Simply put an athlete can not turn the age of the category within that calendar year. Alberta athletes may be required to move up to an older age category effective 01 January. Those athletes wanting to move up to an older age group now are eligible to do so.
Effective 01 September 2015, Badminton Alberta has implemented new names for the junior age classifications:
- to be eligible for u11 - all participants must be born in 2005 or later;
- to be eligible for u13 - all participants must be born in 2003 or later;
- to be eligible for u15 - all participants must be born in 2001 or later;
- to be eligible for u17 - all participants must be born in 1999 or later;
- to be eligible for u19 - all participants must be born in 1997 or later.
For the duration of 2015 an athlete can't turn the age of the category in which they are competing.
Badminton Alberta to align with BWF and Pan Am Federations on 01 January 2016
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.
- 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.
It should be noted that Badminton Canada is working on a transition plan to move from u20 to the BWF's u19 age category, which will remove one year of junior eligibility. This will take effect immediately. Badminton Canada remains firm and requires all transistion to older age category effective 01 September.