Most of the communication regarding the SINGLES OPEN & LADIES BOX LADDERS is by email. So if you feel that you are in the dark, get on the email lists by contacting Lynn Broman, or Adam Radziminski at:

• Ladies: ladiesboxladder@evergreensquash.com
• Open: openboxladder@evergreensquash.com
• 60+: 60boxladder@evergreensquash.com

If you answered "no" to any of these questions, then contact the Membership Coordinator at membership@evergreensquash.com. Be sure to your information is up-to-date, so that your opponents can get a hold of you!

If you are playing box ladder, it is highly recommended that you be on the box distribution list.

Please note that providing your e-mail address to the Membership Coordinator at membership@evergreensquash.com does not put you on the Box Ladder Coordinator’s (Lynn Broman) emailing list for box ladder play.

The success of the boxes does rely upon the responsible attitude exhibited by the vast majority of participants. The goal is to promote participation and a sense of competitiveness that is perhaps a little more intense than a friendly match. Hopefully players will not put forward their name when they know they will likely be unable to manage to schedule 4 or 5 box matches in a month. If your life is too busy, or you will be away for extended times, drop out for a month. It’s not like you are prevented from arranging some matches on your own.

There are 3 ladders for Singles Box Ladder play.

• The Open Box is for men and women with senior playing privileges as well as juniors with board, or club pro approval.
• The Ladies Box is for women as well as juniors (male or female) with board, or club pro approval.
• The 60+ Box is an open (men and women) ladder for those at least 60 years old.

Returning Players

Members who are returning after an absence from box ladder play may send a message to Lynn Broman (see e-mail addresses below). For those returning to box ladder play, it is helpful to know when you last played, and names of those who are your equal.

New Players

New players to Evergreen’s Singles Box Ladder should if possible get advice from the club professionals, Phil Arthur and Alicia Haneine, or club members who are active ladder players. Dave O’Brien’s Round Robin group is a great way to get some assessment of relative skill level. If you played in the Vancouver Squash League, that will provide a good gauge of your position on the ladder.

Requests are also taken by email:.

• Ladies: ladiesboxladder@evergreensquash.com
• Open: openboxladder@evergreensquash.com
• 60+: 60boxladder@evergreensquash.com

The boxes are generally for a period of about a month. When there are events that will restrict box ladder matches, the session may be extended.

The participants of a current session indicate their intention for the next session on the Evergreen web site (GigaSports). Each box ladder has a newsletter, and, at the bottom there is a check box to indicate you wish to included in the next session.

Returning Players

Players returning to box play are inserted according to previous performance in box play.

GigaSports maintains a data record of box ladder play for each member. When they return, GigaSports makes a gues for the re-entry level. Unfortunately, that guess is not reliable. It is recommended that returning players provide guidance in determining the re-entry placement. It is helpful if the returning player indicates the last session they played, or other information to help place the player appropriately.

New Players

Players new to box play at Evergreen are encouraged to get some advice from fellow players, and, perhaps, the club professionals, Phil Arthur and Alicia Haneine. A best guess is made for the first month of play, and, after a month, if the guess was not very good a new placement is made.

Exiting Players

Players may drop out at the end of a session and return after one, two, or more sessions. See above for Returning Players.

Continuing Players

Players who wish to be included in the next session will indicate that with a tick in the check box found at the bottom of the box ladder newsletter. The spirit of box ladder play is that all matches be played; so in fairness to all participants, players should only enrol if they will be available for most of the session.

Players accumulate points from 2 sources:

• One point for each game won in a match.
• Bonus Points are for playing all matches in the session.

Scoring for matches is up to the players. Any of the acceptable systems may be used (HIHO-9, PAR-11, PAR-15).

One player is responsible for recording the results on the web site (GigaSports).

No points are awarded for either player for unplayed matches.

When a player discontinues play (injury or other unexpected events) the administrator will leave the player and scores to stand as is, or, may remove the player (and any scores) from the box. It is courteous for a player to send a note to alert other players in their box if they will be unavailable. In a perfect world, all matches for every box are completed without incident every month. Most matches are completed each month; however, for a myriad of reasons, some matches are not played. Injuries and unexpected events happen. Some matches are not played because of bad planning or simply a lack of effort by one or both parties.

A player may not claim points for a match not played with or without the blessing of the opponent.

While it may be fair and reasonable to allow walkovers, there is a minefield of problems. In addition to spending the time to sort out the facts of each case, it is important to get on with the task of making up the boxes for the next session in a timely fashion. The situation for a tournament, or VSL match is quite different from box ladder play. The role of the Box Ladder Coordinator does include arbitrator of unplayed matches.

The players in the box will be ranked according to their total games won plus bonus points. Generally, the top two players move up two spaces on the overall ladder, two bottom players move down two spaces on the overall ladder, and the middle players retain their ladder positions.

In the perfect world things are simple.  Points are added, players are ranked in the box, and then we move on to the next month.

Well there are some bumps even in the perfect world. When month point totals are tied, GigaSports uses total games lost as a tie breaker.

Two bonus points are added to total games won when a player has played all their box matches for that session.

Players are placed in a box of usually 5, 6, or sometimes 7 players. At the end of a month (session) the players are ranked within the box according to the accumulated scores.

The top two players will be promoted, the bottom two relegated, while the middle stays put. If the player pool remained static, that would mean two players move up a box, two players move down a box and the middle one or two players stay put.

The first and last boxes of course are treated differently — where there is relegation of two players from the top box, promotion of two players from the last box, and all others remain fixed.

The player pool is not static from one session to the next. Players are inserted into the mix while others drop out. The promotion, relegation, and maintaining of current positions is not done in the context of moving from box to box. This is done using a continuous ranking without regard to the boundaries between boxes.

How That Works

At the end of a session, the players are ranked within a box. The boundaries of the boxes are removed leaving a single continuous ranking of players. Next, for each box the top two players are moved up two spaces in the overall ranking, while the bottom two players move down two spaces. The middle one or two players keep their spots. Incoming players are inserted into the continuous ranking. Players dropping out are temporarily removed from the ranking.

The boundaries are replaced to make up the various boxes. The model is preferential to boxes of 5 players; but, boxes of 6 are often needed to provide the exact number of spaces required.

The individuals making up the box ladder vary month to month. The total number of participants varies from month to month; thus, the number of boxes may change from month to month. Personal progress over the months should be judged by your position relative to the other participants, not the box number. The level of play in Box 10 definitely does not remain static over the year, and is, therefore, not a good bench mark to judge your progress.

• Unplayed matches are left blank for both players.
• One player records the score for the match.
• That player ‟owns” that record.
• If both players are also members of the club challenge ladder, the results will automatically be recorded as a challenge match as well as a box ladder match.
• To correct a score, it must first be deleted and then the correct version entered by the owner of the entry.
• Use only 3-0, 3-1, or 3-2 entries. Do not use partial scores ie 2-0.

The scorecard page on GigaSports looks like this:

So Who Wins?

For those nail bitter matches and you get knocked off the court before there is a natural conclusion, what do you do?

Look for another open court and hopefully finish the match.

You are not compelled to play on the doubles court.

Whoever is ahead by whatever of slimmest margins wins the match.

When Games are not tied (2-0, 2-1, 1-0)

The person ahead in games wins the match, and records 3 games won. The loser gets credit for the games she/he may have already won. They also get credit for the game in progress, if they are leading. Hand in breaks a tie of game points.

When Games are tied (1-1 or 2-2)

If you are tied 1-1 after 45 minutes or an hour, take a lesson from Phil Arthur to learn how to hit winners, or show up on time! Whoever is leading in the game in progress wins the match. In the really close ones, where the games and game points are tied, hand in (server) wins that game and match. Match winner gets 3 games. Loser gets points for games already won.

Injury and default of match in progress

If a match is in progress but because of injury a player is unable to continue, the rules of Singles Squash prevail. The victor gets 3 points and the loser (the injured) gets points for games already won. If a game is in progress when a player defaults, they lose that game and match regardless of game and match score at that time.