2024-25 Gameplay Policies and Season Structure for Collegiate & Club Teams
Announcement of USQ National Qualifier and US Quadball Cup structure adjustments, collegiate and club national championship format, changes to gameplay policies for the 2024-25 season, and reminders of other key gameplay policies and programs.
The US Quadball Gameplay Department conducts an extensive review of all league gameplay policies and programs from April to August each season. The team has evaluated the gender rule, season structure for USQ-run events, transfer policy, and other gameplay policy changes.
The complete list of gameplay policies is available here. Any questions about the structures, policies, or programs in this article can be directed to gameplay@usquadball.org.
Article contents:
The gender maximum rule
USQ Cup 2025 structure including qualifier requirements for teams, how USQ decides who’s going (National Qualifiers), and the tournament structure
Season structure: requirements, bid allocation, requirements for qualifier seeding, season play, and at large
Changes to the transfer policy, including club A/B teams
Existing gameplay policies
Timeline & key dates
Ongoing evaluation
Questions?
Gender Maximum Rule
After a review of the 2023-24 USQ season, the Gameplay Team is ready to release plans for USQ’s continued rollout of changes to the Gender Maximum Rule. Henceforth, three max (or 3 max) refers to the change to the Gender Maximum Rule where a maximum of three players of a single gender are allowed on pitch during the seeker floor, and a maximum of four players of a single gender are allowed on pitch while the flag runner is on the field. USQ plans to continue the move to 3 max as follows:
2024-25 Season
To be eligible for the USQ Cup 2025 Club Competitive Division, club teams will be required to play 3 max in all official games.
USQ Cup 2025 College Division 1 will require 3 max.
2025-26 Season
To be eligible for the USQ Cup 2026 Club Competitive Division or USQ Cup 2026 College Division 1, teams will be required to play 3 max in all official games.
3 max at USQ Cup 2026 for College Division 2 will be evaluated based on 2024-25 data and a decision made at the start of the 2025-26 season.
To allow for necessary flexibility, the gender maximum rule will continue to be a gameplay policy instead of a rule in the rulebook. USQ will continue to provide pathways for teams struggling to meet the 3 max requirement to ensure this does not negatively impact the growth of the sport or stunt new team development. For the upcoming season, these pathways include emailing gameplay@usquadball.org to opt out of the Competitive Division for the 2024-25 season and a waiver during the registration process for USQ Cup 2025 for club teams and College Division 1 teams.
While the transition to 3 max will not begin for College Division 1 until USQ Cup 2025 this season, all teams are strongly encouraged to start playing with this rule earlier in the season.
Throughout the 2024-25 season, the USQ Gameplay Team will continue to evaluate this policy, how it affects the sport and the community, and its impact and alignment with USQ’s organizational goals of inclusivity and diversity.
Women/Gender Non-Conforming Individuals Player Grant
With the continuation of the 3 max policy, USQ will be continuing the new player membership grant opportunity for women and gender non-conforming individuals to apply for this season. You can learn more about this grant and apply here.
2024-25 Season Structure
QUALIFICATION FOR US QUADBALL CUP 2024-25
USQ will not cap the number of teams allowed to compete at US Quadball Cup 2025 (USQ Cup 2025), but instead will divide the tournament into the following divisions, each with its own caps:
College Division 1 (D1), with 16 teams
College Division 2 (D2), with 16 teams
College open division, with no cap*
Club competitive division, with 16 teams
Club open division, with no cap*
*These divisions will have their own schedule and will only be capped if absolutely necessary.
USQ Cup 2025 bids by division will be given out as follows:
College
College D1: 13 bids will be awarded at national qualifiers, proportional to the number of teams competing at each qualifier. In March, 3 at-large bids will be assigned based on season rankings.
College D2: 14 bids will be awarded at national qualifiers, proportional to the number of teams competing at each qualifier. In March, at-large bids will be assigned based on season rankings until a 16-team D2 is reached.
Again this season, USQ will use the Huntington-Hill method of apportionment in determining collegiate bid allocation. Of the 32 collegiate competitive division bids, 27 will be awarded at national qualifiers. These 27 bids will be distributed to the regions using the Huntington-Hill method. The remaining bids will be distributed at large.
In order to allocate each division’s bids to D1 and D2, each region’s quota will be multiplied by 0.48 and 0.52, respectively, to generate the divisional quota for D1 and D2. If the divisional quotas do not add up to the total number of bids in each division, a modified multiplier is used in place of the standard multiplier so that the modified divisional quotas sum correctly, and those modified divisional quotas are then used. More on the bid allocation timeline is shared below.
More details on the Huntington-Hill method can be found on the USQ Gameplay Policies & Forms page, in the 2024-25 Season Gameplay Requirements tab.
Club
10 bids to the USQ Cup 2025 Competitive Division will be awarded at national qualifiers, proportional to the number of bid-eligible teams competing at each qualifier. The return to a bid system where the majority of bids are awarded at qualifiers was motivated by the move of all qualifiers to the spring season, which provides a more reliable estimate of the teams in attendance at each qualifier.
In March, 6 at-large bids will be assigned based on the season rankings. If a club team that has already received a bid to USQ Cup 2025 is attending another national qualifier, and that team places high enough to earn a bid, the additional bid they would have earned becomes an at-large bid. It does not go to the next highest placing team at that event. If a club qualifier does not have the minimum number of teams to compete, USQ will discuss competitive opportunities with local teams in the area.
In addition to the above bids, the champion of each national qualifier will be given pot priority at USQ Cup 2025. In practice, this will mean that when the standings freeze for USQ Cup 2025 seeding (see Timeline & Key Dates), the top four qualifier champions in the standings will comprise Pot 1, and the fifth-ranked qualifier champion will be placed in Pot 2.
In order to be eligible for a bid to the USQ Cup 2025 Club Competitive Division, a club team will be required to play 3 max in all official games. To opt out of this eligibility voluntarily, teams should email gameplay@usquadball.org. Teams who opt out of competitive division eligibility may still attend national qualifiers, and games between teams that have opted out will be prioritized to the fullest extent possible. Teams that opt out of competitive division eligibility are still encouraged to play 3 max when feasible.
NATIONAL QUALIFIER ASSIGNMENTS
For the 2024-25 season, all teams must attend at least one national qualifier to qualify for US Quadball Cup 2025. Teams will be assigned to a national qualifier by USQ. To facilitate this process and ensure bids are distributed fairly, college teams will rank their top 3 choices upon team registration. College teams will only be assigned to one national qualifier*. Club teams will rank up their top 3 choices upon team registration. Club teams can also note if they have interest in attending more than one qualifier when registering - with USQ confirming this prior to finalizing national qualifier attendance.
Qualifier bids will be calculated and publicly announced in early December, along with the list of teams attending each national qualifier. National qualifiers will be allocated bids based on the number of registrants by 11:59 pm PST on December 1. The remaining at-large bids will be awarded in March.
For qualifiers, the official USQ standings will be used to seed teams as needed. All teams that have not yet played sufficient official games will be counted as unseeded (see Season Play Requirements).
USQ requires a minimum qualifier size for the collegiate division. In the 2024-25 season, the minimum will be five teams. If a national qualifier does not have five college teams able to attend by the December 1 deadline, or if the number of collegiate teams drops below five after that point, USQ Gameplay and Events Departments will determine whether a qualifier for that collegiate division will occur. If the collegiate division at a qualifier cannot occur, USQ will establish dedicated at-large bids based on the number of teams registered for that qualifier by the December 1 deadline.
You can find additional information about national qualifier dates and locations here and at the end of this article.
*In cases where a national qualifier does not have enough collegiate teams to occur, other teams may be allowed to attend that national qualifier in addition to their assigned qualifier. If a college team that has already received a bid to US Quadball Cup 2025 is attending another qualifier, and that team places high enough to earn a bid, the additional bid they would have earned becomes an at-large bid. It does not go to the next highest placing team at that event.
SEASON PLAY REQUIREMENTS
USQ Cup 2025
To qualify for USQ Cup 2025 bids, teams must fulfill season play requirements to ensure that their ranking roughly reflects their season-long performance. The season play requirements mandate a minimum number of opponents played during the season, a minimum number of games, and competing at a national qualifier. For the 2024-25 season, all games played at national qualifiers will count towards season play requirements for all teams.
Teams that do not earn bids for USQ Cup 2025 must complete the following season play requirements in full by March 16, 2025 to be eligible for an at-large bid:
Compete in at least 10 USQ official games.
Compete against at least 8 different USQ official teams*.
Attend 4 events, of which one must be a USQ national qualifier.
Alternatively, teams aiming to earn an at-large bid can reduce their overall requirements by competing against at least one opponent who competed at a different national qualifier:
Compete in at least 8 USQ official games*.
Compete against at least 7 different USQ official teams*.
Attend 3 events, of which one must be a USQ national qualifier.
Teams who earned USQ Cup 2025 bids at a qualifier will have reduced season play requirements, which must be completed by March 30, 2025, to confirm their place in the division for which they earned the bid:
Compete in at least 8 USQ official games*.
Compete against at least 5 different USQ official teams*.
Attend 3 events, of which one must be a USQ national qualifier.
*Club teams will only be able to fulfill this requirement by competing against other club teams. College teams may use games against club teams to count for these requirements. Cross-division games (college vs. club) will not count for standings.
Open Division at USQ Cup 2025
With the reduction in the size of the club competitive division, USQ will be working to elevate the experience of teams playing in the club open division to function more similarly to a Division 2. Depending on participation and interest, this may include pool play into bracket play or other structures that can result in a champion.
Club and college teams interested in the open division will not have season play requirements, but are encouraged to attend official events before USQ Cup 2025. Unofficial teams that wish to compete in the open division can contact events@usquadball.org.
USQ National Qualifiers
In order to be seeded, all teams must play a minimum number of official games before their national qualifier, as indicated below. For national qualifiers, the official USQ standings will be used to seed teams as needed. All teams that have not yet played the required number of official games will be counted as unseeded.
2 weeks before attending a national qualifier, official teams wishing to be seeded at that qualifier will be required to:
Compete in at least 5 USQ official games.
Compete against 3 different teams.
Attend 2 official event
Complete the referee and flag runner requirements
Additional information on gameplay policies is available here.
Club A/B Teams
Effective this season, club teams will now be allowed to form A/B Team partnerships to facilitate transfers between the two teams, similar to the current collegiate Varsity/JV team transfer policy, which remains unchanged. In order to form a Club A/B Team partnership, both club teams must indicate that they are part of a Club A/B Team partnership with the other club when completing initial club registration. If teams have already registered, but wish to form a Club A/B Team partnership, both teams must separately email gameplay@usquadball.org indicating their desire to form an A/B Team partnership with each other.
Club players who are a member of a club team part of an A/B Team partnership may transfer between the teams under the following conditions:
Before qualifiers: Players may transfer freely between the two teams without limit. To compete in USQ official games, a player must be on the team's roster before the final roster submission deadline. Players must fill out the Player Transfer Form to transfer between teams.
After qualifiers: If both teams earned a bid for USQ Cup 2025, they may continue to freely transfer players between the two teams.
If only the A team earned a bid for USQ Cup 2025, and the B team still wishes to be eligible for an at-large bid, transfers between the teams will not be permitted until after the at-large deadline (see Timeline & Key Dates). In this case, a B team that wishes to transfer players to or from their A team must email gameplay@usquadball.org to opt out of the competitive division at USQ Cup 2025.
The USQ Gameplay Team has established this policy in order to encourage club teams to develop more of their players in official games. As with the collegiate Varsity/JV transfer policy, the USQ Gameplay Team reserves the right to deny transfers if this policy is abused in such a way that impacts competitive balance in the league.
Existing Gameplay Policies
Please review the full Gameplay Policies and Forms website page for information about key policies that are not changing from the 2023-24 season. This website includes the official game requirements, roster submission requirements, game appeal policy, forfeit procedure, fair play policy, tiebreaker policy, equipment waiver form, and concession policy. The disciplinary policy is still under review and is subject to changes, which will be finalized and released before the end of December.
Members must also abide by the official member code of conduct and unlawful harassment policy.
The 2024-25 season will be played under USQ Rulebook 2024, which was released on September 3rd. The casebook, certification for officials and tournament directors will be released soon.
Timeline & Key Dates
The following are general deadlines for season play requirements and other gameplay policies:
December 1, 2024, at 11:59 pm ET: registration deadline for national qualifier bid calculation
March 16, 2025, at 11:59 pm ET: at-large gameplay requirements deadline
March 30, 2025, at 11:59 pm ET: season play requirements deadline
March 30, 2025, at 11:59 pm ET: Standings freeze for USQ Cup 2025 seeding
March 31, 2025, at 11:59 pm ET: Registration & 3-max waiver deadline for USQ Cup 2025
April 20, 2025, at 11:59 pm ET: Roster deadline for USQ Cup 2025
The following deadlines apply to an event with official games. All forms referenced live on the Gameplay Policies and Forms page:
At least 4 weeks* before the event:
Event sanctioning application due (if applicable).
*Late responses may be accommodated on a case by case basis.
An official (or unofficial if wanting to be on the USQ calendar) game or tournament must be submitted to USQ and the tournament director must be certified before the event takes place.
1 week before the event: equipment waiver preliminary deadline and notification of using a shortened pitch; will be processed before event (if applicable)
Wednesday evening before the event: participating teams must submit their rosters* and equipment waiver final deadline; may not be processed before the event (if applicable)
*Info on roster submission to be shared with TDs and teams prior to their tournament. A spreadsheet will be shared by the TD and teams will enter their roster information.
Between Wednesday evening and 24 hours before the event:
Any changes to a participating teams roster after submission on Wednesday must be emailed to membership@usquadball.org. Participating teams rosters are locked 24 hours before the event.
Participating teams must have a fully certified coach. Coaches should have upgraded or purchased coach membership by Wednesday evening
2 days after the event: post event forms submitted by tournament director and scores submitted to USQ by the tournament director
1 week after the event: forfeits at tournament emailed to gameplay@usquadball.org (if applicable)
The deadlines for the team referee and flag runner requirements vary and are as follows:
Teams must complete the team referee and flag runner requirements by the season play deadline for that specific event (2 weeks before the event).
If a team does not complete these requirements by the deadline, it must complete them by 24 hours before its next scheduled official event and risk losing their ability to attend the event. In cases of potential disqualification, USQ will set a timeline on a case by case basis and communicate to affected teams.
2024-25 Season USQ National Qualifiers & USQ Cup
Information on all upcoming USQ National Qualifiers dates is available here. This includes detailed additional deadlines for teams to be aware of (including hotel/stay & play, tournament registration, etc).
USQ Cup 2025 will take place at River City Sportsplex in Richmond, Virginia on April 26-27, 2025. The event is hosted in partnership with Visit Richmond, Experience Chesterfield County, and Play Chesterfield. Information on deadlines for teams to be aware will be made available here.
Ongoing Evaluation
The Gameplay Team is continually evaluating possible changes to the USQ season structure. Some changes that the team evaluated for the 2024-25 season which were not implemented, but may be considered for future seasons, include:
Using the 2024-25 standings and performance at the upcoming USQ Cup 2025 to qualify club teams for a future Premier Tier of 8-10 teams, who would primarily play each other to achieve season play requirements.
Requiring 3 max for USQ Cup Club Open Division bracket games.
Extending the Club A/B team policy to C teams and beyond.
Reducing the roster size for club and/or college teams.
Requiring all season play requirements to be satisfied between January 1st and the deadlines in March.
Adding an earlier transfer deadline for the USQ Cup Club Competitive Division, and/or requiring all players rostered for the USQ Cup Club Competitive Division to have been rostered for their team for at least one prior tournament.
Assigning bids to the national tournament by prior years’ performance, rather than the Huntington-Hill method.
Standings Algorithm: modifying club teams’ strength of schedule based on their opt-out status for the USQ Cup Club Competitive Division.
USQ will continue to collect feedback on the structure of club and collegiate division teams. Feedback is always reviewed at the end of the season. Your feedback is important to us so we can make adjustments where necessary. Please do not hesitate to contact USQ with comments, thoughts, or ideas at gameplay@usquadball.org. Quadball is your sport, and you always have the opportunity to positively impact the direction it grows.
Questions?
Please email gameplay@usquadball.org with any questions or comments about this article’s information. Questions and comments about TD Certification or hosting an event can be emailed to tdcertification@usquadball.org.
If you’re interested in joining the gameplay department and helping to guide the league’s gameplay structures and policies, or have interest in helping USQ in another department, you can learn more about opportunities available here.