At the 2008 Summer Board Meeting, the CBTF Board of Directors approved Proposal #7 of the 2008 Winter Technical Meeting. That Proposal was:

The minimum age to participate in all competitive Individual, Duet and Group events shall be 7 years of age as at December 31^st.

Clarification: Ages 4-6 may participate in the Pre-Competitive Events Program.

Effective: January 1, 2010.

The proposal was made with a 2-year implementation period so that any 5 and 6 year olds that were already competing would not be removed from competition when the minimum age was raised to 7. There was an expectation that provinces would, immediately, begin to phase in the minimum age to compete so that no one would be disadvantaged in September 2010 when the Proposal came fully into effect.

At the 2009 Fall Technical Committee Meeting, it was clear that some provinces had not followed a phase-in process and that there are still a few children who will be 5 or 6 year olds (as of Dec 31/09) who have already been competing in individual, duet and/or group events.

After discussion, the Technical Committee agreed that these situation would be best handled on a case-by-case basis by giving Competition Directors the discretion to waive the minimum age rule in situations where the young athlete had previously competed at CBTF sanctioned competitions.

The general policy of raising the minimum age remains in effect - the Directives granting discretion apply only to the 2009-10 and 2010-11 competitive seasons. With the 2011-12 competitive season, without exception, athletes must be 7 years of age as of December 31, 2011 to be eligible to participate in Individual, Duet or Group competitive events.