Plan b

Hello Ladies,

I hope everyone enjoyed their first night back. I certainly had fun.

There were a few things I noticed, however. The first is the most important one in my opinion because I do not want anyone being injured.

1. I noticed throughout the evening that some players were stepping over the centre line during the course of play and not calling it. I realize this is something the referee would call normally but without a referee we need to do it. I also realize this is a hard call to make sometimes, especially for the person stepping over the line. Please have everyone on your team make a conscious effort to check that they are not or someone else is not stepping over the line, even if this means that you have any spares or coaches on the bench watch for this. There was one incident that I saw that particularly frightened me… a setter stepped over the centre line after a jump set and her foot was directly between the feet of the middle blocker on the other side of the net. This could have potentially been the end of the season for that middle blocker.

2. The nets on Court 3 need to be taken down after the teams from the early game are done. I haven’t had anyone say they want to stay and play on Court 3 during the late time at this point so for now, please remember to take the nets down on Court 3 when your early games are finished.

As for the key being lost, Heidi has been profusely apologized to and has been told it won’t happen again (let’s keep our fingers crossed). This means, we should be able to raise the basketball hoops and lower the curtain. As for the net, it has been fixed and we shouldn’t have to resort to a skipping rope again. Very ingenious use of the skipping rope.

As a final note, please remember that one of the teams playing late must retrieve the keys from upstairs in order to raise the curtain, lower the basketball hoop, and lock up the antennas and league bag.

If there was anything you noticed or suggest, please email me.

Thank you,
Leanne

Hello Ladies,

Please forward your team rosters today if possible so I can get the list of players to the gym staff tomorrow.

I don’t recall if I mentioned that the format will be the same as last year … best 2 out of 3 games to 25 time permitting. What that means is if one team wins the first 2 games, you’re welcome to play a 3rd game but it will not count for points. If each team wins one of the first 2 games, a 3rd tie breaking game will be required to decide the overall winner. Each game will be rally scoring to 25, win by 2, cap at 27. The 3rd tie breaking game will also go to 25, cap 27, if there is enough time. If there is not enough time, play the game to 15 or 20, win by 2, cap at 17 or 22 respectively. We haven’t come across the case yet where we don’t get the 3rd game to 15 so we should be okay.

Each win will count as 2 points. Important: when you send in your win/loss record (which needs to be done each week), please email who won the 1st game, who won the 2nd game, and if the 3rd was the tie breaker, who won the 3rd game. The most points either team will be awarded each week is 4.

The first 3-4 weeks we will not have refs so all calls are on the honour system. Please call your nets, over the centre line, back row hits, in/out, etc. When we do have refs, please still play the honour system. We will most likely only have 1 ref and he/she cannot see everything. To decide who plays first, please flip a coin or have captains rock-paper-scissors for serve. Remember, the winner of the "flip" wins the choice of serve or side. If the winner picks serve, the non-winner has choice of side. If the winner picks side, the non-winner can choose to serve or receive.

As for warm-up, please make sure you start warm-up at 6:30 for the early match or 8:00 for the late match. As for hitting, you can decide to hit together or separate. If you hit separate, please start at 6:35 and 8:05, allowing 4-5 mins each for hitting. If you want to then get serves in, please only take 1 min to do this. It will help tremendously if we get our matches started promptly at 6:45 and 8:15. As you know, we need to be out of the gym by 9:30 each Tuesday night. That means nets & equipment put away, curtain raised, hoops lowered, and leaving by 9:30.

I have attached the schedule for the first 7 weeks. I will try to change the schedule for the next 7 weeks and then the last 7 weeks so teams are not playing the same double headers each time (just to keep it fair). You will note on the schedule that there are 4 teams that only scorekeep once. Not to worry, I will make sure these teams do their fair share in the coming 7 weeks (that is why you will see their names on the weeks with no games scheduled so I know to schedule them in). I have tried keep the early/late ratio fair, however, some teams play more early than late or vice versa. This will again hopefully be evened out in the next two 7 week periods. All of that said, if you notice any errors or out-right inconsistencies, please let me know asap so I can correct them.

For Sherri and Erin’s teams, please forward your team name.

For everyone, please ensure all the players on your team (new and returning) are aware of the rules and know how to set up/take down the nets. This makes it easier for everyone. If you have any questions, please ask someone.

ONE FINAL NOTE, BUT IT’S A VERY IMPORTANT ONE … We will have 3 league balls – one for each court. Please use these for game balls. If you notice something wrong, please let me know. At the end of the night, one of the things that needs to be put away (from any team still there) is the league bag. Very Important: make sure you have all 3 scorecards AND all 3 league balls in the bag when you put it away. To help, I’m asking that the late game scorekeepers put the scorecard in the league bag before they leave the gym. Court 3’s scorecard and ball should be put away at the end of that game. Last year, we lost a ball because teams did not take the responsibility to ensure all 3 balls were in the bag before locking it up for the night. Part of net take down includes ensuring all the equipment (league balls included) are put away and locked up.

Thank you everyone.
Leanne

Hello Ladies,

I’m sure you’ve all been wondering… we have 9 teams for the league this year, which will mean a double header every 7 weeks or so. League will be starting on Tuesday, October 16th, for a total of 21 weeks. This means we have time for 3 complete round robins if we start right away on the 16th. We will not have referees for the first 3-4 weeks (as per usual). This may be for the best because it will give us 3-4 weeks to get back into volleyball shape before the referees come along with their whistles.

As for league fees, they have gone up this year because we are now paying for the majority of the gym use. Because Naden plays in the league, we are not being charged for using one of the courts so Naden will not be asked to pay for any of the gym fees. Also, I have been told that there is a good chance ref fees will increase. Taking all this into account, fees per team will be $500. Please bring ONE cheque per team payable to Jennifer Dela Vega for $500 on the first night of league to pay for your team’s fees. Naden will be charged $250 for their part of the ref’ing fees.

As for scorekeeping, it will be the same as last year. When your team is scheduled to scorekeep (early or late) you will need to supply one scorekeeper for each of the courts at the scheduled time. Because we are playing double headers, there will be one week when the late game will have all three courts going so please take note of this if your team is scheduled to scorekeep that week.

The net setup/take down will be the same as last year. Teams playing early will be responsible for setting up the net on the court they will be playing on, and teams playing late will be responsible for taking down the net on the court they played on. The antennas and league bag will be locked up as always; however, the poles and pads will now be found near the referees stand. We do not need to put the poles and pads in that second room anymore. As a reminder, please return the keys to the front desk after setting up the nets so the late teams can find the keys to return the equipment at the end of the night.

I have attached a blank copy of the roster form from last year. Please complete it and send it back to me at this address before we start on the 16th because I need to do a master list for the gym staff.

So, for the first night, we have:

Court 1 – 6:45 start (6:30 warm-up) is Erika’s team vs. Groovy Girls* Court 2 – 6:45 start (6:30 warm-up) is ND2 vs. Naden Court 3 – 6:45 start (6:30 warm-up) is Erin’s team vs. Paradise Cove Scorekeeping all 3 courts: Storm Court 1 – 8:15 start (8:00 warm-up) is Storm vs. Groovy Girls* Court 2 – 8:15 start (8:00 warm-up) is Plan B vs. Sherri’s team Scorekeeping both courts: ND2

• Groovy Girls have the double header the first week.

As you can see, most weeks the 3rd court will not be used during the late session. So, any players wanting to stay and play, please feel free to do so but you must let the teams playing on Court 3 know so they don’t take the nets down too early. There will be a few weeks throughout the season when we will have a scheduled match on Court 3 during the late time slot. I am hoping to have the schedule out to you later in the week. Let me know of changes to any team names.

I think that is all. Of course if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for taking the time to read the entire email.

Leanne