Club Rules

1 Purpose and Principles

• Build a high-quality, values-driven club focused on enjoyment, teamwork, and excellence.
• Prioritize quality over quantity: few teams, highly competitive, with fulfilled players.
• Maintain a culture of altruism, tolerance, and solidarity.
• Ensure new players' mindset aligns with the club's aspirations and community spirit, including contribution to club duties and integration in Geneva.

2 Scope

• Applies to all prospective players requesting to join and to all club officials involved: coach, captain, leadership and core senior players, president, committee.

3 Roles and Decision Authority

• Coach: leads the evaluation, observes trials, gathers feedback, and recommends decisions.
• Team leadership (captain, senior core players) and President: provide input, especially on fit and needs.
• Club committee: ensures decisions follow club strategy and governance.
• Decision hierarchy: the coach proposes; consensus is sought with captain, president and senior core; the committee provides oversight when needed.

4 Trial Pathway

• Initial contact: any player requesting to join should be introduced to one of the team captains or the committee members, and is directed to Friday training. This may differ for the women's team, at the discretion of the head coach.
• Escalation to Monday: if the Friday senior leaders judge it appropriate, the player may be invited to Monday training.
• Trial limit: up to three free trial sessions, on one condition — after the first trial, the player may only return if explicitly invited by the coach.
• By the end of the third coach-approved trial, the club must give the player a decision.

5 Possible Decisions

• Authorized to participate in trainings.
• Authorized to take a federation license, i.e. to join officially and compete.
• Authorized to train on Fridays only.
• No opportunity in the club; we wish the player success in finding another club.

6 Evaluation Criteria

• Team needs: positions, profiles, roster capacity.
• If the roster is full: a specific, technical discussion must be held among the coach, captain, president and senior core members.
• Contribution to club objectives: sporting, ethical, organizational and financial — considering both the current and the next season.
• Mindset and integration: respect rules and hierarchies; participate in all club activities and obligations, such as score table duties; demonstrate willingness to integrate into the team, the club and the wider Geneva community; sign and abide by the Player's Charter.

7 Process Standards and Rationale

• Avoid improvisation: use this routine for every new player to ensure fairness and consistency.
• Seek consensus rather than divergent voices leading to division.
• Maintain clear decision-making hierarchy and legitimacy: committee, elected or designated coaches, captain, senior leaders.
• Align every individual decision with the club's short-, medium- and long-term strategy.
• Institutionalize processes to achieve excellence, individual fulfillment within the collective, and long-term sustainability of the club.
• Prioritize thorough evaluation over speed: it is better to invest effort upfront than to manage training disruptions from a poor fit — recent years have confirmed this.

8 Communication Guidelines

• Set expectations at first contact: trial structure, criteria and possible outcomes.
• Provide timely feedback after each trial; a formal decision no later than the end of the third trial.
• If declining, communicate respectfully and supportively, encouraging the player's search for another club.