How to enter Badminton Alberta tournaments
Many of you have expressed interest for your children to participate in upcoming junior badminton tournaments. I would like to provide you with some information that may assist you with your decision.
Membership
Junior age group tournaments are open to any individual member of Badminton Alberta. Non-members will be required to purchase an annual membership in addition to the price of entry fee. The membership year is from 01 September to 31 August. Membership can be obtained on-line with the use of a credit card at the following link:
http://www.badmintonalberta.ca/page.aspx?id=11
You have a choice between Competitive or Associate membership type. Simply put, if your child intends on playing more than one tournament, it is most cost effective to purchase the Competitive membership. The Associate membership has been created to provide an athlete with involvement in one sanctioned tournament before having to purchase a Competitive membership.
ID Number
Once you have submitted your application for membership, one of our staff will email you a Badminton Alberta ID number (it will contain two letters and five numbers); this becomes your identity within the computerized system. You will be required to supply this number each time you enter a tournament. You will also receive a username and password, which will provide you access to a Members Only section on our Badminton Alberta website (www.badmintonalberta.ca) This username and password will not provide you access to the Tournament Software website.
Tournament Software
Badminton Alberta makes use of several software/on-line products developed by Visual Reality of The Netherlands. These products have become the industry standard worldwide and are considered user friendly. Visual Reality utilizes a web portal called www.tournamentsoftware.com to accept on-line entries for any club or association that utilizes their products. As a license holder, we have a web page dedicated to Badminton Alberta events only within the tournament software web.
You can access tournament information off our homepage at www.badmintonalberta.ca Look for the link along the right hand column. Select the tournament and follow the prompt, you will be advanced to a page dedicated to the specific tournament you have selected. To proceed with your on-line entry, select the blue web address located on this page. You will now leave the Badminton Alberta website and enter the Tournament Software website. If the tournament is still accepting entries, you will find a prompt (Click here to enter online), select this and you will be advanced to the next stage of entry.
1. Online entry page – select online entry with an account (even though you may not have an account yet). If you have an account you can simply login here. If you do not have an account you can select - If you do not have an account, you can sign up here - Sign Up. Here you will create your own username and password, so please write it down, as you will need it each time you enter online.
2. Regulations – simply read and check the “I agree with the regulations box at the bottom of the page”.
3. Confirm the personal information is correct for the player you are attempting to enter. If you have more than one child entering the tournament, you will be required to have a separate username and password for each child. Under the events tab – you will need to select which event and or age group your child wants to enter.
Entry key: BS – refers to boys singles, GS – girls singles, BD – boys doubles, GD – girls doubles, XD – mixed doubles.
If your child does not have a doubles partner, but you want them to play doubles, please enter request in the name partner field. If they do have a partner, enter the players ID number and name. This way the software will automatically pair the two athletes together as a team. Then select Continue.
4. Online payment step – select Continue with payment. You will now be asked to provide payment via credit card (Visa or MasterCard).
Once your payment has been received your entry will be complete. Your child’ name will not appear on the tournament site, until the tournament organizer has downloaded the entries from the server, and then republished the list of entries. Online entry usually closes 10 days prior to the first day of the tournament. Once the tournament organizer has republished the list of names, you will receive an automated email, informing you that your entry has been received.
For junior age group tournaments you must fall within an age range, this is best understood by accessing the following information: http://www.badmintonalberta.ca/page.aspx?id=2278
When a parent is entering on behalf of a junior or when a coach enters on behalf of a player, please add the players name under 'NOTE TO SELLER', this helps our staff match a payment to a player, especially when family names are not the same.
Strength of junior tournaments
We offer two levels of tournaments for juniors - AJC and AJS.
AJC – Alberta Junior Circuit events will be held in private club facilities in Calgary and Edmonton and are the highest level of competition available in Alberta. However all levels of players may participate.
AJS – Alberta Junior Satellite events will be held in communities such as Stettler, Okotoks, Airdrie and St Albert and are suitable for beginner to intermediate level athletes. Top ranked players from the AJC category are not eligible to compete in these tournaments.
Entry fees
For junior aged tournaments there is usually just one fee, which allows the player to select one singles, one doubles and one mixed doubles event. Most tournaments offer a souvenir as part of the entry fee.
For AJC events – each athlete will only receive one souvenir, no matter how many tournaments they enter. For the 2011-12 season, the souvenir is a dry fit white short-sleeved t-shirt.
For AJS events – each tournament will provide their own tournament souvenir.