FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Please check here before emailing your questions to BUDA. Note that this is a dynamic document, and it will be freshly updated as we hear additional common questions.
1. What is a "hat league"?
Players register for a hat league with a partner or two (applications vary depending on the specific league) and the league places you onto a team. Using your player's page self-ranking, we try as best as possible to make teams with equal strengths. This year we are trying something new in the weeknight Spring Hat league. Half of the JP teams will be created through a draft and the other half will be created through the traditional hat format. The player pool will be randomly split by ability level before team creation, so the two different types of teams will be balanced.
2. When/How do I submit a waiver?
Fax or mail (no emailing) your BUDA Waiver (available from your player’s page - first you'll need to create a username and password to have a player's page) every calendar year. The fax number and mailing address are on the waiver.
Submit your waiver IN ADVANCE of registration. You will not be able to register for the league if you do not have a waiver on file with BUDA.
3. Has my waiver been processed?
Check your player’s page to make sure the waiver has been processed (processing takes several days). If your waiver is up to date, "signed for " will appear next to "Get Waiver" on the player page – otherwise, re-send your waiver. Since the league commissioner doesn't process signed waivers, he/she won't know if a recently faxed waiver was received. So, other than looking to see if it was processed -- something you can do from your players page -- they won't be able to give you any more information on its status if you email them.
If you're having trouble having the fax machine connect, make sure you are dialing the number on the fax. If you are sending it from a company fax machine, you might have to dial 9 to get an outside line. If you think our fax is either not picking up or always busy, try dialing the fax number from a phone to see if you hear the fax tones. If you do, then the problem is with your fax machine.
If you've tried several times to fax a waiver, but it's still not processed there are a few things you can check. 1) Make sure that you are not faxing the waiver upside down. We receive lots of blank waivers. 2) Check the transmission report to make sure that it was received. Also often the transmission report will show part of the first page, so you can check that to see if it was faxed upside down. 3) There are free web services out there that will fax an uploaded scanned document. Try scanning your waiver and google to find a service. 4) You can try mailing in the waiver. If you are still having problems, you can try contacting the league, but there's probably not much we'll be able to do.
Currently, we cannot accept waivers sent by email.
4. When do I pay for hat league?
Pay the registration fee through Paypal immediately upon registration. You do not need a paypal account to pay though. A credit card will suffice. Players whose registration fee has not been processed before team creation will not be assigned to a team (no exceptions).
5. How do I request to play with someone else? And can I request multiple people?
The registration form will have a spot where you can request to play with someone by entering their email address or name. However, in order for you to be placed with that person, they also need to request to play with you. Any request without a reciprocal request will not be honored. Generally, you can only request to play with one person. However, because we want to encourage growth in our leagues, especially of new women, if you recruit a new woman, you can also request to play with her. However, she will still need to request to play with you. Also, because we're always looking for captains, you can request to captain with someone in addition to your one request. However, that person will also have to request you as a co-captain. Because a chain could get quit large, we handle chains where both captains have additions requests or you request to play with someone, recruit a newbie and also select a co-captain on a case-by-case basis.
When you request to play with someone there's a question which asks if you two would be want to play together in your second choice division if one of you don't make it in to the division of your choice. Please be aware that some of our hat leagues have 5/2 and 4/3 divisions playing the same nights. So even if you don't signup for a second choice division you might end up in a 5/2 division if you don't get your registration in on time. If you select "yes" for this question and even if you signup very early, if the person you signup with signs up late and gets bumped, you will get bumped too.
6. Can I request a team that plays on a particular time or day?
For weeknight divisions, you can request which night of the week you prefer or must play on. However, we don't allow you to specify an early or late slot since we try to balance out the early and late games everyone will have. For the weekend leagues we do allow people to specify early or late games. However, we only reserve a limited number of spots for day or time requests. So, if you indicate that you must play on a certain time or day, it's possible that you could be bumped from the league even if it's not full. Unless you absolutely can not play at certain times or on certain days, we suggest that you either specify no preference or indicate that you prefer that time or day.
7. When I registered for hat, I did not get an email confirmation of signing up for the league, but I did get a payment receipt. Is this standard - am I all set?
As long as your player's page says that you paid, your registration was received.
8. If I don't get into league, will I get a refund?
Yes! Be patient, it will come.
9. Are there any differences between the official rules of ultimate and the rules we use in our hat leagues?
The hat league follow the latest USA Ultimate rules, with the following two safety-related exceptions:
a) Foot blocks and kick blocks are not allowed.
b) All players must wear shoes. (ie, no playing barefoot.)
10. How do I volunteer?
Volunteers run BUDA. Without them, we have no league. The more volunteers we have the more smoothly the league operates and the more fun we can have (many heads are better than one). In particular, we’re especially looking for people who are interested in captaining. Other possibilities include, running the tournaments, overseeing league spirit, answering player questions, sending out weekly league updates, and any other enthusiastic people with any ideas on how to improve BUDA and players' experiences in BUDA. If you have any interest in helping any of the BUDA leagues, please email the commissioner for the appropriate league. The email address is available on our contacts page.
11. I forgot my password or username, what should I do?
Below the login box on the upper right side of the page is a login box. Below that is a "Forgot login?" link. If you click that, you can get either get a new temporary password or your username mailed to you. If you had one sent to you and you didn't receive an email, check your spam folder. If you still didn't receive an email, you can email the league and someone will manually reset your password. However, to then reset it to something you'll remember, you'll need to following the step in the following section of the FAQ.
12. How do I change my password, email address or other information?
After logging in, click the profile link below the login panel in upper right hand column. On the next page, you'll see pulldown windows for "Community", "Edit", and "Connections". Select "Edit"->"Update Your Profile". On the next page, select the "Contact Info" tab. Change any information you need to change and press "Update" at the bottom of the page.
