(board members listed in bold)

Present: Ron Wyzynski, Bob Price, Keith Burke, Don Burroughs, Steve Donahue, Adam Evans, Art Faura, Brian Hemelgarn, Tom Kohl, Terry Miller, Gary Hesse, Nick Nystrom Patty Salvatore, Hank Trimble, Emi Vishoot, Bill Zehler,
Not present: Al Herbert, Michelle Hills
Guest: Connor McCluskey, boys' volleyball coach at Walsh Jesuit HS; member of Board for Ohio High School Boys' Volleyball Coaches' Association (OHSBVCA)

[ Administration & Governance | CEO's Report | Juniors' Volleyball | Adults' Volleyball | Officiating & Rules ]

Administration & Governance

CEO's Report

  • Membership has increased over 2009 season.
  • There will be adjustments to officers' salaries based on changes in workload (compared to 2009 season).
  • Ron distributed handouts detailing expenses.
  • Winterfest: Consensus is to continue this event even though the costs significantly exceed the income.
  • 2011 dates will be February 5-6.
  • 2011 OVR events
    • Winterfest: Set-up: E/F on FR, Feb 4. Competition: Feb 5-6. Tear-down & move out: SU, Feb 6.
    • Adults' Regionals/Bids: Set-up: D/E/F on TH, Apr 7 & FR, Apr 8. Competition: Apr 9-10. Tear-down & move out: MO, Apr 11; start tear-down on SU, Apr 10; stage in Hall D and load trucks on MO, Apr 11.
    • Girls' Championships: Set-up: E/F on TH, May 5 & FR, May 6; C/D on FR, May 6. Competition: May 7-8; May 14-15; May 21-22. Tear-down & move out: MO, May 23; start tear-down on SU, May 22; stage in Hall D and load trucks on MO, May 23.
  • 2012 OVR events
    • Winterfest: Set-up, competition and tear-down dates will be comparable to 2011, based on 2012 Presidents' Cup dates.
    • Adults' Regionals/Bids: Set-up: D/E/F on TH, Apr 12 & FR, Apr 13. Competition: Apr 14-15. Tear-down & move out: MO, Apr 16; start tear-down on SU, Apr 15; stage in Hall D and load trucks on MO, Apr 16.
    • Girls' Championships: Set-up: E/F on TH, May 3 & FR, May 4; C/D on FR, May 4. Competition: May 5-6; May 12-13; May 19-20. Tear-down & move out: MO, May 21; start tear-down on SU, May 20; stage in Hall D and load trucks on MO, May 21.
  • Replacement court tiles: We Will purchase tiles to serve as replacement tiles on an as-needed basis for our courts.

Juniors' Volleyball

  • Bill Zehler, Girls' Program Director
    • Presented statistics about number of teams and players.
    • Kaepa sales and OVR monetary benefit: only one club participated; the OVR received 10%.
    • Need to encourage more 14 Regional teams to register as 14 American. Currently, approximately 62% of all teams are registered as Regional.
    • Promotion of beach volleyball.
    • Girls' Championships: 55% of National teams participated, lowest percentage of all age groups and divisions. Kudos to all for helping make this year's Championships one of the smoothest. There were many positive comments on spacing and court locations.
  • Tom Kohl, Juniors' Tournament Director
    • Presented statistics about the number of tournaments that were sanctioned.
    • Tournaments sanctioned based on several factors: geographic location; age group and category; number of courts.
    • Appreciated observations about the tournament sites and comments about compliance.
  • Juniors' Advisory Board: Bill Zehler and Gretchen Niebling
    • The following topics were discussed and brought forward for consideration:
      • Allowing Libero to serve
        • Rationale: number of players that are Liberos is relatively small compared to total number of players on teams (so impact of this change affects a small percentage of players); JAB unanimously endorsed this request
          • Background: regions that want to use a modification to the DCR are supposed to submit a request to the RTC with statistical justification for the modification; have not provided sufficient justification so RTC position is to not provide rules interpretations involving this modification; 13 regions have chosen to use the Libero serve modification
          • Clarification that "Liberos are not allowed to serve" only applies to competition; Liberos are allowed to serve In practice or warm-up situations
        • Zehler will submit a motion for Board consideration; if this motion fails, request that Salvatore develop a position paper that refutes the Libero serving concept
      • Tryouts; suggestions:
        • Reduce decision period to eight (8) days
        • Define a "signing day" of December 1 (regardless of when the tryouts occur); multiple signing days that take into consideration that a large number of tryouts occur on the Sunday immediately following the State tournament; (first signing day is eight days after that first Sunday)
        • Summer tryouts: several regions that adopted this concept are rethinking this option; summer tryout periods conflict with family vacation plans
        • 2009-2010 statistics: OH state championships ended on Nov 14; 619 tryouts; 335 occurred during first two weeks following state championship (Nov 15-29); 175 occurred on Nov 15 5. Suggestion: establish the first signing date to be 10 days after the first Sunday following the end of the state volleyball championships
      • Invitation to rejoin club and team for next season
        • Specific guidelines that define acceptance and signing deadlines; tryouts to fill open spots that aren't filled by invitation must have full disclosure (identify number and positions of open spots, identify specific team, identify coaches)
        • Invitations can only be offered to own players whose USAV season has ended (if team will participate at JNC, then season isn't over until after JNC participation)
        • Suggestion: define recruiting period June 1-July 31, PROVIDED that player's USAV season is over; after player accepts invitation, publish list of invitation players and these players are prohibited from participating in tryouts
  • Juniors' Advisory Board items
    • Motion (Zehler/Evans): Permit the Libero to serve in OVR-sanctioned, non-qualifying events. Failed 4-8-1.
    • Motion (Zehler/Evans): Athletes extended offers at tryouts held within the first ten (10) days must accept or decline the contract by the end of that 10-day period. Athletes not initially offered a position but later extended an offer have 48 hours to accept or decline their contract. The Region will publish the calendar of tryout periods and acceptance dates and deadlines. Carried 12-1-0.
    • Tryouts: AAU has no policy on when tryouts occur and preserving the athletic eligibility of the players.
      • Motion (Zehler/Hemelgarn): At the conclusion of the current season for athletes from a program (and between the dates of June 1 and July 31), their current club may extend an offer to participate with the same program for the next season. The contract must be accepted by August 1. Declining this offer does not preclude the athlete from participation in that program's regular tryout. Motion carried: 12-1-0.
  • Gary Hesse, Junior Officials' Development Director
    • Did not require attending a clinic this year
    • Problem areas: new clubs and teams; teams not able to get players certified due to only JO referees working the events; officiating skill level of younger age groups (14 and younger)
      • More training tools available for players to use online (both scorekeeping and second referee)
      • Require minimum of one Provisional referee at every tournament to assist with training junior players AND serve as head referee
        • Ensure that these Provisional+ referees understand proper techniques and information
        • During referee clinics, set aside time to meet with referees who will be conducting junior clinics to establish consistency
        • Require new clubs/teams conduct junior clinics as part of the player certification process
      • Motion 10 (Hemelgarn/Nystrom): All OVR-sanctioned regular-season tournaments are required to have at least one Provisional-rated referee (or higher). Motion carried: 12-0. Ensure the OVR web site will not allow a TD to enter only JO referees for the event.
    • Work teams that habitually perform poorly
      • How to hold the coach accountable for team's knowledge and performance?
      • Club directors aren't sharing pertinent information to team coaches; need to have individual contact information for each member (not the club directors' contact information for every club member)
  • High Performance Program
    • Discussed our commitment toward the HP program and whether we feel the program is accomplishing the advertised goals
      • Originally described as a conduit for identifying the top-level athletes for national teams; in reality, those athletes are being identified through other means and are already participating in USAV national team pipelines
      • Not necessarily getting the top-tier athletes; majority of players tend to be the mid-level players who can afford the added expense and whose parents are hopeful the experience will open up opportunities that wouldn’t happen otherwise
      • OVR is the only region that provides monetary support toward the program; other regions require players to pay the full tab
    • USAV expected to require that regions have a HP program as a condition for being a region in good standing
    • Coaches for HP teams
      • Boys' HP: Tim Embaugh (Juniors=19 and 20 years old) and Glenn Freed (Youth=17 and 18 years old)
      • Girls' HP: Jon Bennett (Juniors=18 and 19 years old) and (need name) (Youth=16 and 17 years old)
  • Boys' volleyball grant program
    • Original grant program (August 2006 meeting): OVR will pay $250 per team up to a maximum commitment of $5000 per year, contingent on commitment from USAV.
    • One of the goals of the grant program: add 20 boys' teams per year.
    • Current number of boys' high schools teams is listed at 72, but realistically the number is around 65; negligible growth over the past four years.
    • Will re-examine our continued support for this program after further discussions with new regime within OHSBVCA.
  • The Men's Junior National team will be using the GaREAT facility as their training facility in preparation for the Junior Continental Championships in Quebec, Canada.
    • Competition dates are 14-22 August, 2010.
    • Suggestion: publicize the training schedule and encourage boys' teams to observe.

Adults' Volleyball

  • Players playing for more than one club
    • Current system: eliminated "Club Ohio" and established multiple clubs consistent with geographic areas; teams pick up players to complete their teams for competition.
    • Suggestion: eliminate the club system entirely but retain the "rule of two" which limits the number of added players.
    • Micki agrees with this suggested concept; no motion necessary ("Club OVR" concept).
  • Allow teams to play with five players, even to start
    • Team with five rotates without consideration of phantom spot
      • Alternatively, phantom position exists throughout rotation (two players in front row when phantom spot is in front row; when phantom position rotates into position 1, then team automatically loses service).
      • Where should the line be drawn? If a team of five loses a player, will we morph into allowing four players?
    • This year's Adult Regionals was the most congenial in a long time; relaxing the uniform requirements helped establish a friendlier playing environment.
    • Adult team population hasn't grown over the past few years; continued requests for deviation from DCR has led adult competition to become more in line with recreation leagues
    • Motion 7 (Fox/Nystrom): To allow adults to participate with five players in OVR-sanctioned events. Motion failed: 4-7-2.
    • Motion 8 (Miller/Evans): Change the OVR Adult Regional Championships to OVR Adult Championships and allow any adult team from any region to participate. Motion carried: 9-4-0.
    • Motion 9 (Hemelgarn/Evans): Rescind two-tournament requirement for OVR adult teams to participate in the OVR Adult Championships. Motion carried: 9-4-0.
    • Collegiate club membership plan
      • Suggestion: "regular" collegiate club membership (possibly at reduced rate) or single-time event membership (requires accurate records to ensure an individual doesn't pay this single-time membership more than once per season).
      • USAV is considering a reduced membership rate for juniors; this would affect the number of bids that a region would earn (bids are based on full membership).
  • 2011 adult' tournament schedule
    • Concern about the number of Men's AA tournaments in a row.
    • NE Ohio, central Ohio, NE Ohio; doesn't consider as three "in a row" since central Ohio is geographically different.
    • Get Adults' Players Advisory Board to coordinate among the AA teams and tournament directors to determine which events have the support; cancel the other events.
  • Different opinions with respect to posting tournament schedule now vs. later when teams and players start registering.
  • Need to form an active Adults' Program Advisory Board to make sure we have an accurate understanding of what the teams want and get feedback on the adults program.
    • Be a means to get information directly from the teams and players.
    • Adult Players' Advisory Board: Evans, Miller, Trimble, Fox. Chair: Evans.
  • Motion (Hemelgarn/Zehler): "Separate Adults' Tournament Director position into Men's and Women's positions, effective June 13, 2010". Approved 9-4.
    • Recommend the two new positions be Women's Program Director and Men's Program Director.
    • Action Item: This change will require adjustments to the OVR By-laws, which we will need to accomplish at the October 2010 meeting.
    • Openings will be publicized for election at the October meeting.

Officiating & Rules

  • Brian Hemelgarn will announce clinic dates for 2010-2011 season later; note that second weekend of December that's traditionally been the Dayton clinic date conflicts with regional round of NCAA Div I (UD is a host site).
    • Ambridge PA clinic will be 8 Jan 2011 and Cuyahoga Falls OH clinic will be 9 Jan 2011 (will avoid holiday weekend)
  • Issues
    • Differential pay scale based on experience and knowledge
      • Option 1: pay raise for Junior Nationals and Nationals (to $30 per match; $180 for day), $165 for remainder
      • Option 2: phase in pay scale that shows a bump for Regionals and a larger bump for JN/N
      • Option 3: reduce JO pay to $25 per match ($150 for day); Provisionals and Regionals remain at $27.50 per match ($165 for day); increase Junior Nationals and Nationals to $30 per match ($180 for day)
      • Discussion: JO certification was originally intended as a training level with the expectation that these referees would seek Provisional certification. Could existing JO referees be upgraded to Provisional certification for 2010-2011 season (so they are not affected by this pay reduction)? Realistically, many JO referees probably need additional "seasoning" before ready to move up. Realize that this proposed pay scale is for OVR events; JVA and other sanctioned events set their pay rates independently.
      • Motion 1 (Hemelgarn/Trimble): Create a tiered pay scale for referees based on certification level, effective for the 2010-2011 season: 1) Junior Olympic: $150/day or $25/match; 2) Provisional/Regional (and Retired Junior National/National): $165/day or $27.50/match; 3) Junior National/National: $180/day or $30/match. Motion carried: 10-1-1.
    • Work team coaches who are coaching playing team from their club (will be addressed by JODD).
    • JVA events vs. OVR events.
    • Tournament sites sorted by geographic locations and designating Board members to visit sites within their geographic section each year.
      • Board members were in agreement with the concept of visiting sites regularly.
      • In general (but with some exceptions), the tournament directors welcomed the visits.
      • Action Item: For October meeting, Terry and Emi will 1) divide tournament sites into geographic sections; 2) provide tournament site checklist.
    • Libero jerseys
      • Suggestion: specify Libero jersey be a solid color and not any of the colors in the team jersey.
      • Brian will create guidelines for purchasing team uniforms.
      • Motion (Faura/Burke): The Libero jersey must be a contrasting (dark vs. light) solid color, and must not contain any of the colors of their team jerseys, excluding any manufacturers/sponsor logos or team names. Motion carried: 10-2-1.
    • Team warm-ups
      • Teams that are scheduled to play the second match do not get the extended warm-up time that the teams playing the first match enjoy
      • Initial warm-ups for athletes is important aspect to prevent injuries
      • Motion (Hemelgarn/Vishoot): Prior to each team's first match of the day, modify juniors boys'/girls' warm-ups to the following: 15 minutes (7 minutes shared, no hitting across net), 4 minutes serving team, 4 minutes receiving team. Motion carried: 13-0-0.
      • Parents in the playing area retrieving balls during team's exclusive use of the court.
        • Risk management: only USAV members may be in the playing area to assist with warm-ups.
        • Issue of dealing with spectators on the playing area is the responsibility of the tournament director.

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