4) days have gone by and there has been no contact, the challenger must contact the Campus Rec Office and that position will be awarded.
The player in the number 1 spot cannot make any challenges, they can only respond to challenges.
A player in the one of the top (2) spots of the B League may challenge the player in the last position of the A League.
This tournament ends at Spring Break. Whoever is in the top spot of the A League at that time will be awarded the champion.

Rules of the Game:

Prior to the game, the players shall determine who serves first in the first match (odd/even, coin toss). The winner has the option to either serve or receive at the start of the first game. The second game will begin in reverse order.
A match is won by the first person to win two out of three games. The first two games of a match are played to 15 points straight. If each person wins one game, a tiebreaker game is played to 11 points straight. The serving side only scores points. Scores must be reported to the Campus Recreation Office.
The serve is started from any place within the service zone. Stepping on, but not over, the line is permitted. The server may not step over the short line until the ball passes the short line. A player begins the service motion with any continuous movement that results in the ball being served. The ball must be bounced and hit before it bounces a second time.
There are three types of defective serves: 1) a dead-ball serve which results in no penalty and the server is given another serve (wet spot or broken ball); 2) any fault serve (foot fault, short, long, screen, three-wall) and 3) an out serve which results in an out (double fault, server hits self with serve).
Once a “good serve” puts the ball into play, the receiver may not enter the marked safety zone until the ball bounces or crosses the plane of the dashed receiving line. Failure to return a serve results in a point for the server.
A server continues to serve until an out serve, OR two consecutive fault serves, OR one player hits partner with an attempted return (in doubles), OR a player/team loses a rally, OR a player/team commits an avoidable hinder. In singles, retiring the server is a sideout. In doubles, the side is retired when both partners have lost service.
Play initiated after the successful return of service is called a rally. Play stops when: the ball is carried (resting on the racquet long enough that effect is more of a throw or sling than a hit); the ball caroms off a player’s racquet into a gallery or wall opening; a ball obviously doesn’t have the velocity or direction to hit the front wall and strikes another player; an avoidable hinder occurs. The ball remains in play until it touches the floor a second time regardless of how many walls it makes contact with.
There are two types of hinders: 1) a dead-ball hinder which is replayed without penalty (court hinders, body contact, safety hold-ups, screens) and 2) avoidable which result in the loss of rally by the offender (these are not necessarily intentional, but clearly take away an offensive shot from your opponent, like blocking, making distracting noise, or playing so close as to be hit by a backswing).