Juniors Participation Policy
Revised February 20, 2019.
Any adult league team that has a Junior aged participant/member (18 years of age or younger) must adhere to the Juniors Participation Policy.
The Mississauga Ultimate Club (MissUC) greatly values its Junior players and works to foster an environment that protects the physical and emotional well-being of players under the age of 18. The purpose of this Policy is to allow properly supervised participation, where appropriate, and to prevent participation where there is potential exposure to overly physical play or inappropriate language.
There is no MissUC appointed supervision for adult leagues or events and there are no referees or convenors on site. Any Junior player who participates in MissUC leagues or events, as well as their parent/legal guardian, must acknowledge this fact and waive MissUC from responsibility associated with MissUC leagues or events. It is the duty of the parent/legal guardian to ensure that if their Junior player is participating in MissUC adult leagues or events that they are under the supervision of a Responsible Adult, as defined below.
Definition of a Junior
- A Junior is defined as a member/participant who is 18 years of age or youngerby December 31st of that calendar year. If a member/participant is 19 years of age at anytime during the calendar year, he/she is considered an Adult member/participant.
- Juniors aged 9-13 are further designated as ‘Youth’ and members/participants 8 years of age or younger are further designated as ‘Children’.
Definition of a Responsible Adult
- A ‘Responsible Adult’ is a person aged 21 years of age or older, endorsed by the Junior participant’s legal guardian, who supervises the Junior participant. It is their duty to ensure that the Junior participant is safe and protected from any environment that is physically or emotionally inappropriate. This responsibility includes full supervision of the Junior throughout the course of his/her participation in the MissUC league/event, and possibly removing the Junior from any inappropriate situation.
- A ‘Responsible Adult’ is declared to the league convenor or tournament/event director, via the MissUC Responsible Adult Permission Form from the parent or legal guardian, prior to the start of the league/event. For league, the Junior and Responsible Adult should be declared to the opposing captain prior to the start of the game.
Adult League Participation Rules for Juniors
- Junior aged players who are 16 years of age or older (ages 16 or 17 at the start of a league) may join an adult league team provided they are accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or other Responsible Adult who is playing on the same team. The parent or Responsible Adult can be playing on the same team or supervising from the sideline, but MUST be present for the duration of all games played by the Junior, with MissUC. In addition:
- The Responsible Adult must be a minimum 21 years of age.
- A Responsible Adult, who is not a parent or legal guardian, must be authorized by the parent or legal guardian of each Junior in order to fulfill this role.
- Parents or legal guardians can be responsible for any number of Junior players for which they are parents or legal guardians. In addition, they can be responsible for Junior players for which they are not a parent/legal guardian.
Any Junior player who is 15 years of age or younger at any point during an adult league, is NOT eligible to participate in MissUC adult leagues. Exceptions to this rule are at the discretion of the MissUC Executive Director.
MissUC Event Participation Rules for Juniors
- For Junior participants, the rules for adult leagues apply also to MissUC tournaments and other events that are not specifically targeted to Juniors
- The exception to this rule is pickup, which is an informal gathering of ultimate players and is not regulated by MissUC. Juniors are permitted to participate in pickup games.
Disciplinary Action
In order to enforce these conditions and foster fair play, we partly rely on the honour system and on our players and team captains. Please abide by the Spirit of the Game when dealing with this (and any other) issue. Remember, these rules are in place to PROTECT a young player from physical and emotional harm, not prohibit them from playing.
If a team does not properly declare his/her Junior player(s) and Responsible Adult(s), or violates the rule above, that team and player are subject to MissUC sanctions. The results of all games played with invalid or unsupervised Junior player(s) are disqualified. Individuals/teams committing repeat offences or blatant violations are subject to additional sanctions at the discretion of the MissUC GM.
Responsible Adult Permission Form
The purpose of this form is for a parent/legal guardian to acknowledge the supervision of a Junior aged player by a Responsible Adult, and the acknowledgement of the same Responsible Adult to accept this responsibility, for the Junior aged player to participate in a MISSUC league or event that is of an adult content. There is no MissUC appointed supervision for adult leagues or events and there are no referees or convenors on site. Any Junior player who participates in MissUC leagues or events, as well as their parent/legal guardian, must acknowledge this fact and waive MissUC from responsibility associated with MissUC leagues or events. It is the duty of the parent/legal guardian to ensure that if their Junior player is participating in MissUC adult leagues or events that they are under the supervision of a Responsible Adult, as defined below.
Definition of a Responsible Adult
- A ‘Responsible Adult’ is a person aged 21 years of age or older, endorsed by the Junior participant’s legal guardian, who supervises the Junior participant. It is their duty to ensure that the Junior participant is safe and protected from any environment that is physically or emotionally inappropriate. This responsibility includes full supervision of the Junior throughout the course of his/her participation in the MissUC league/event, and possibly removing the Junior from any inappropriate situation.
- A ‘Responsible Adult’ is declared to the league convenor or tournament/event director, via submission of the Responsible Adult Permission Form from the parent or legal guardian, prior to the start of the league/event. For league, the Junior and Responsible Adult should be declared to the opposing captain prior to the start of the game.