Hi Everyone,

We wanted to share out tournament policies and out of town travel for our club.  Please read the entire post.  It has tournament policies, requesting meetings and protocols, playing time, phone usage, match/ref time arrivals, etc.

OUT OF TOWN TOURNAMENT POLICIES

575 Volleyball has two types of out of town tournament policy structures:

Stay to Play Tournaments: These are rooms for National Qualifiers during the season where players rooms are included in their club dues. Players will stay 4 to a room assigned by their coach.

While players are primarily the responsibility of their parents at all times there are the following rules in place that the club and coaches will adhere to:

• Players are not allowed to be anywhere by themselves at any moment when they are at the hotel.  A minimum of one other person must be with them at all times.
• Players are to spend time with each other and not isolate themselves from their team.
• Players are not allowed to have anyone in their room except players on their team at any time.  This is to allow team bonding if they decide to spend time with each other.
• Players are not allowed to leave the hotel premises at any time unless they are with a parent/legal guardian for that weekend.
• All players must notify their coach and parents of any emergency immediately upon receiving information of such incidences.
• Players will maintain professional behavior towards each other and the hotel premises.  This includes but is not limited to noise levels, cleanliness, destruction of property, tv programs/movies/shows, conversations and use of phones/computers/tablets and any form of media and apps.
• Once players have their "lights out" at night they are not allowed on their phones and may not leave their rooms for the night until their assigned morning time and location.
• Players phones are to be on silent at night to ensure all players receive adequate sleep.  Coaches will not take them for cases of emergencies.
• Players will not be allowed to stay in rooms with players and must stay with their parents for the remainder of the season should any rules be violated.

Non-Stay to Play Tournaments:

Typically all tournaments are non-stay to play tournaments.  Parents are welcome to stay where they want and players will stay with their parents.  575 will provide contract a block of hotels to help teams stay together but they are only offered as an option and not mandatory.

For all tournaments both Stay to Play and Non-Stay to Play families are responsible for all travel to and from the hotel and to and from the tournament.

JEWELRY POLICY

USAV 4.5.1: …It is forbidden to wear hats or casts (even if padded). Braces, prosthetic limbs or other headgear that may cause an injury or give an artificial advantage to the player must not be worn. If a brace, prosthetic limb, or headgear is used, padding or covering may be necessary. Jewelry may be worn provided its nature does not present a concern for safety, such as extremely long necklaces and/or necklaces with large medallions, or large hoop earrings.

• Shirts/spandex with logos or names of other clubs or schools need to be left at home.  For practice, only 575 attire or “neutral” shirts on days the team is matching by color, theme, etc.  For tournament days, players are to wear their 575 warm up during  warm ups, and wear their cover up shorts or pants when not on the court.

TOURNAMENT POLICY

• Coaches and teams are required to be at their respective court no later than 1 hour before their scheduled first match of the day.  If you are assigned a reffing assignment first you must be at your court no later than 45 minutes before the scheduled match.  If your team has a bye first with no assignment you are still required to be there 1 hour before your scheduled match.  This will allow ample time for issues known and unknown that may arrive as well as allow the team to be ready mentally and physically to compete.
• When your team is assigned to ref players must know their assigned roles for both the first, second and possible third set before the match starts.  The scorekeeper may not be switched out between sets.  All players on the team must remain court side while your team is the work team.  Be attentive and focused on your responsibility as we expect the same from others when we are competing.  All tournaments require a coach to be at the work table though some allow you to be court side. If possible both coaches should try to help work to allow two more girls to warm-up.
• When your team is off the team should find another 575 volleyball team to cheer on unless they are eating.  The team must stay together except for the following exceptions: You have a sibling playing on a different court and your coach approves it. 2) You are spending time with extended family in town to watch you play and your coach approves it. The entire team should be back at their court no later than 15 points into the second set.  Once the match is over all players should be ready to warm-up immediately after the court is open to do so.
• At NO point are you allowed to leave the tournament facility during competition.  Teams should also remain together through the tournament day.  You should never be alone except for bathroom breaks.
   
• Phone policy during tournaments.  Players are allowed to have their phones the first 20 minutes of break between matches when they have no assignment.  It should ideally be used to promote team bonding such as listening to music or playing a game together.  If you are the work team all players will not use their phones regardless if they are working that set or not.
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  Players are required to bring two jerseys to every tournament day regardless of the color teams choose beforehand.
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  Players are required to wear something over their spandex when they are going to and leaving a tournament.
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  The buddy system is in place at all times, if you go anywhere you must have a buddy! If you're going to the bathroom in the middle of a game, a parent will be your buddy.
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PLAYING TIME POLICY

Playing time is always a sensitive issue in team sports. The purpose of 575 Volleyball Club's playing time policy is to document and communicate the club-wide guidelines in advance to ensure that those who commit to the Club understand what factors will be used to determine playing time over the course of the season.  Our Club has also established a process whereby a player/parent can raise concerns, if they believe the coach is not implementing the policy consistently on their respective team (set forth in the player/parent contract).

Whereas "house"-level sports programs advocate “equal playing time”, our Club does not advocate equal playing time, rather “earned playing time."  However, the Club does believe that all players should receive equal training opportunities at practice.

In volleyball, there are four (4) types of games – scrimmages, pool-play, playoffs/medal-brackets, and regionals/qualifiers. All players will receive some playing time during scrimmages and pool play at the discretion of the coach.  However, in playoffs/medal-brackets and playoffs or regionals/qualifiers, the factors below will be used to determine playing time:

1. Ability to execute during competition
2. Ability to perform specific skills needed or play a specific position during competition
3. Performance in practice (including skills, attitude and dedication)

4. Attendance/level of commitment to the team

5. Overall contribution, in whatever capacity, to the success of the team

 Athletic propensity dictates what position a person plays, her performance in practice dictates how and when she will be used in tournaments. Another factor that may influence court time is how she adds to or distracts from the team's performance as compared to a teammate who plays the same position.

During a tournament (i.e. game-day), coaches are constantly adjusting and evaluating line-ups, which means that some players will receive more court time than others.  Players are expected to understand and accept their role as defined by the coach and concede that the collective performance of the collective team has priority over the individual player.

Under no circumstances is it permissible for a parent or player to approach a coach during competition or at a tournament site to discuss playing time. Parents and players are required to wait 24 hours after the last tournament day before initiating any type of communication with a coach regarding playing time issues.  If a player is concerned or unclear about her role on the team, she should initiate a meeting with her coach to discuss the matter either before or after practice. Coaches will meet with players during the season to discuss each player's role on the team and to set individual goals.

Good luck to all our teams competing this weekend! We have teams National Teams competing in Fort Lauderdale at the MLK Ft. Lauderdale Invitational, in Atlanta at Lil' Big South, and beach teams competing in Clearwater!

There are 2 major software companies that tournaments use to post and provide live schedule updates: Advanced Event Systems (AES) and SportWrench.

We made a video walking you through the steps of how to work both systems!

Click here to watch the video!