We have had a busy summer. Congratulations to the teams that represented the Carolina Region at the Adult Volleyball Championships, Boy’s Junior Olympic Volleyball Championships and the Girl’s Junior Olympic Volleyball Championships. See the results in another section of this newsletter. The Carolina Region was well represented by our referees and scorekeepers at all these events. We can be proud of all their accomplishments.
The High Performance program sent a Junior age team to the Dominican Republic. We also sent two Youth teams and two USA Select teams to Ft. Lauderdale for the USA Volleyball High Performance Championships. For more information see the information in this newsletter and on the web site.
Congratulations to the juniors that represented the Carolina Region in the Beach Volleyball tournaments on the east coast and the tournament in Virginia Beach. See more information in this newsletter. Special thanks go to Mark Nalavenko and Vaughn Hastings with vh1vball.com who spearheaded clinics and tournaments for juniors in the area and helped them get to the big tournaments. The Carolina Region worked with vh1vball.com and the town of Cary with a facility grant to upgrade sand courts. The courts are now some of the best in the area. We would like to develop a beach tournament circuit for adults as well as juniors that would have stops in areas around the state for example: Wilmington, Raleigh, Triad and Charlotte (among others). Please contact me if you are willing to help with this effort.
The board of directors adopted a new set of bylaws that changed the structure of the board to allow for more direct input from the membership. There are now Adult, Youth and Junior and Official’s Advisory Boards. These Advisory Boards are getting up and running and you will be hearing more from them as we progress toward the start of the season.
This year we again did our season ending surveys. Here are some key results from the surveys. These issues (and others) will be topics for discussion by the newly formed division Advisory Boards.
On the adult side there was a preference to play on Saturdays (a few wanted Sunday play so they could coach juniors and play) and an interest in moving a few of the tournaments to other areas of the state (to spread the travel time a bit). There was a feeling that the Silver division (especially men’s) was too large. It was felt that an on court rating should be a required part of the Team referee certification process (it currently is encouraged) and that teams should have to meet these requirements before they are allowed to play (instead of by February 1st). There was also support for looking into the concept of online officiating clinics but there was disagreement over whether it should be available for all or just for re-certification. There was support for the concept of prize money instead of t-shirts, plaques or trophies.
On the junior side there was the feeling that the All-Region teams should be for all divisions not just gold. There is still the problem of getting significant participation so that the selection process identifies and recognizes the players who deserve it. There was support for separating the Regional Championships and the tournament to determine the bids to JOs. There was support for the concept of a power league or challenge series that would allow the top teams (and top teams from other regions) to get together 3-4 times during the season to compete. There was mixed feelings among divisions regarding the adult officials working during pool play (instead of the players) when there were enough officials. There was strong support for requiring of the adult officials the same background screening that is required of coaches. Another area that received strong support was requiring each team to have a coach who is also a certified referee (the junior certification would count) so that they know what the team is expected to know when they officiate. The behavior of parents and spectators was a concern and there was support for the development of a behavior policy similar to the Palmetto Region’s No Tolerance Policy.
Our next newsletter will give an overview of how the Board used this feedback to make changes and plans for the 2006/2007 season. Thank you to all that completed the surveys and we look forward to seeing everyone on the courts in 2007!