Adults

1. Tournament Types

Preseason Friendship Tournament: This style of tournament will be run beginning in the late summer or early fall and continue all the way up to the point of tournament season which typically will begin in December/January. These tournaments are geared for fun and to help teams warm-up for the regular season. All USAV/OVR rules regarding the play of the game will be enforced; however, rules not regarding the actual play of the game will be left to the discretion of the tournament director to apply within reason prior to the beginning of each tournament and listing. Although teams are encouraged to wear uniforms, a uniform policy will not be enforced with the exception of a Libero jersey. If a team chooses to utilize a Libero, the Libero must be in a distinctive uniform other than the other members of their team. This is a relaxed format with the spirit of allowing people to play. Although tournament directors are encouraged to offer prizes for winning, they will not be required to do so for this tournament and may set a team entrance fee.

Sanctioned Friendship Tournament: This format will be experimental for the 2011 season and may continue if it is deemed effective. It will run during the season at different venues on a limited basis. These matches will count towards points for regional playoff rankings. This format will follow the guidelines of a preseason Friendship Tournament in the spirit of relaxing the rules and allowing people to play, however, it will be a more formal tournament in the sense and spirit of USA Volleyball rules. Tournament directors will have the option of having registered teams self-ref the pool play matches as long as a certified official is present (whether playing on a team or not) and then bringing in a certified USAV & OVR, non-playing, referee to officiate the semi-finals and final matches. During pool play, the tournament director will be responsible for knowing and applying the rules in the role of a head referee if he/she decides to use certified referees for semi-finals and finals only. A tournament director may also use a simplified score sheet if presented to the OVR adult tournament directors and approved at least 1 week prior to the tournament. Tournament directors are expected to furnish prizes for winners of each division they host. A recommended team entrance fee of $120 will be given, although the tournament director may set the entry fee within a range of $90-$150 per team.

Sanctioned Season Tournament: The most formal of the 3 tournaments, USAV / OVR Adult Volleyball Rules Modifications will govern this tournament style with no exception. This format will be used for Regional championships. Certified, non-playing referees will be present and preside over all matches including pool play. In the point seeding system, this format will earn a team the most points possible of all of the tournament formats. Tournament directors are expected to furnish prizes for each division champion. Tournament entry fee will be $120.

Regionals: At the end of each season the OVR may organize and run championships at each level of competition that has had participation during the year and which draws sufficient entries to justify a tournament. Rules for championships and seeding will be published prior to the beginning of each season and will be republished prior to any regional championship. Regional championships will follow a Sanctioned Season Tournament format.

2. Divisions and Levels of Competition

OVR adults' tournaments will be sanctioned for men's, women's, and coed categories. Levels of competition are Open, AA, A, BB, B, CC, C. The specification of a category and level (i.e., Women's B) shall be a division of play.

A registered team may always play in a higher ranked division, but is discouraged from playing down a level and will not receive points for the OVR regional seeding system.

Women are allowed to play in men's tournaments, but men are not allowed to play in women's tournaments. Juniors' teams may enter as adults' teams for any suitable tournament but must get the approval of the appropriate OVR Adults' Tournament Director.

3. Team Affiliation/Rosters

All players in the OVR should be listed on a roster for a team. In the spirit of competition, teams may still register using individual clubs, but will now fall under a parent club titled "Ohio Valley Region Adults". By integrating a parent club to oversee the region's individual clubs, this will allow an individual adult player in the OVR to substitute on different teams as the need may arise during the preseason and regular season. An individual adult player may not participate on more than 1 team within the same tournament, unless there are extenuating circumstances and it is presented to the tournament director for approval (i.e... if an injury occurs and a team is left with 5 players, a team with 7 players may be permitted to have their 7th player be removed from their roster and added with another team for the duration of that specific tournament only).

For Regional Championship play, for a player to be eligible, that player must have played with his/her designated team for no less than 1 complete tournament throughout their current registered season. A player may not compete with 2 separate teams within the same division at regionals, but may compete in separate divisions. All rosters changes or additions for teams competing in regionals must be submitted to the OVR Adults' Tournament directors via mail or email with a time stamp/date no more less than 1 week prior to the event.

Team Representatives are responsible for making sure an up-to-date team roster has been submitted to the tournament director on the day of the tournament prior to the team's first match of the day. The roster is required to list team members' names, OVR season number or 1 day only OVR number, and uniform numbers. Any change in uniform number may be made on the roster at any time without penalty. A team must have a minimum of 6 individually registered players physically present at the start of their match to begin. Rosters and team lineups are not required to be signed by the captain, coach, or team representative.

If changes other than a deletion must be made to the roster after they are initially submitted (beyond the uniform number), they must be made by the tournament director at his/her convenience or the roster change will be disallowed.

Team rosters will be posted by the tournament director for players to view during the day's competition.

Teams must have 6 players physically present to begin play in any tournament. If a player is injured or has to leave for any reason throughout the course of a Sanctioned Season Tournament or a Sanctioned Season Friendship Tournament, in the spirit of competition, they will be permitted to continue play utilizing a ghost player, including completing in playoffs. Any team utilizing a ghost player due to an expulsion or ejection of a player will not be permitted to play in playoffs. A team that is ineligible for playoffs will not earn the potential points available to them for placing in a tournament in the Point Accumulation Scoring System (see below).

One-day memberships will be available for the 2011 season. A player may either register on site with a tournament director or register online. A player registering online will still be required to sign any waivers required by USA Volleyball or the Ohio Valley Region and present them to the tournament director prior to any participation.

Due to insurance policies, absolutely no one is permitted to play or participate in a USAV/OVR event without being a registered player. Any player or team who is either playing or utilizing a player that is not registered with the OVR will be asked to immediately remove the player until they complete either a full registration or a 1 day only registration. If the player chooses not to register, a team will receive sanctions leading up to and including warnings, loss of points in the P.A.S.S., forfeiture of matches for the tournament, expulsion from the tournament, and loss of eligibility to compete in future OVR events.

4. Ghost Players

A team may utilize a single ghost player in the event of injury or the inability of a player to continue play. The ghost player must appear on the lineup and must be maintained in the rotation. When it is the ghost player's turn to serve, the first referee will authorize serve. When no player is present to serve and the allowed time to serve has expired, a loss of rally will occur and an immediate point/side-out to the receiving team will be awarded. Teams playing with a ghost player are eligible for tournament playoffs.

A ghost player may be substituted for an injured player with an abnormal substitution if and only if there are no other players on the bench. The normal injury time-out is allowed prior to substituting a ghost for the injured player. If a ghost player replaces an injured player, the injured player may not re-enter the set.

If a player is expelled or disqualified, a ghost player may not be substituted for that player. A team having a disqualified or expelled player must have another player present to replace the removed player. If they are unable to do so, they will forfeit the remainder of that match as well as any subsequent matches a 6th player is not present. Furthermore, if at any point, a team has fewer than five physically able players present at the beginning of a match or throughout the duration of a match, they shall be considered an "Incomplete Team" as defined by USAV. They will immediately forfeit those matches but be allowed to play in the spirit of competition. An incomplete team may not advance to the playoff round nor earn points or prizes other than tournament entry points if applicable due to an inability to complete a tournament.

5. Uniforms

Team uniforms do not need to be matching in design, but do need to be of matching color. Numbers cannot be taped on, but may be written on as to satisfy visibility of such number to be seen while a player is anywhere on the court by both the 1st official and scorekeeper's table. Numbers must be at least 4" on the front and 6" on the back.

If a Libero is being used, the Libero's shirt must be contrasting to the other team members' uniforms and legality of the Libero's uniforms is at the sole discretion of the head referee.

Teams may use their time outs in order to obtain legal uniforms or use a ghost player* (see below for description) if the other 5 players on the court have a legal uniform.

Teams without proper uniforms (provided all shirts have some sort of unique number) may play in round robin and pool play, however, a team at that point will be disqualified and may not advance to playoffs or point earning rounds and will thus becoming ineligible to earn points to qualify for regional seeding.

The tournament's head referee has the final decision on all uniform questions. In the spirit of letting people play, we encourage referees to not intentionally seek out issues, but rather deal with a situation if/when it arises. If a team is disqualified for playoffs due to a uniform violation, the tournament director is responsible for notifying the proper OVR Adults' Tournament director.

Due to insurance company policies and safety reasons, jewelry may not be worn.

6. Referees

All referees at sanctioned tournaments must be non-playing, OVR, USAV-certified referees, except at a Season Sanctioned Friendship tournaments. A Sanctioned Friendship tournament will require a non-playing OVR, USAV certified referee only for the semi-final, and final matches of tournament play.

The head referee must be a non-playing referee. Other referees may be player-referees.

The tournament director will assign all non-playing referees. Tournament directors planning to use player-referees must inform the OVR Adults' Tournament Directors of their plans and officiating requirements. A list of player referees used, along with a signed "acknowledgment of participation" form must be submitted to the OVR Adults' Tournament director within 1 week of the conclusion of the tournament. Failure to do so may result in loss of player-referee privileges for both the tournament director and host facility.

7. Fees

The individual tournament director for individual Preseason Friendship Tournaments and Sanctioned Season Tournaments will establish their own tournament entry fees in accordance of expenses related to hosting individual tournaments. OVR sanctioned tournaments are not to be run for the excessive profit of any individual or organization and therefore will place a cap of a $150 pre-season or regular season tournament entry fee per team as well as a minimum of $90 per team. A suggested team entry fee will be $120. Regional championships will cost $180 per team.

A Friendship Tournament entrance fee will range within the same pricing structure as above. Although a tournament director is not required to furnish a prize for a friendship tournament, it is strongly encouraged.

Tournament directors are invited to provide income and cost breakdowns for their tournament, or periodically for a typical tournament, to assist the OVR Adults' Tournament Directors in monitoring tournament costs in the region.

An adult player-only membership is being offered for the 2010-2011 season for $40. If you have a group of 10+ teams (60 players) that is looking to register, please contact the OVR to see if any group discounts are available for registration.

An individual player may purchase a one-day membership for a cost of $15 in order to compete in an OVR event.

8. Point Accumulation Seeding System (P.A.S.S.)

Teams will earn points that reward both participation and performance throughout the season to determine their Regional Ranking for Championships. This will be an accumulated total. In order for a team to earn entrance and participation points, they must complete at least the pool play of the tournament. If a team wishes to earn additional placement points as listed on the chart below, they must be able to field a team for playoffs if a playoff place is available for that team. If a team is ejected or asked to leave for any reason, they will forfeit all potential points earned for that tournament. An individual player ejected or expelled will also results in a team receiving negative points as defined below.

activitypoints
Hosting a tournament100
Team entrance/completion of Sanctioned Season Tournament150
Team Entrance/completion of Sanctioned Season Friendship Tournament100
Team Entrance/ completion of a Preseason Friendship Tournament50
Having 2 certified scorekeepers on your team50
Having a USAV / OVR certified referee compete on your team for at least 2 Sanctioned matches (per referee on roster)50
Player ejection / expulsion‑25  
 points for tournaments of:
team result 3-6 teams 7-12 teams 13+ teams
1st place50100150
2nd place4080120
3rd place3060100
4th place204080
5th place102060
6th place102060
7th placen/a2060
8th placen/a2060
9th placen/a1030
10th placen/a1030
12th placen/a1030
13th-16th placen/an/a20
17th+ placen/an/a10

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