SPIRIT POINTS
About Spirit Points | Obtaining Your Spirit Score for a Given Game | Spirit Point Ratings
JAM is for Everyone – Inclusion Statement
Our program offerings are designed to be inclusive for all members of the JAM community. Our goal is to create a welcoming gender policy that uplifts and supports each player where they are at. To ensure we can offer something for everyone, our programs may be offered in the following formats: Mixed-Gender, Women's, Men's, and Open.
Many of our league rules specify gender-based roster requirements, the goal of which is to ensure that each player has an equal opportunity to be included in gameplay.
Everyone participating in a JAM program is welcome to compete based on their gender identity and gender expression; regardless of their gender assigned at birth. Members whose gender identity does not align with the binary man/woman construct are welcome to play in all our mixed-gender and open programs.
Nonbinary, trans, genderqueer, and all other players who identify as a gender minority can count towards the roster minimums for either men or women in our mixed-gender leagues.
Spirit points are awarded on a scale from 0-5. When reporting scores, the captain must indicate the number of spirit points they would like to award to the other team. If a captain fails to report the score, the other team will automatically receive a rating of 5. UPDATE September 2019: Spirit Points are recorded for each game but DO NOT impact overall league standings. Teams that play by the rules, get to games on time and play with good sportsmanship will flourish!
The spirit point decision is one that should be made amongst your teammates. As a team, you have the right to award any number of points from 0-5 and the guidelines set out below are meant to help you with this decision. If there are no issues in your game, the standard is to award 5 spirit points. If you decide to deduct spirit points, your spirit score must be accompanied with a valid reason. If you fail to provide a valid reason for why you deducted spirit points we will automatically bump it up to a "5".
If a team defaults their game, they automatically lose their right to award spirit points to the team that they defaulted against. The team that was defaulted upon automatically receives a "5" for their spirit score. Teams that are defaulted against can award the defaulting team any value that they want.
Once a spirit score has been submitted, it is considered final and cannot be changed. Note: If you make an error when submitting, you only have the option of increasing the spirit score.
Obtaining Your Spirit Score for a Given Game:
- When a team deducts spirit points, they are required to submit a brief explanation supporting their score. This explanation will be used should the opposing team inquire as to the reason they received a spirit point deduction.
- If you are looking for a reason why your team was deducted spirit points, we should be able to provide you feedback based on the opposing team's score report but we encourage teams to contact their opponents directly through the T.E.A.M System to seek feedback regarding their game.
- The JAM trusts that teams are not using the spirit point system to put other teams at a disadvantage.
Spirit Point Ratings
Spirit Rating = 5
- Great game!
Spirit Rating = 4
- Overall an ok game; discrepancies occurred but issues were resolved on site.
ie.:
- Our opponents exhibited a lack of sportsmanship throughout the game resulting in minor incidents.
- Not enough of the opponent's players showed up on time, so our game didn't start on time.
- Our opponents seemed confused about some of the rules, and were somewhat receptive to learning them.
Spirit Rating = 3
- Overall not a fun game; many discrepancies or incidents occurred.
i.e.:
- Our opponents exhibited a lack of sportsmanship throughout the game resulting in minor incidents.
- Our opponents seemed confused about some of the rules and were not receptive to learning them.
Spirit Rating = 2
- Discrepancies or incidents occurred and were NOT resolved on site.
ie.:
- Our opponents exhibited very poor sportsmanship throughout the game
- Many conflicts and incidents occurred.
- Our opponents were not knowledgeable about the rules.
Spirit Rating = 1
- Our opponents exhibited no spirit, resulting in extremely rude, very unsportsmanlike or dangerous instances.
- Our opponents did not show up to the game without any notice.
Spirit Rating = 0
- Serious incident occurred during the game resulting in ending the game early.
- Extremely aggressive unsportsmanlike acitons occurred during the game (punching, racial/homophobic slurs, etc).