The Proposals for the 2015 AGM have been published.  Check out these amendments and their potential impact on the sport.

 

A.1) Removal of International Players  Submitted by: 

 

 Rules and Bylaws Committee  This proposal: 

 

 Amends the Bylaws  (State here)              

 

The specific provision that will be changed:   

 

Article I, Section 3, Paragraph C  

 

State the language of the proposal: Players who play for an IWRF recognized national team besides the U.S. will not be allowed to legally roster on a USQRA team.  Any team that rosters one of these players will be ineligible for postseason play.    

 

State the reason the proposal should be passed: The USQRA is a league meant to encourage the growth of U.S. players.  Any “import” player who plays in the USQRA takes away a playing position for a U.S. player.  The USQRA should not be developing players who are from other countries besides the U.S. 

 

 

 

      2015 AGM PROPOSAL 

 

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A.2) Raise the International Player Fee  Submitted by: 

 

 Rules and Bylaws Committee  This proposal: 

 

 Amends the Bylaws  (State here)              

 

The specific provision that will be changed:   

 

Article I, Section 3, Paragraph C  

 

State the language of the proposal: There will be a “team fee” of $1,000.00 per international player for every USQRA team that rosters an international player.  

 

State the reason the proposal should be passed: Changes the fee for an international player to $1,000.00.  Teams willing to commit to bring in an international player should not have an issue paying an extra $500.  These funds will be used by the USQRA board to improve the quality of the league.  Having international players makes our league stronger, and using these funds they provide in turn makes the USQRA better, which benefits everyone.   

 

 

 

      2015 AGM PROPOSAL 

 

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B.) Domestic Imports  Submitted by: 

 

 Rules and Bylaws Committee  This proposal: 

 

 Amends the Bylaws                 

 

The specific provision that will be changed:   

 

Article III, Section 1 

 

State the language of the proposal: 

 

Each team shall be allowed to roster one “domestic import” player, provided the team does not also have an international player.  A domestic import is defined as a USQRA player who is a member of a different team per the existing residency rules.  No player will be allowed to qualify as a domestic import if leaving their current team would cause the team to disband.  The cost of importing a domestic player will be $1000, payable to the USQRA.  

 

State the reason the proposal should be passed: 

 

 Allows strong teams to get stronger and promising players to develop rapidly, without requiring the player to relocate.

 

 

 

      2015 AGM PROPOSAL 

 

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C.) A player without a team  Submitted by: 

 

 Rules and Bylaws Committee  This proposal: 

 

 Adds to the Bylaws                

 

The specific provision that will be changed:   

 

Article III, Section 2. Adding a letter “f” (Change this to the correct Article/section) 

 

State the language of the proposal:  A player who does not have a team, or is not wanted on a team that is closest to his permanent address has to play with one of the next two closest teams to the player’s permanent address.    

 

State the reason the proposal should be passed: This closes the loophole in the former language that allowed a player to play for any team in the league because his/her former team no longer wanted him/her apart of the team.   

 

 

 

      2014 AGM PROPOSAL 

 

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D.) International Cards  Deadlines for submission are: February 20 for constitutional amendments        March 1 for all other proposals 

 

State who you are and any organization(s) or team(s) associated with the proposal. James Gumbert Coach Texas Stampede  This proposal                _____ amends the constitution;     ___x__ amends the bylaws;     _____ changes a rule;     _____ is a resolution (sets a short term policy.) 

 

Identify the specific provision that will be changed:  

 

Check here if the proposal only adds language _____;  

 

If current language will be removed, state it here:  

 

State the language of the proposal:  Revise current language of the classification system to include: The USQRA as a member of the IWRF will be in compliance with the International Classification System. This would include the immediate implementation of the International Classification System it’s updates, testing, protest procedures, and rulings. As a result of this proposal, all USQRA athletes with an international class would play with their international class in the USQRA. 

 

State the reason the proposal should be passed:  The USQRA is one of the only associations in the IWRF that does not mandate domestic players who have international classes play with their international classes. Yet we mandate international players who play in our league play with international classifications. Even though we (USQRA) adopted the IWRF classification manual (2011), we have yet to implement this procedure.  To bring the USQRA in line with the rest of the world, we need to pass this.  

 

 

 

      2015 AGM PROPOSAL 

 

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E.) Host Team Nationals Qualification  Submitted by: 

 

 Houston Texans  This proposal: 

 

 Amends the Bylaws and modifies post season qualification              

 

The specific provision that will be changed:   

 

Article VI, Sections 4 and 9  

 

State the language of the proposal: If a nationals host has been selected, they may note at the time of selection that they represent or are in partnership with a local team (which must be housed within 100 miles of the proposed nationals site).  If that team qualifies for post season, then the structure for nationals will remain unmodified.  If that team attempts to qualify through traditional post-season mechanisms and fails, the host site team will be included in a play in game with the 8th seeded team which qualifies for nationals.  Whichever team wins will be included as the 8th team for Division II.   

 

State the reason the proposal should be passed: Having a local team compete in nationals, even in a play in game, creates an opportunity for more fans to see the sport and for more local media outlets to take interest.  Furthermore, few sites of late have been willing to step up and host nationals.  Incentivizing these sites with a second chance to qualify may motivate more programs to bid for nationals and will allow the selection committee more options to choose from. 

 

 

 

      2014 AGM PROPOSAL 

 

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F.) Postseason Registration Fee  Deadlines for submission are: February 20 for constitutional amendments        March 1 for all other proposals 

 

State who you are and any organization(s) or team(s) associated with the proposal.  Bylaws Committee  This proposal                _____ amends the constitution;     ___x__ amends the bylaws;     _____ changes a rule;     _____ is a resolution (sets a short term policy.) 

 

Identify the specific provision that will be changed:  

 

Check here if the proposal only adds language ___x__;  

 

If current language will be removed, state it here:  

 

State the language of the proposal:  

 

Allow postseason hosts to charge a $250 fee to all teams attending postseason tournaments. 

 

State the reason the proposal should be passed:   Every year we have a difficult time finding postseason hosts this would help potential postseason hosts absorb some of the costs associated with hosting a tournament. 

 

 

 

      2015 AGM PROPOSAL 

 

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G.) Bench Timeouts  Submitted by: 

 

 Rules and Bylaws Committee  This proposal: 

 

 Amends the Bylaws    

 

The specific provision that will be changed:     

 

State the language of the proposal:  The coach can call bench timeouts verbally even if the coach is playing on the court.   State the reason the proposal should be passed: We have volunteers doing tables at every tournament in the league.  Most volunteers have learned the rules 10 minutes before the games start.  This eliminates the need for coaches to ask the table before the ref can call a bench timeout.  

 

 

 

      2015 AGM PROPOSAL 

 

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H.) Registration Due Dates   

 

State who you are and any organization(s) or team(s) associated with the proposal. 

 

Constitution and Bylaws Committee  

 

This proposal Amends the Bylaws: Article I,   Section 3(b)      

 

Identify the specific provision that will be changed:  

 

Membership dues and team rosters are to be submitted after September 1 of each year. Dues and rosters will be considered delinquent "after" September 30, and a fine of $100.00 will be levied.  This fine will be waived for new teams. Any team whose registration fees are not paid by November 1 will not be eligible for postseason. Failure to pay membership dues by December 15 shall result in the team’s removal from membership in the USQRA.  Check here if the proposal only adds language ___x__;  

 

If current language will be removed, state it here:  

 

State the language of the proposal: 

 

 Membership dues and team rosters are to be submitted after September 1 of each year. Dues and rosters will be considered delinquent "if not post marked by" September 30, and a fine of $100.00 will be levied.  This fine will be waived for new teams. Any team whose registration fees "and/or fines" are not "post marked" by November 1 will not be eligible for postseason. Failure to pay membership dues by December 15 shall result in the team’s removal from membership in the USQRA.  

 

State the reason the proposal should be passed: 

 

Gives teams more clarity of when their team’s dues and fines must by post marked by.  

 

 

 

      2015 AGM PROPOSAL 

 

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I.) Article Submission  Submitted by: 

 

 Rules and Bylaws Committee  This proposal: 

 

 Amends the Bylaws                 

 

The specific provision that will be changed:   

 

Article I, Section 3, Part e 

 

State the language of the proposal: 

 

Each team in the USQRA must submit at least one article per season to Sports N' Spokes, www.usqra.org and/or other magazines for publication. Articles should be four or more paragraphs long, and include worthy information that promotes our sport to others (photographs are a plus.) Copies of each article must be submitted to the Commissioner within a week of being submitted for publication to verify that team’s compliance. Teams not in compliance two weeks before the beginning of postseason or two weeks after hosting a postseason event will be assessed a fine of $100.00. If fines are not paid by the beginning of postseason those teams will be disqualified from postseason and will not be eligible for postseason in later years until all fines/fees have been paid.  

 

State the reason the proposal should be passed: 

 

update verbiage from quadrugby.com to usqra.org 

 

 

 

      2015 AGM PROPOSAL 

 

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J.) Roster Cap Removal  Submitted by: 

 

 Rules and Bylaws Committee  This proposal: 

 

 Amends the Bylaws                 

 

The specific provision that will be changed:   

 

Article II, Section 1 

 

State the language of the proposal: 

 

At the beginning of each season each member team shall present to the Commissioner a roster of team players. The roster shall contain a minimum of four active players.  Rosters may contain more than 15 player, but only 15 post season eligible players will be allowed to play post season.  

 

State the reason the proposal should be passed: 

 

Removes the capped amount of players (15) from verbiage.  Currently the USQRA only allows 15 players per team.  However, removing that cap allows teams with larger rosters to roster all team members (competitive and recreational).  This will allow all members of the team coverage under the league’s insurance.  This will also keep those teams games legal when the "recreational" players play in local games and tournaments