Welcome to the Mizuno Northern Lights Power League! Each team will play six dates in a format that includes snake seed pool play (to help correct seeding errors), bracket play, and power pool competition!
Northern Lights is pleased to announce that Molten is the official ball sponsor of the Northern Lights Power League. No balls or ball carts will be allowed in the building. Northern Lights will provide all balls for warm ups and matches.
The schedules for the optional play date and round one will be posted on the Internet at http://www.midwestvolleyball.com/nlj/pl/plschd11.htm. All schedules and the weekly information will be published on the internet by the Wednesday prior to each event.
The format of the league is the same as last year. The first date is snake seeded with teams split into an upper and lower division within each age group. The decision as to which teams were placed in the upper/lower divisions was based on your requested placement along with our own judgment on each team's strength. If a team has been drastically misplaced, we will adjust that for the 2nd round of play.
|
League Date |
Format |
Team Movement |
|
Date 1 |
Snake Seeded Pools |
Pool ranking |
|
Date 2 |
Tournament Bracket |
2 teams |
|
Date 3 |
Power Pools |
2 teams |
|
Date 4 |
Tournament Bracket |
2 teams |
|
Date 5 |
Power Pools |
Final Finish |
One of the biggest requests we always have, is to eliminate the large disparity in teams abilities on the first date. To do this, we have split each age group (except the 12's) into an "A" (upper) and "B" (lower) division for the 1st snake seeded pools. The decision as to which teams were placed in the upper/lower divisions was based on your requested placement along with our own judgment on each team's strength.
Based on the outcome of the first date of play, teams will be placed into power pools. The #1 teams in the upper or A division will be grouped at the top of league, the #2 teams in the upper division will all be grouped next and so forth with the remaining teams in the upper division. Those teams initially seeded in the lower or B division who win their first day pools will be placed at the mid point of the age division, with the other teams placed below them accordingly.
This should help decrease the disparity between teams on the first playing date, but yet still allow for teams to be placed correspondingly higher in the league by winning their pools.
Please note, we are reserving the right to move teams outside the stated guidelines in order to assure proper placement for all teams in the league.
On the 2nd & 4th dates 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.
Please note that due to uneven numbers of teams in the league it may not be possible for everyone to be placed in a bracket of 8 teams. In some cases there will be brackets of 12 teams and there will be some pool play of 7 teams. These were unavoidable, however rest assured that the outcome of these different formats will still result in the same basic outcome of an 8 team bracket. If you are in a 12 team bracket on one of these dates, you will play best 2 of 3 games as is being done in an 8 team bracket. If you are in a 7 team pool on one of these dates, you will play the normal 3 games (two 25 pt rally and one 15 point rally).
On the 3rd and 5th dates of the league, teams will be placed into four team pools based on their over all rank. For example, teams ranked 1 to 4 will be placed in pool one, teams ranked 5 to 8 will be placed into pool two, and so forth. Teams will have the opportunity to play every other team in their pool. Teams will be moved from pool to pool based on finishes. For example, on competition date 3, teams that finishes 1st and 2nd in a pool will move up to the next higher pool, while a teams that finish 3rd and 4th will move down to the next lower pool. The number of teams moving depend on the which week of competition - please see the table above. Power Pool Play will allow for fierce competition between closely ranked teams! During Power Pool Play, all matches will consist of two rally score games to 25 win by two with no cap, and one rally score game to 15 win by 2 with no point cap.
Please note that if due to uneven numbers of teams in the league it may not be possible for everyone to be placed in a pool of 4 teams. There may be some pools of 7 teams. On certain dates these pools of 7 will have more than one team move up and down. This is done to keep teams from playing each other over and over again. Also note that if you are in a pool of 4 next to a pool of 7, your pool may have 2 teams moving up or down because of the movement of teams in the 7 team pool next to you. This is needed to keep the league in balance. Please do not call to complain about being moved down if you were 3rd in one of those pools, we will not change it. If you want to avoid being moved down out of any pool, win that pool otherwise don't complain.
In all divisions teams will be ranked 1-4 or 1-7 in each pool based on the following results:
If there is a three way tie in a pool we will use the above criteria in descending order until all teams are ranked. This will be the ranking system used for the entire year.
Note on criteria #3: Game win / loss %. This ratio will be computed using only the games which you needed to successfully win a match. For example if you win the first two games of a match against a team, the third game will still be played but it will not count in your rankings. You can therefore win games 1 & 2, and lose game 3 without having it hurt your game win / loss %. If you win game 1, lose game 2, and win or lose game 3 all three games will count in your game win / loss %.
For teams in a 7 team pool see our 7 team pool ranking sheet for details on how teams are ranked.
A master schedule has been published on the internet. The schedule shows which pools will be playing on which days for the duration of the league. Please keep in mind that with the new format, the first two dates will be extremely difficult to determine, since the pools are snake seeded by upper/lower divisions. Also remember that if you are in a 7 team pool or next to a 7 team pool your schedule may change if you are in the top 2 or bottom two of those pools.
Please also remember that this master schedule is subject to change, and will more than likely change on the weekends in March and April 1/2 due to the National Qualifying tournaments.
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. 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.
Midwest Volleyball Warehouse is a smoke and alcohol free building. Here is our alcohol policy.
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 with exception of the rule modifications we have applied for the Power League. 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 $5.00 admission at the door for all adult spectators, $3.00 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 date of play in January.
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 have been mailed. If you are coaching and were not on your roster ( @ signuptoplay.com), 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 13-18 year old division there must be an adult either up or under. 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 7 minutes when you finish officiating a match. There is a maximum of 7 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 7 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.
|
|
||
|
Match |
Warmup Time |
Warmup Format |
|
1 |
10 minutes |
2 minutes shared ball handling, 4 min on the net for higher seed, 4 min on the net for lower seed. |
|
2 |
10 minutes |
2 minutes shared ball handling, 4 min on the net for higher seed, 4 min on the net for lower seed. |
|
3 |
7 minutes |
1 minute shared ball handling, 3 min on the net for higher seed, 3 min on the net for lower seed. |
|
4 |
7 minutes |
1 minute shared ball handling, 3 min on the net for higher seed, 3 min on the net for lower seed. |
|
5 |
7 minutes |
1 minute shared ball handling, 3 min on the net for higher seed, 3 min on the net for lower seed. |
|
6 |
7 minutes |
1 minute shared ball handling, 3 min on the net for higher seed, 3 min on the net for lower seed. |
| As per USAV rules, during warmups teams are not allowed to ball handle while the other team has exclusive use of the court. This applies to all court surfaces and spectator areas. | ||
| The higher seed is defined as the team which listed higher in the schedule or the team which is on top of the bracket. For example, if the match is A vs C then team in the A position is the higher seed. | ||
|
Northern Lights Power League & May Events Modified Rules |
|
|
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. Due to the large number of people trying to get uniforms at the start of the season we will allow non matching uniforms during the first three weekends of January.
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!
Each year there are many new coaches in the Jr. ranks who overlook some basic items each coach should know or have. Here a list of some common things you should know or consider.
