This weekend of the league teams will be placed into groups of 8 (two pools will be combined) and they will play an eight team elimination tournament in which all positions will be played out. After the completion of these mini tournaments teams which are 1st and 2nd will move up a pool and teams which are 7th and 8th will move down a pool. All other teams will remain as ranked from the mini tournament. Bracket play allows the possibility of moving up or down as many as eight positions in one day. All matches on these two special tournament days will be best 2 of 3 games. Due to time limitations the third game will not be played unless it is needed to decide the match.
Effective immediately, for any team in Pool 1 of the 12's division, there will be no short service line. All servers must serve from behind the normal end line. Also for teams in Pool 1, the rule limiting one server to a maximum of 3 serves and then rotate is being removed.
These changes are only for teams in Pool 1. All teams from other pools still have the original power league rules. For bracket play days, the top bracket will use the new rules for the first round and for all matches involving teams that win their first match of the day. All matches involving teams in the top bracket that lose their first match of the day, and all other matches in all the other brackets, will use the old rules.
Your team must play, or you must provide a substitute team and notify us. The exception to this rule are for teams attending one of the USAV National Qualifiers. Teams participating in these events will be excused from the league without penalty provided they notify us in writing at least 4 weeks in advance of the date they are missing. If you have ever been in a pool where a team doesn't show up, you know how frustrating it is to get only two matches on the day. If you do this to us and the other teams in the league, you stand a serious risk of being either dropped from the league or not allowed in next season, or both. Please be considerate of the other teams!
Power Leagues will run as scheduled regardless of winter weather. It is extremely unlikely that we would ever cancel a Power League. If we were to cancel Power League due to 12+ inches of snow, we would post the information on the website in place of that day's schedule. In 15 years we have never been forced to cancel a date. However in the unlikely event of a weather cancellation there will be no rescheduled dates and no refunds, teams will simply advance to the next date in their same respective positions.
All matches are played at the NEW Midwest Volleyball Warehouse in Burnsville. It is 1.4 miles west of Burnsville Center. To get to this location travel go west on County Rd 42 1.4 miles from I-35W to Judicial Road. Turn right and go north on Judicial about 100 yards. We are the first building on the left, grey color with dark windows. Please give these directions to all your players and parents. We do not answer the phone on Saturdays or Sundays to give directions. Here is a map.
Midwest Volleyball Warehouse has a No Cooler, No Outside Food Policy. This means that no food may be brought into the building. Any coolers must be left in your cars. No coolers may be left on the sidewalks outside of the building. No food may be brought into the facility inside of your bags. The penalty for players, coaches, or parents violating this rule will be suspension of the player and/or the entire team from the league.
All food purchased at the concessions must be consumed on the mezzanine level (upper level) of the facility. No food may be taken down to the main floor. Waterbottles are permitted with the players on the courts.
Parents, please note that the No Food policy includes no coffee being brought into the building. Also no coffee from the concessions may be taken downstairs to the bleachers. This is for everyone's safety.
Midwest Volleyball Warehouse has also been forced to implement a No Outside Chair Policy. This means that no chairs including the portable/fold-up type may be brought into the building. This is for everyone's safety as our fire exits/lanes were starting to become obstructed as more people brought in portable chairs.
There is to be no playing with balls on the mezzanine (upper level). This area has breakable equipment and sprinkler heads.
All matches in the Power League are played under USAV rules and regulations. All teams must be registered USAV to participate in the league. To register USAV you need to contact North Country Region office at (952)831-9150. In additions, all teams must also be in full matching uniforms per USAV guidelines, or have a written waiver from the North Country Region office.
In accordance with the North Country Region Policy of not supplying whistles at tournaments, there will be no whistles on the nets for use by referees. All teams must supply their own whistles.
There will be a $3.00 admission at the door for all adult spectators, $1.00 for student spectators, and no charge for kids age 5 and below.
Please tell all parents in your club about this so they are not surprised. This will be effective starting with the first play date on January 7th.
Each team will receive passes for its coaches which are shown registered on the roster (and members of USAV). Coaches must show their passes at the door or they will be charged the admission fee. Players of the teams playing that day will not be charged admission. Remember, your roster will be verified by the North Country Region office, and all coaches must be registered USAV.
Passes for all coaches/staff registered as of December 22nd will be mailed. If you are coaching and were not on your roster ( @ signuptoplay.com) on December 22nd, no coaches pass has been made for you. The only way you can get a pass is to have your club director add your name to the roster on Signuptoplay.com, rebuild the tournament roster so you name appears as a staff person on the tournament team, and then you must email northernlights@midwestvolleyball.com and request a pass. (We have no way of knowing if a staff member has been added to the roster.) Once we have verified that a staff member has been added to the roster, and the region verifies they are registered, we will issue a pass. No Coaches passes will be left at the ticket window!
All teams will be responsible for officiating matches. All teams must have officials who will attended a J.O. ref clinic this year, or an adult ref clinic this year. Contact the North Country Region office, (952)831-9150 for complete information. We want the players to officiate in the league so that they become better officials. However we also want to have a well officiated match. Any team late for an officiating assignment will be penalized 5 points on each game of their next match. North Country Region rules state that coaches must remain by the ref stand and help your players officiate.
In the 14 year old division there must be an adult either up or under. 14 year old referees are easily scared and require help. Coaches in this division should allow the adult who is under to make any call that the player ref might not make.
In the 12 and under division there must be an adult doing the officiating on top. For safety reasons it is not permitted to have more then 1 person on the ref stand at a time. (i.e.: an adult and a player are not to be on the ref stand together.) Each 12's team must also have a second adult supervising the score table.
Each match will consist of 3 games, the first two games will be played with the rally score system to 25 points, win by two points with no cap. The third game of a match will be rally score to 15 points, win by two points with no cap. All teams are going to play 3 games in every match regardless of the outcome of the first two games. We will switch sides in the middle of the third game.
To assure an on time start for each match, have your score keeper set the scoreboard time clock for 5 minutes when you finish officiating a match. There is a maximum of 5 minutes warm up on each court between matches (except between match 1 & 2 which has a 10 minute warm up period) unless otherwise directed by the site manager. Matches will run consecutively, starting 5 minutes after the last one finishes. (This does not apply to the start of the afternoon shift which will start at the scheduled time.) Teams must be in the gym and ready to start or the match will be forfeited.
All setters will position themselves such that they can not see the other setters face. NO warm up sets or hits are allowed behind a setter. This is extremely dangerous when two teams are warming up at the same time. ALL players must hit down the line. As coaches we must enforce this as the players become stronger and more powerful.
All teams are required to wear legal, matching uniforms as specified by USAV rules. Teams without legal uniforms must obtain a uniform waiver from the North Country Region. During the first optional dates of January 2, and the first power league date January 8 & 9, the Region usually grants a blanket uniform waiver to cover the whole event.
In the 14`s & 12's division we know from experience that the players may not understand the rules of serving. All coaches must instruct their players who are serving underhand that they CANNOT hit the ball out of their hand. The ball must be clearly released from your hand when the ball is served. This makes a drastic difference in the rally point games. Many of the teams learning to serve properly lose rally point games because the opponents are not serving legally. If you are a coach and your team is officiating you must enforce this rule and call a sideout on a server who does not release a ball before serving.
Please also note that in the 14's division and 12's division it is permitted for the server to have a 2nd toss for serve if they allow the first toss to drop to the ground without hitting it.
If you have any questions please call us at Northern Lights Volleyball 952-808-0110. Doors will open 45 minutes prior to the first match of the morning. A new enlarged food concession area is available with many items to choose from. We hope everybody has an exciting and rewarding season!
