Effective 01 January 2016, Badminton Alberta will realign the junior age classifications to fall in-line with the Gregorian calendar, which is used by the BWF and Pan Am Badminton Federations. The new season of play will begin 01 January and finish on December 31 of each season.
Badminton Alberta's new age categories will be:
- to be eligibile for u11 - all participants must be born in 2006 or later;
- to be eligible for u13 - all participants must be born in 2004 or later;
- to be eligible for u15 - all participants must be born in 2002 or later;
- to be eligible for u17 - all participants must be born in 2000 or later;
- to be eligible for u19 - all participants must be born in 1998 or later.
Simply put an athlete can't turn the age of the category during the year of the competition. The proposed changes will allow athletes the opportunity to participate in their respective age category for the entire 12 months. The change will also provide more accurate rankings, as only eligible athletes will be appear in the provincial ranking lists.