The Vancouver Squash League (VSL) is BC’s largest squash league. Operated and sanctioned by Squash BC, VSL provides players in the Lower Mainland an opportunity to compete and socialize with those from other clubs in weekly match-ups. VSL includes Open and Women’s divisions and will soon be re-launching a Junior division. If you’re interested in participating in VSL, read on for active registration opportunities or contact vsl@squashbc.com if you have any questions.
VSL News & Updates
Active Session: Winter 2023
The active session for the Vancouver Squash League will begin with it’s first games on Monday, January 23rd. You can find more information for the active session on the VSL Club Locker page.
VSL Rules & Format
VSL is a team-based singles squash league. All rules and format regulations are available in our Vancouver Squash League – Rules and Regulations Document.
VSL Playoffs
VSL Playoffs will begin on April 3rd, 2023 for men and May 9th, 2023 for women. Find your VSL Playoffs Club Locker page below:
January Session – Spares List Open
Registration for VSL’s Winter Spares List is now open. Contact your Club Administrator or Team Captain to find our how registration works at your home facility.
Key Dates:
- Team Registration Deadline: January 4th, 2023 @ 11:59 PM
- Schedule Release Date: January 9th, 2023
- First Week of Play: January 23rd, 2023
- First Playoff Games: April 3rd, 2023
Team Registration
Registration for the Winter 2023 Season will be $300+GST per team. Teams can register an unlimited number of players on their team, as long as a player is not registered on another team. Team registration will also include a box of 12 Dunlop Pro (Double Dot) balls for use during league matches (additional balls required during regular season will be the responsibility of the team and/or club).
Captains are encouraged to discuss with your club administrators/pros on how the club will be handling registration for the upcoming season. Club Administrators/Pros or captains can submit a Team Registration Application Form for the upcoming season through the registration form.
An invoice will be sent in the first week of January for all teams that have registered for the season. These can be addressed to and paid by either the Club or a team representative (captain, treasurer, etc.). Please confirm with your club administrators on how they would like this completed. Payments will be due a few weeks into the league and can be paid by e-transfer, cheque, or credit card. More details will be distributed in early January.
Team Registration Application Form
Player Spare Registration
Players that would like to register as a Spare for the season can register on the Club Locker Registration Page. Your contact information will be shared with team captains to use if they are in need of a spare.
Player Waitlist
Players that are not affiliated with a VSL club or those whose club does not have a team at the appropriate skill level can register for the Player Waitlist. If enough similar skill level players register a new team will be formed. If not enough players register to field a full team, VSL will contact clubs to see if they have any roster spots available on their teams (and are allowed to take in external players). Registration Deadline for this process is January 4th, 2022. Players interested in joining the waitlist can register on the Club Locker registration page.
Note: All players in any of the three registration methods must have a valid Squash BC membership.
Summary of VSL Updates
This season, after gathering feedback through our VSL Survey, several updates have been made to VSL. See below for a summary of VSL updates:
Registration & Team Size
Team Registration: Survey respondents were in favour of moving from Individual Registration to Team Registration, with 42% of respondents favouring registering by team, and 75% of respondents either preferring that option or being indifferent. As well, individual registration has proved to be an administrative challenge for Squash BC for a program of this type, with many registrants confused about the steps required. Therefore, VSL will shift to Registration by Team for the January Session and beyond. More information on January Registration is included below.
Team Size: Survey respondents were relatively in favour of using a four-player lineup during the regular season (59%) and a five-player lineup during playoffs (63%). This format will continue into the January session.
Registration Term: As this is mid-season, no changes will be made to registration term at this point, however Squash BC intends to offer a full-season (September-April) team registration option starting in September.
Post-Squash Social Activities
It is overwhelmingly clear that Post-Squash Social Activities are an important part of VSL, with 92% of respondents saying a social component should be required. Squash BC acknowledges that VSL is both a competitive and social league and we will continue to work towards making both components the best they can be.
Social Requirements: A majority of respondents were in favour of only beverages being required for post-squash social activities (59%). As well, 56% of respondents supported the home team purchasing the night’s beverages, while all players would be responsible for their own food. These requirements will continue going forward.
As well, Squash BC understands that not everyone can stay for post-squash social activities. However, as it is a key component of the league, we recommend at least two members from each team stay. Instances of an entire team leaving before post-squash social activities should be reported to vsl@squashbc.com as they will be considered when assessing registration for the following league session.
Juniors in VSL
Squash BC acknowledges that VSL in its current form is primarily an adult league. However, we do not want to discourage the junior participants in the league and want to find the best format for everyone’s participation and the league’s growth overall.
Through a divisional assessment of the leagues sentiment towards juniors, we have developed the following definition of a Junior Player for use in the following requirements, when applied to the adult divisions of VSL:
VSL Junior Player Definition: A Junior Player is defined as any VSL participant aged 11-16, with an active Club Locker rating below 4.5 (as of a specific match date).
Therefore, players aged 17 and above, and those performing at a level of 4.5 and above will not be restricted by the following requirements.
Juniors Per Match Line-Up: A large majority of respondents (72%) indicated that either one or zero juniors should be allowed in an evening’s four-player line-up. Therefore, VSL will limit the number of juniors allowed in an evening’s lineup to one during regular season play. If a team fields two or more spots with juniors, only the top match will be counted as scored. All other matches will be considered defaults in favour of the opposing team. Note: During playoffs when line-up size is increased to five, a maximum of two juniors can be included.
Juniors will be held to the same standards as adults when competing in an adult division, meaning they will be required to stay and referee. As well, a team should ensure some of its members can stay for post-squash social activities, even when a spot is filled by a junior.
Junior League: In an effort to provide a more appropriate competitive opportunity for the juniors that will be restricted out of participating in the adult divisions of VSL, Squash BC is excited to be relaunching VSL’s Junior League. More details about this league and its registration are included below.
We have included the rules above in our updated Vancouver Squash League – Rules and Regulations.
VSL Feedback Survey
In November 2022, Squash BC gathered data from VSL players past and present in our VSL Feedback Survey. This provided us with many valuable insights as to how to effectively progress the league forward towards growth, sustainability, and participant enjoyment. We thank everyone who participated in the survey.
A summary of results from the VSL Feedback Survey are below. We encourage you to click through the embedded interactive slide deck and use the Data Filters shown at the left side of most slides to see how questions were answered by specific division ranges, genders, and more filters. If you encounter issues with the embedded version below, you can open the slide deck in a browser here: Vancouver Squash League – Feedback Survey Results
Additional VSL Information
Squash BC Memberships:
All players will need to be active Squash BC members at the Adult, Young Adult, or Junior level to participate in VSL. Please note that the Squash BC recreational membership does not allow for participation in and insurance coverage for VSL. Squash BC Memberships turn over on November 1 each year. We encourage all VSL participants to set their membership to auto-renew in Club Locker to avoid any interruption to their standing and coverage.
REFEREEING
Both teams are responsible to referee. Please ensure every match has a referee. Home clubs are encouraged to ensure starting referees are on hand to start play. Please limit warm-up time to 5 min. and time between games to 90 sec. You can learn more about becoming a certified squash referee on our Officiating Page.
LIVE SCORING
Please utilize live scoring on your club tablet or personal handheld device. Live scoring can be viewed on Club Locker as matches are in progress. This also ensures correct calculation of nightly league results, as the actual points are required in the 4 person team format in the event of tie-break.
UNDERSTANDING CLUB LOCKER RATINGS
Learn more about Club Locker Ratings and Rankings
Vancouver Squash Leaue Logo designed by Robert Pacey of Squash Republic