The Ultimate Tournament Experience – Tri-Athlete Games

Rules

The Iron Team America tournament series is designed to find the best overall sports team. We are looking for the team that plays with smarts, stamina, athletic ability, team work, talent and is simply the best. Are you the world champions in just one sport? Can your team compete in 3 major sports over 2 days playing 3 games in each sport? Is your team good enough to become Iron Team America Champions? The ultimate tournament experience awaits you.

Tournament Structure

Each team is placed in a pool / group and plays two games within their pool / group. Each team plays two games in each sport for a total of six (6) games. The tournament starts with basketball on Saturday morning, slow pitch softball on Saturday afternoon / evening and 7-man Semi-contactFlag Football on Sunday. *Note: Director can alternate the order of the sports being played because of weather or field / facility availability. As an example: if there are two divisions the divisions may have to start with different sports in order to maximize field / facility space and time.

The teams are blindlyselected into each pool, by having a team representative or tournament director pull team name out of container. After the initial blind pool for the basketball the pools for softball will be determined by the rankings of the basketball results. The new pools will be based on descending order of finish. As an example: If there are 3 pools with 3 teams in each pool. The top 3 basketball teams will be placed in the same pool, followed by teams ranked 4 – 6 and then 7 – 9 in the 3^rd pool. These pools will make up the softball match ups.

For Sunday the flag football pools will be determined by the cumulative order of finished from points earned from both basketball and softball. The pools will go in descending order as the day before. The pool with the highest ranked teams will be scheduled to play after the other pools unless there is enough field space to play all pools at one time.

After all games have been completed the points from all sports are calculated and the team with the most points is crowned the Iron Team America Champion. If there is a tie any head to head games between the teams that are tied will break the tie. If there is still a tie, either by the teams not playing head to head or them splitting games there will be a 2pt conversion shoot out to determine the champion. Each team will get one play to score 2pts from the 10-yard line until a winner is determined.

Teams

Each team mustconsist of a minimum of 10 players and maximum of 14players. Players can NOT be added or substituted once the first game has been played. Your roster is set for each sport during the entire tournament. A player is not required to be at the tournament each day; however, he / she CAN NOT be substituted under ANY circumstances.

Point Structure

Points are earned by how well you do against your pool in each sport. The higher you finish in pool play the more points you receive. A team receives bonus points for defeating its opponentby a set point margin of victory. A team will be deducted points if they are defeated by a set point margin. Each event’s points are weighted the same, so you have to be able to play well across the board in all sports to come home an Iron Team America Champion.

Points Earned Per Sport

Bonus Points Earned and Points Deducted per Game

Basketball

5 on 5 basketball full court.

The National High School Federation Rules and Regulations will be adopted for the basketball portion of the Iron Team Games.

The games will consist of (2) 16 minute running clock halves. The clock will stop on all time outs and on all violations under NHSF rules.

Softball (Slow pitch)

USSSA rules will be adopted for the softball portion of the Iron Team Games. These rules include all banned and certified bats and balls under USSSA regulations. USSSA rules apply unless specifically detailed by Iron Team rules. The following are specific ITA softball rules:

1.     Each batter will start his/her at bat with a 1 ball and 1 strike count.

2.     The games will last 7 innings or (one) hour, whichever comes first.

3.     Home runs are limited to 5 with the last two (home runs 4 and 5) being considered one base hit singles, with runners only advancing one base. After the 5 team homerun limit is exceeded all homeruns are considered outs, with the runners not being able to advance.

Flag Football (7-man semi-contact)

Iron Team America flag football will be modified MCFFU semi contact rules played on standard 80 by 40 yard field.

Semi-Contact Guidelines:

No Blocking Down Field

No Screen Plays

Open Hand Blocking is allowed but strictly enforced (No loading up or elbows while blocking allowed)

There is no bull rushing (running through or over a blocker), but swim moves are allowed by defensive rushers

No hands above the shoulders will be tolerated (Personal Foul) offensively or defensively.

No Blocking below the waste.

Bump and Run technique is allowed within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage.

If there is a Nose Guard or someone rushing over the center or between the Center - Guard gaps there MUST be a 1 yard buffer. Anyone rushing in front of or outside of the Guards can line up at the line of scrimmage with no buffer.

Any contact with the Quarterback above the flag belt is considered roughing the passer and is a personal foul. This includes hitting the Quarterback’s arm during follow through or attempting to block a pass.

The offense starts on their 10 yard line to start the game, at the start of the second half and after each score.

Punting is allowed, but the punt is frozen. No one moves on either offense or defense until ball is kicked. Snap to Punter must be between Center’s legs.

All Center to Quarterback exchanges or snaps must be traditional snaps between the centers legs. The snaps can be handled from under the Center or in shotgun formation. If the Quarterback takes snap from under Center there must be a full step backwards before the Quarterback can run forward.

Extra points: 1 point is awarded if pass or run from the 3-yard line. 2 points awarded if pass or run from the 10-yard line.