Things You Need to Know

If you have never participated in USAV let me just take a moment to explain very briefly what is involved.  USAV teams are composed of at least 6 men or women (there are some coed tournaments also) that play organized tournaments throughout the state.  You will need to have at least 6 players in order to field a legal team at each tournament.  We suggest having at least 7-9 on your roster. These tournaments are all-day Saturday tournaments.  Each team is expected to have at least two certified officials and one scorekeeper.  There will be clinics offered during the month of December in order to get these certifications.   

Each team needs a captain and this person is responsible for making sure that their team obtains the proper uniform, gets registered for each tournament and basically runs the team.  If you are interested in fielding a new team and really are not sure how to go about it, all of the information has been included in this captain’s packet and it contains the following.  This will give you everything you need to get your team ready. 

• 2 Official USAV Rule Books
• Captain's Incentive Information
• Members now need to sign up online before you play. See registration
• Things You Need to Know
• Tournament Schedule for the Season, including coed events

If you are a single player and would like to get on a team, there is a page on our website called the Available Players page.  You can place all of your information on there as this is where a lot of team captains go if they are in need a player for just one tournament or need another player on their team. 

An indoor tournament is very similar to an outdoor tournament.  You show up at 8:30am and start playing at 9:00am (this is actually true indoors!).  You have pool play during the day to determine which teams are going to play in the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals.  Third place stays to referee the semi-finals.  For the coed tournaments in the B and C divisions, there will be paid referees to do this for you.  During pool play, your team is scheduled to referee a couple of times.  Although referees are provided, you are still responsible for providing 2 line judges and an assistant scorekeeper.  The third place team will need to provide three people to help during the semi-finals as well.  While you are not playing, you will be sitting, so the next category is:  Things to bring with you:

	A blanket, sleeping bag, or chair to sit on.
	Cooler with plenty of liquids – water, Gatorade, etc.
	Food for your lunch breaks (usually there is a grocery store or fast food place nearby if you don’t bring any food).
	Book to read, walkman to listen to, homework (to do or grade!)
	Medical supplies – each team should bring band-aids and tape
	Ibuprofen – I didn’t put this under #5 because it’s a life saver!
	Extra (or two) pair of socks; it will work wonders after 2 or 3 matches.

Rules That Are Different

USAV rules are a little different.  You play two games to 25, rally scoring.  Now I know this doesn’t sound like fun, but the game is actually just as long as it used to be, so it’s really not that bad.  If there is a five team pool, you may just go to 21.  There is a cap of 27 or 23 respectively during pool play.  Semi-finals is one game to 25, no cap.  Finals is best two out of three to 25.  If there is a time limitation, it may be to 21 or a one game final.  If there is a tiebreaker to get to the semis, it will be a one game to 25, cap of 27.

You have 8 seconds to serve the ball, NO RE-SERVES!  You get ONE CHANCE to serve the ball.  (ONE)

Substitutions:  two people can sub in and out for each other, but you can’t have a constant substitution going on with different players.  Call me if you need a better explanation on this one.

Coed tournaments:  For every three hits by a team, one has to be by a female player.

Questions?

If you have any questions about the indoor rules or other questions, feel free to contact our Regional Adult Indoor Coordinator at the information listed below.