2024 National Rankings for the National Champions League hosted by the Federation of Dance Sport South Africa
2024 National ranking RESULTS INFORMATION The National Champions League series was established in 2019 to keep a record of nationally competing Championship athletes/couples and to award points to those athletes/couples for the purpose of the National Rankings as well as International Representation. Moreover, the Champions League Rules were established with the primary objective to ensure that the rankings and representation are simple, fair, transparent and are professionally presented. These rules are put in place as a tool to ascertain, out of the National Rankings, those athletes who are eligible to represent the country internationally by meeting the set criteria in the rules to qualify for representation. In this release we seek to update membership on various aspects of the Champions League while addressing the multiple questions arising from various sectorsin our membership rank and file. 1. NATIONAL RANKINGSThe National Rankings should be understood as a record of participation in the recognized national events for ‘log ladder’ points as well as how couples/athletes performed throughout the season. Rankings take into account all athletes/couples who have participated in the National Champions League series and rank them, in their age categories, according to points accumulated (calculated as per National Champions League Rules) from largest to smallest. This is the reason why even couples/athletes who would have not fully met the Champions League Rules set criteria for representation are included as part of the rankings. The National Rankings are published on our various media platforms and kept as a record for public scrutiny. 2. INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIONRepresentation takes into account national rankings and other recognized methods for selecting qualifying candidates. This is achieved by applying the set criteria per the National Champions League rules as well as considering various other applicable rules of the Federation, SASCOC and WDSF that affect selection for international representation. In order to represent South Africa at the various WDSF World Championships, the Federation is allowed to select and send two (2) representatives in each age category (junior II, youth, under 21, adult, senior I, II, III, IV, V) in a particular style (e.g. Standard/Latin American). In order to select the two representatives, the Federation established the National Champions League series as one method of selection as well as considered the National Championships as the other selection method – in a single Dance Sport calendar/season as follows: The first representative to the WDSF World Championships is a couple/athlete topping the National Rankings in their relevant age category for that season – taking into consideration all rules applicable for representation including but not limited to age category, partner changes, full participation etc. The second representative is a couple/athlete winning the National Championships in their relevant age category in that season – taking into consideration all rules applicable for representation including but not limited to age category, partner changes etc. In case the winner of the rankings becomes the winner of the National Championships, the second representative will be considered up to 6th place from the National Rankings – taking into consideration all rules applicable for representation including but not limited to age category, partner changes, participation etc. 3. CHALLENGES AND REMEDIAL ACTIONHaving implemented the National Champions League series since 2019, various challenges have been experienced which necessitated continuous interventions to ensure that the implementation does not move away from its intended objective – to have a simple, fair and transparent ranking and representation system in place. The following are some of the challenges experienced and the measures implemented to rectify them: i. Couples Registering and Dancing Incorrect Age Categories • to curb this the Federation imposed a condition that the couples/athletes wishing to represent at the WDSF Championships must participate in the age category that they will fall in the following year (year of representation) according to WDSF age categories e.g. a couple turning adult in 2024 must participate in the adult age category in 2023. • As a result, couples/athletes who do not adhere to this condition will be disqualified and therefore removed from the rankings and will not be eligible for representation.ii. Registration With WDSF • In the beginning of 2023, the Federation imposed a condition that, in order to take part in the Champions League series and the National Championships, ALL Championship couples must be registered with WDSF, as this ensures that couples are registered in the correct WDSF age categories even before they are selected for representation. • To make it easy for athletes to register themselves, every Champions’ League entry form had instructions of how to register with WDSF. Understanding that this was being implemented for the first time this year, the Federation exercised leniency and allowed couples/athletes to register until after Champions League 3 and further held a training session or workshop to get to understand the issues and challenges experienced by individual athletes with the aim to assist those athletes who had experienced challenges. • Various challenges experienced ranged from: – Attaching ID instead of passport as per WDSF requirements, – Attaching a picture with a colourful background instead of a white background as per WDSF requirements. – Incorrectly signing of declaration forms • Note: all athletes/couples who fail to register with WDSF at the beginning of the season will not be eligible for representation. iii. Partner Changes in the Middle of the Season or After Selection for Representation • Changing a partner in the middle of the season results in forfeiting all ranking points already accumulated with that partner, complete removal from rankings therefore forfeiting the right to representation. • changing a partner after selection for representation disqualifies a couple from representation until the next representation year/season. iv. Couples/Athletes not Participating in All Three Champions Leagues According to the current Champions League rules couples/athletes MUST participate in ALL 3 Champions Leagues in order to be eligible for representation. Couples/athletes who do not participate in all 3 Champions Leagues, even though they may be included in the rankings, are not eligible for representation unless there is a valid reason