Michigan DECA Substitution Policy

No substitutions will be allowed in the Series, Management Team Decision Making, Marketing Representative, Marketing Research, Business, Management & Entrepreneurship Events, DECA Quiz Bowl, or Team Decision Making Events.

If one member of a team cannot attend the next level of competition, no one may be substituted in his or her place. If the event requires a minimum number of team members (i.e. MDM Events), the original team will not advance and the alternate team will be called to attend the next level of competition.

For Chapter Written Events, only one of the team members may be substituted between levels of competition, and the team size may not increase from the original number registered. For example, if a Civic Consciousness Project was entered with John and Mary as the participants, and qualified at the State Conference to advance to the International Level, no additional participants may be added. If either Mary or John couldn’t attend the ICDC, then the other could compete alone, or one of them may be substituted, but one of the original members has to participate. The team size could not increase to 3 participants.

For All Written Events, the names on the submitted written projects must be the same as those on the conference registration form. If the names are different, and do not follow the substitution rules, the entry will be disqualified.

Chapter Advisors have volunteered to double check each state conference registration to be sure that chapters are following the substitution policy and that the correct qualifiers from the district conference are advancing on to the state conference. You should fully explain to students that they will not be able to compete if one of them is unable for any reason to attend the next level of competition.

Rationale for the policy includes:
• Fairness to runner up teams that remain intact
• Entering into a team event is much like entering into a tennis tournament with a partner. If, midway through a tournament, one partner is injured the remaining player may not choose another teammate. The Advisors Council cannot ethically change this philosophy in a team event.
• When a partnership is formed, it is one entry. Changing partners changes the makeup of the team dynamics, knowledge sets, etc, and it becomes a new entry completely. This new entry did not qualify to go on to a new round of competition.
• This also makes it consistent with Series events. When someone in a Series event cannot continue, that chapter may not substitute someone in for that person…the next runner up is entitled to the spot.
• Ranking – Competitive event spots are not an entitlement to a chapter, they’re based on the members of the team.
• There are options available. If a team member cannot compete, the remaining member can participate in the
• Team Decision Making or Quiz Bowl Event at the State Conference.
• This is also a “teachable moment” policy. Students should have impressed upon them the importance of
choosing a partner wisely, and know up-front that they “live and die” as a team.
• In addition, changing the policy could encourage advisors to substitute members for minor reasons.