As a starting point, communities and programs awarded funding will need to find local funding to match the Mardak Community Challenge awards.
The Mardak funds will pay college students to teach handball and mentor younger students. Typically, the endowment will spend about $20,000 in this manner, and the USHA is looking for communities with about $2,000 in matching funds to be part of this program. This amount could be greater if the local community can match and has the program to make it work. The USHA will accept applications for the Mardak Community Challenge through Dec. 1. Awards will be made beginning in the following February and continuing until funds are depleted.
In the application, please describe the teaching or mentoring to be done, how many certified instructors will be involved, how many students will be reached, how often the program will occur and how much matching funding is available. Feel free to contact Matt Krueger or Sam Esser at the USHA or call (520)795-0434 for more information and details about this tremendous opportunity.
These are the guidelines established for the skill-level events at the national championships, specifically the A singles, B singles and doubles, C singles and age-group B singles events. These events were created for players who are not proficient in the open (for A), A (for B) or B (for C) events at the local level.
Intent: A subjective test
If you are considered a legitimate open player, you should not enter the “A Divisions” or lower events.
If you are considered a legitimate “A player” or open masters, golden or super player, you should not enter any of the B or C events. These events are intended for less proficient players. They were not created for you.
If you are considered a legitimate “B player,” you should not enter the C event. This event is intended for the less proficient player. It is not for you.
Evaluation: An objective test
If you regularly advance in state, regional or local “major” singles tournaments in the open, you should not enter any of the A or lower events.
If you regularly advance in state, regional or local “major” singles tournaments in A, or any open masters events, you should not enter any of the B or C events, singles or doubles.
If you regularly advance in state, regional or local “major” singles tournaments as a B or better player, you should not enter the C events.
If you have won any national open event in singles or doubles in one-, three- or four-wall, you are no longer eligible for any national A event.
If you have won any national B event in singles or doubles in one-, three- or four-wall, you are no longer eligible for any national B singles event and should not enter any national B doubles event.
These guidelines still put most of the responsibility back on you, the player. The USHA board believes that the major effort of classification belongs to the entrant. That is the way most local and regional classification is done, and we want to reinforce that.
Our tournament directors have been authorized to screen every entrant and to take a liberal attitude in reclassifying any possible offender. If there’s any doubt, the entry will probably be bumped up to the next skill level. Be fair to yourself and to your opponents, and be a true sport and abide by the competitive spirit of handball.
A. Participation is permitted in any USHA collegiate handball contest provided the player is a bona fide, matriculated student at an accredited university or college (not a business or trade school, etc.). A player must be regularly enrolled, doing full-time work as defined by the regulations of the institution at which he or she is enrolled.
B. It is the sole responsibility of the player/coach to confirm the eligibility of participants verified by letter, with school seal affixed, from the office of the dean of admissions or registrar prior to the entry deadline of the national collegiate tournament. If a player is registered at multiple universities, a letter from ONE university must identify the player as full-time. The player must represent the school from where the verification letter is provided. Proof of eligibility from fall semester will be accepted, but a player may be asked to verify eligibility during spring semester.
C. EXCEPTION: Students who show proof of full-time status during the 2020-21 academic year may participate in ONE Collegiate National Handball Tournament without being enrolled in school, during the first full academic year following their graduation. Graduated students must supply a copy of their diploma.
Rule II: Period of Eligibility
A. A player’s period of eligibility begins when he/she plays in their first collegiate national tournament and continues for six consecutive years total. The period of eligibility can begin as an undergraduate or graduate student.
B. The ONLY exception to the period of eligibility is if a student’s regular attendance is interrupted by military service in any of the armed forces. Their period of eligibility shall be extended to match the military service interruption up to a maximum of five years. USHA officials must be notified of this exception by January 19th of the tournament year.
C. There are no appeals to extend a player’s period of eligibility. EXCEPTION: students who competed in at least one Collegiate National Handball Tournament in 2020 or earlier will have their period of eligibility extended to seven consecutive years.
Rule III: Participation
A. Participation in collegiate handball will be limited to FOUR national collegiate tournaments during a player’s period of eligibility.
B. This rule is intended to allow participation in four national collegiate tournaments for a) full-time undergraduates; b) full-time graduate students; and c) part-time undergraduate seniors in the calendar year in which they plan to graduate.
C. Senior undergraduate students requiring less than a full-time academic curriculum to graduate will be allowed to participate; any entrants who are part-time students must be expected to graduate in the same calendar year as the collegiate tournament. Alternatively, individuals who graduated during the fall semester immediately preceding the tournament and have not used up their eligibility will be allowed to participate. Players competing under either of these scenarios will NOT be using up their one-time exception noted in Rule IC; they will still be able to play the following year if they qualify for that exception and meet all other eligibility requirements.
D. No player over the age of 28 by the end of the tournament (including players whose period of eligibility was interrupted by military service) may participate in the national collegiate tournament.
Rule IV: Tournament
A. A player must be a current USHA member, at the time of the collegiate national tournament, to participate.
B. Payment (entry fees) must be received by the USHA, or host, prior to the entry deadline to be in the tournament. The only exception is if the handball coach has contacted the USHA tournament director (not tournament host) and agreed to other arrangements prior to the entry deadline.
C. Players may participate in only one singles event.
D. Members of a doubles team must be from the same institution and the same gender.
E. Players are permitted to participate in both singles and doubles (but not doubles only).
Rule V: EXCEPTIONS
A. EXCEPTIONS noted in these eligibility rules are due to the cancellation of the 2021 Collegiate National Handball Tournament.
B. Students competing under any EXCEPTIONS will count towards team points for the school they were last enrolled as a full-time student if it is in accordance with their university’s policies.
C. Student, coaches, and institutions are solely responsible for following university rules pertaining to non-students travel arrangements, e.g. university vehicles, hotel rooms, funding, university eligibility rules, etc.
D. A player may participate a maximum of ONE time in the Collegiate National Tournament as a non-student. This non-student participation must occur at the next available opportunity after his/her graduation.
