FAQ
A student-athlete may only participate in BCSS activities for the member school at which they are registered. There is an option for two or more member schools to make an application for a Joint Team. If approved student-athletes from those member schools will be able to participate together on the joint team. See section 840.0 page 97 of the handbook for complete policy rules.
Team jerseys may only have two credit card sized logos that have been approved by the sport commission allowed on any uniform.
Yes, as long as:
- It is within the season of play;
- The appropriate sanction forms have been sent in and returned to you; and
- You are only playing member schools, not club teams.
No, schools are not allowed to participate in games, matches or tournaments outside the applicable season of play.
Yes, teams are allowed to practice outside the season of play as long as doing so is not at the detriment of any in-season sport.
Students should always be registered at the school they attend. If the students need to be moved up, the appropriate paperwork must be sent in to the BCSS office and the staff will manually move the student up.
Print this roster! The PDF roster from STARS is the official roster that is to be used at all games, tournaments, or matches. Print a copy of this after an edit is made to each team to ensure you have a copy of the roster should there be any discrepancies with the STARS system.
Have your administrator email BCSS at info@bcschoolsports.ca giving you authorization as the new Athletic Director. BCSS staff will then make you a user and email you the login information.
The student may be a transfer student and already registered at their previous school. If this happens, contact BCSS and submit the appropriate paperwork.
If the coach has not yet been determined, list the Athletic Director until you know who the coach will be.
You can only add a team when you are before the Team Registration deadline (see 'Why are there different registration deadlines?') and have a coach declared. Ensure all of your coaches are registered before you try to add teams. Also see 'What if I don't know who the coach of the team is yet?'.
The friendly staff at BCSS would love to help you find an answer. You can send us a quick question through the webform at 'Contact' (at the top of each page) or use the phone or email listed on that page to get someone in the office that can answer your question.
If you have been approved for a jointly sponsored team please email info@bcschoolsports.ca to have students from the joining school added to the host team roster.
There is no deadline for applications, they are processed throughout the school year. Applications take 3-5 business days to process.
BCSS will invoice the school submitting the eligibility application once a ruling has been provided.
The Eligibility Officer processes applications in the order he receives them. Once all of the information required is provided they take approximately 3-5 business days.
Yes! Students are able to participate as long as the school they attend is a member and the appropriate form has been filled out and approved. See section 822.0 page 93 of the handbook.
A residence where the family lives the majority of the time and you can only have one.
Legal guardianship needs to be in place 12 months prior to the period for which eligibility is sought.
No, the student-athlete will still have five years of eligibility from the start of grade 8 regardless of if they are approved to play as a grade 7.
No, you can only submit a grade 7 eligibility application for grade 7's to play on a bantam team where the member school would not otherwise be able to field a team due to insufficent numbers. (see 'Can grade 7 students play on a grade 8 team?').
It is possible for grade 7 students to play on a grade 8 team but only if the team would not be able to participate without these students, which means any teams with a minimum number of one are not eligible for grade 7's to compete in. There are some additional rules and condition to this and a grade 7 eligibility application will have to be filed.
Student-athletes have five (5) consecutive years of BCSS competition eligibility, starting on their entry date into grade eight (8). A year is considered to be the twelve (12) month period between September of one school year and the September of the next school year. If a student-athlete chooses not to participate during one (1) or more years of the five (5) year period that time persiod will still count toward the five (5) years of eligibility.
If you believe that the tier selected for your school and/or the student population numbers in STARS to be incorrect (See 'How is tiering determined?' and 'Why doesn't STARS let me pick my tier?') please contact BCSS.
Your school's tier is automatically determined in STARS based on your tiering numbers (See 'How is tiering determined?').
Tiering is determined by member school population numbers from the previous year's grade 10, 11 and Secondary Ungraded numbers as submitted September 30th on the 1701 report to the ministry of education.
Member schools can only play in competitions against other member school teams not club teams.
The Eligibility Appeals Committee (EAC) hears appeals submitted by a member school. The committee meets 10 times during the school year. Submission deadline dates and meeting dates can be found in section 944.14 page 104 of the handbook.
Example: An Athletic Director (AD) submitted an Eligibility Application or change of residence form to the Eligibility Officer and it was not accepted. The AD can then choose to make an appeal, which will be heard by the EAC. The EAC will make the final and binding decision in regards to the atudent-athlete's eligibility.
There are two registration deadlines per season of play; Team Registration (registration of team and minimum numbers) and Roster Registration deadline.
Team Registration
- In STARS, Athletic Directors need to create (register) teams in every sport that they are going to be participating in. Athletic Directors can create all the teams at the beginning of the year.
- In STARS, Athletic Directors must add the minimum number of students required to field a team
- We recommend registering all possible teams even if you are not sure if the school will field a team in that sport. This will help to avoid fines for missed/late teams and no fines are incurred for not fielding a team in a registered sport
Roster Registration Deadline
- In STARS, Athletic Directors must add any remaining student-athletes to the team rosters by this date. If the minimum number has not already been met the roster will be locked, the Athletic Director will need to contact BCSS and fines will apply.
BCSS will accept school cheques or EFT (electronic funds transfer) payments. In order to do pay by EFT we must have an agreement in place with your school, please contact our Financial Officer.
No, student-athletes can only play for the school they are registered in.
Example: School A had a Football team last season and they are not going to have one this season. Can a student-athlete play for School B while attending School A? No, student-athletes can only play for the member school in which they are registered. If the student would like to transfer to School B they are subject to all transfer rules.
Add the student to STARS as soon as possible to allow BCSS enough time to process each student. Standard time for processing new students is 1-2 business days.