The Carolina Region has had tremendous growth in the number of Junior members over the past several seasons.  While this is good for the overall level of play and promotion of volleyball in North Carolina, it has magnified many of the problems with recruiting that a competitive program will often have.  For this reason, the Carolina Region Board of Directors has issued the following to address some of the questions and concerns about the recruiting of players to try to avoid serious problems in the future with recruiting.

Guiding Principle:
Clubs/Teams/Coaches need to understand that they do not own the rights to players.  Players (with help from their parents/guardians) have the right to choose where they want to get their club volleyball experience.  Each membership year, each family (which includes the individual player and his/her parents/guardians) has the right to choose to play for a different club/team than the year before without repercussions from their previous club.  A club is defined as one or more teams registering with the Carolina Region and club representatives include but are not limited to official club reps, team reps, coaches, assistant coaches, chaperones, parents of players in the club, and players in the club (all of which may represent the club to others in some capacity).

Recruiting vs. Promoting:
Clubs have the right to promote their club and tryout information.  They may do this in a variety of ways including but not limited to newspaper ads, flyers, brochures, and websites.  Clubs may mail/email general information on their tryouts/club to anyone.  If a club representative is addressing a family that was in the club that the club representative was affiliated with the prior season, then the communication to that player may be addressed to that person by name and be more specific about the club benefits.    If a club representative is addressing a family that WAS NOT in the club that the club representative was affiliated with the prior season, then the communication is restricted to a general promotion announcing the tryout dates/times and basic information about the club.  Promises of playing time and comparisons with other clubs in an attempt to persuade a player to switch clubs are examples of communication that is inappropriate if directed to a family/player that was not in that club the prior season.

The Carolina Region/USAV encourages all clubs to adopt these philosophies/principles at a minimum as policy within their club for the benefit of all junior players in our Region.  If a club is accused of not following these recruiting guidelines, the Region will send a letter/email of notice to the affected club, the player in question, and the parents/guardian of the player in question outlining the steps and information needed to bring the accused club up before the Region on illegal recruiting.  The Junior Division welcomes all comments from the junior community on this and other issues concerning the division.  Please direct all communication through the Region Office (office@CarolinaRegionVB.org) and we will address it at future Junior Advisory Board meetings.  The Region is specifically requesting feedback on what type of penalties should be associated with proven recruiting violations.