Discobolus

(Current Status)

The trophy changes hands several times a year in the following manner: it is won by the challenging House that can successfully defeat the House in possession of the trophy. The challenging House submits a challenge in three or four sports; the House holding the trophy must accept in one of these sports. Then, the two Houses compete in a single contest in that sport, with the winner taking (or maintaining) possession of the trophy. The House with the best overall record in competition has the privilege of keeping the trophy over the summer and through Rotation.

  1. Eligibility

    1. It is the responsibility of the House to submit a list of all eligible members to the Athletic Department at least one week prior to the first Interhouse contest of each term.
    2. To be eligible for Discobolus competition a person must be a registered undergraduate student, be on room contract, be on board contract, or be a Resident Associate for the term in which a sport is played.
    3. To be eligible a person must be a bona fide member of a House, defined as:
      1. A dues-paying member of a House during the tem for which he has paid his dues, with the exception of those persons exempted from this requirement by rules 2 or 5 below. House dues shall, for the purpose of eligibility, be defined as the full $25.00 for members living on campus and at least half that amount for other members.
      2. House members who have paid house dues for at least three consecutive terms may, at the discretion of the individual House, be exempted from requirement (1) if all other requirements are met.
      3. A Resident Associate is considered to be a member of the House in which he resides.
    4. A person may only be a member of one house for the purpose of Discobolus competition.
    5. Exceptions to the above requirements for individual special cases may be made by a two-thirds vote of the Interhouse Committee.
    6. Any person who changes Houses, or joins a House after the House eligibility list for that term is turned in to the Athletic Office, may not change from one eligibility list to another for that term. The one exception to this rule is that new students who change Houses within the first two weeks of a term of their first year at Tech are eligible.
    7. All competitors must be medically cleared for participation in Intramural Athletics at the time of the contest. All persons not on the Athletic Department's restricted lists are assumed to be medically cleared for competition.

  2. Procedure

    1. The House in possession of the trophy is the challenged House.
    2. The order of priority at the beginning of the year shall be determined by a card draw by the House Presidents or Athletic Managers.
    3. A valid challenge must be dated and signed by an Athletic Manager or the House President.  An email is assumed to be signed by the sender and dated at the time it is received.
    4. A challenging House shall:
      1. Be the House which has not played or forfeited in the Discobolus competition for the longest time.
      2. Submit its challenge in writing or by e-mail to the House President or Athletic Manager as specified in III.
      3. Not challenge in a sport in which it has already won a Discobolus contest from the challenged House in that school year.
      4. Make all arrangements (officials, etc.), provide all equipment, and pay all expenses of the contest, except transportation of the contestants and for the exceptions mentioned below.
    5. The challenged House shall accept the challenge from the challenging house as specified in rule III
    6. The contest shall take place at a time mutually agreed upon by the two Houses involved. Should no time be agreeable to both Houses, the contest will be held at 2:00 pm on Sunday.
    7. A school day is defined as a day when school is in session, including Registration Day and not including weekends. For purposes of Discobolus, a day when school is not in session shall be considered equivalent to the last school day preceding it.
    8. No challenges shall be made, accepted, or contests played during Rotation Week, during the week before Easter (including Easter Sunday), or within five days of any finals week, not including Senior finals week. No more than one challenge shall be accepted in a single week, Monday through Sunday.
    9. At the beginning of every term, the IHC shall publish a list of all available contest dates. This schedule shall be strictly adhered to for the entire term. In addition, weekly IHC minutes shall contain results of previous contests and information regarding current standings and upcoming challenges.

  3. The Challenge

    1. A valid challenge shall be submitted by the challenging house by 6:00 pm of the Monday of the first school week following the last Discobolus contest.  Approval of the IHC Athletics Manager is required for a valid challenge to be submitted later than the time specified above.  If approval is not given for a late challenge, rule III.2 shall apply
    2. If no challenge is received by the required deadline, the challenged House shall assume a challenge exists in any sport in which it has not already won a Discobolus contest against the challenging House.
    3. A valid challenge shall be accepted, by writing or email, by 6:00 pm of the Tuesday following following the Monday on which a valid challenge was submitted.  If a challenge has been submitted less than 24 hours prior to the deadline above, the challenged house shall accept the challenge within 24 hours of receiving the challenge or within a different time period as specified by the IHC Athletics Manager.
    4. A valid challenge shall consist of at least three sports, as defined in rule III.6, one of which must be a major sport as defined in rule III.7 and a second must be either a major or a minor sport as defined in rule III.8.
    5. Any number of additional sports can be added to the challenge provided the challenge is valid according to rule III.4
    6. A sport shall be defined as any event for which a complete set of official rules can be presented and for which a definite winner can be determined.  If official rules do not exist, any written rules agreed upon by the challenging and the challenged houses, in writing or by email, can be used instead.
    7. A major sport shall be any Interhouse sport.
    8. A minor sport shall be one of the following: badminton, bowling, cross country, indoor ultimate, fencing, golf, pool, table tennis, water polo, and wrestling.
    9. A challenge shall not include sports that are too similar in nature.  Such pairs of sports include, but are not limited to, swimming and water polo, track and cross country, and ultimate and indoor ultimate.  Judgments on pairs of sports shall be determined by past precedent starting from the 2002-2003 school year.  If no such precedent exists the IHC Athletics Manager shall have the power to make a ruling on the pair of sports.  Any protest to a ruling, either past or present, shall be ruled upon by the IHC.

  4. The Contest

    1. All Discobolus teams must consist of at least 5 persons.
    2. All contest must be played before the Monday following acceptance of the challenge, unless specifically exempted by the IHC Athletics Manager.  A request for an exemption must be made, in writing or by email, by 6:00 pm on the Thursday following the acceptance of the challenge.  If a challenge is accepted later than 6:00 pm Thursday then the request must be made within 6 hours of the challenge being accepted.  The IHC Athletics Manager shall rule on the request within 24 hours of being given the request, else the challenging house may present the request to the IHC, in writing.  If the request for exemption is not presented at an IHC meeting, approval must be obtained from each of the 7 House Presidents. If unanimous approval is not obtained, then a special IHC meeting will be called where a 4of 7 vote is sufficient for approval.
    3. If extenuating circumstances call for a contest to not be played at its scheduled time (weather conditions, institutional reasons, etc), that contest shall be rescheduled for the earliest possible time.  Every attempt should be made to not reduce the total number of Discobolus contests played in the school year (i.e. to not skip a week).  The IHC Athletics Manager shall have the power to make rulings dealing with the special circumstances that arise in such situations.
    4. Use of ineligible players, failure to appear for a contest, or any objectionable violations of the Discobolus rules shall be cause for forfeit. Written protest regarding eligibility and rules shall be lodged with the IHC Chairman or Secretary with in 48 hours after the disputed contest.
    5. Protests regarding refractions during the contest must be filed at the time of the infraction with the referees and the opposing Athletic Manager. The contest will continue to be played "under protest."
    6. All contests shall be covered by the rules of Interhouse Sports, except for the following modifications:
      1. Badminton, Table Tennis, Tennis
        1. contest shall be with 7-man teams (3 singles, 2 doubles).
        2. No man may play in more than one match.
        3. Teams are ranked according to ability.
      2. Bowling
        1. Teams shall consist of five people.
        2. A House's game score is the total score of its five players and the match shall be the best two out of three games.
        3. Substitutions may be made between games.
        4. Houses involved shall share the cost of the games.
      3. Cross Country
        1. Intercollegiate rules except the distance is three miles.
      4. Fencing
        1. Intercollegiate rules except that the contest will consist of five matches.
        2. Of these, three will be with foil. The remaining two matches shall be any combination of foil, saber, or epee.
        3. The challenging house shall specify the specific events on their challenge, otherwise the challenged House may assume any combination for the remaining two matches.
      5. Golf
        1. Five evenly-weighted 2-man matches, scored by match play.
        2. Green fees will be shared by the two Houses involved.
      6. Indoor Ultimate and Ultimate Frisbee
        1. Official UFA rules will be observed. See your local Athletic Manager for information on Indoor Ultimate Rules.
      7. Pool
        1. Contest shall be with 7-man teams (3 singles, 2 doubles) playing straight (14-1) pool. Three out of five games wins. Games shall be played to at least fifty points.
      8. Soccer
        1. Intercollegiate rules, except that the teams shall consist of 9 players and halves shall be 30 minutes long.
      9. Swimming
        1. All Interhouse swimming events. The challenging house must specify whether or not the challenge includes diving.
        2. Scoring shall be 5-3-1 for individual events and 7-0 for relays. A swimmer may enter two events and one relay, or two relays and one event.
        3. Workouts are not required.
      10. Track and Field
        1. All Interhouse Track and Field events.
        2. Practice shall not be required.
        3. Each House may enter three men in each event (except relay).
        4. Scoring shall be 5-3-1 for individual events, and 5-0 for relays.
        5. Each man may enter two events and the relay, at most. There shall be one relay team per house.
        6. The relay is to be run in lanes, determined by flip of coin, for first 440 yds., whereupon the runner may break for the pole.
        7. The top three finishers in preliminary shot put event shall be the final contestants in the event.
      11. Water Polo
        1. Intercollegiate rules, except that quarters shall be 6 minutes long.
      12. Wrestling
        1. Intercollegiate rules shall apply with the following exceptions:
          1. A match shall consist of 3 two-minute periods.
          2. Uniform shall be tennis shoes and shorts, T-shirt optional.
          3. Weigh-in shall be conducted by the coaches or their representatives within one hour before the match.
          4. Weights -- 123, 130, 137, 145, 155, 165, 175, Unlimited.
      13. Challenging team shall be regarded as the home team.
      14. In the event a match is tied at the end of regulation play, no overtime shall be played. The trophy shall remain with the challenged House.
      15. Any changes in contest rules may be made with prior consent by both Houses involved.

  5. Trophy

    1. During the school year, the trophy shall rotate with the challenge: a House shall keep the trophy only as long as the House remains undefeated.
    2. The trophy shall be awarded at the end of the school year to the House which has accumulated the most points as follows: 3 points for each match won, 2 points for each match tied, 1 point for each match lost, 0 points for each match lost by forfeit.
    3. In the case of a tie, the trophy shall be awarded to: first, the House with the most wins; second, the House with the most wins over the other House; third, by winning a mutually agreeable contest in some Discobolus sport. In this final contest, overtimes will be allowed until there is a winner.
    4. The trophy shall be inscribed with the name of the House winning it each year, and shall remain in that House during Rotation the next year.
    5. The Interhouse Committee shall be the final authority and shall settle all disputes and interpret these rules. In making decisions, they will be guided by mutual respect, cooperation, and the spirit of Discobolus competition.

The Athletic Department and the Interhouse Committee shall have joint jurisdiction concerning eligibility. The Athletic Department shall have sole jurisdiction concerning eligibility under rule I.