Garden Empire Volleyball Association

Message from the Junior Competition Director

Joel Stanford

June 6, 2008

The 2008 GEVA Girls High Performance Program Youth Age Group Camp Invitation list has been posted. Click here for more information.

May 25, 2008

The 2008 GEVA Girls High Performance Program Select Age Group Camp Invitation list has been posted. Click here for more information on the camp and click here for the list of those who are invited.

April 10, 2008 - Sign-ups for GEVA Girls High Performance Camp Invitation Tryout sessions are Open!

Sign-ups for the May 2008 GEVA Girls High Performance Camp Invitation Tryout sessions are now open. Click here to learn more about and/or sign-up to attend one or more HP Camp Invitation Tryout sessions.

April 1, 2008

Sign-ups for the April 2008 GEVA Girls High Performance Pre-tryout Evaluation are now open. Click here to learn more about and/or sign-up for the Saturday morning April 19, 2008 PTE that will be held at the HPVBA in Lakewood, NJ.

February 26, 2008

Sign-ups are now open for the GEVA Girls High Performance Program Pre-Tryout Evaluation on Friday evening March 14, 2008 at the Downstate Athletic Center. Click here to learn more and/or sign-up to attend.

February 17, 2008 - Sign-ups for GEVA Girls HP Program are Open!

The 2008 GEVA Girls High Performance Development program has started. Sign-ups for the February 23 GEVA Girls High Performance Pre-Tryout Evaluations (PTE) has opened. In 2008 PTEs will be conducted for the GEVA Girls National Future Select (athletes born in 1996 and after) and for the GEVA Girls National Select (athletes born in 1994 or after) age groups. Click here to learn more about the GEVA Girls High Performance program for 2008. Click here to learn more about and/or register for the February 23, 2008 PTE held at Queens College.

February 1, 2008 - Junior Girl's Starting to Ramp up the Action!

Just as the junior boys are starting to slow down and get ready for the high school season, at least in some parts of our region, the girls are just starting to take off. And WOW!, are they really taking off. The recently completed GEVA Seeding Event set a record for the number of teams, in an event, in our region, with 184 teams. The upcoming GEVA Ranking #1 will smash that record as 215 teams will be competing in this "Power League" format tournament! That's up from a high of 168 teams in the largest tournament during the 2006-07 season. This phenomenal growth, along with the addition of the brand new High Performance Volleyball Academy, in Lakewood, NJ, bodes well for the future of junior volleyball in our region.

The pool assignments, playing sites, and times for Ranking #1 have been posted. Click on Juniors, Tournament, Schedule for more details. I can't wait for the competition to begin; I hope you're as excited about the upcoming season as I am!

January 10, 2008 - Results and Rankings from New Year's Classic

The results from the New Year's Classic have been posted (or are in the process for some age groups). Before I get a flood of angry calls and emails (please DON'T call/email about the current rankings!), don't put too much weight into the current rankings. The mathematical formula that is used in the ranking sytsem gives a lot of weight to strength of schedule, so some teams with even a poor win/loss record end up getting ranked very highly. That will change as soon as more results (like the GEVA Seeding Tournament) that inlude more and varied matchups are included in the calculations. So, if you're concerned about the rankings, wait until after the results of the GEVA Seeding Event are posted to make an inquiry!

December 23, 2007 - Directors and Officers Insurance

D&O Insurance covereage is now available through a group policy setup by USA Volleyball. For more information and to access the insurers web site, please view this document.

December 5, 2007 - Tournament Entry Process

The entry process for all GEVA sanctioned tournaments will begin in the online registration system. To enter a tournament, do the following:

1. Login as a club/team rep at http://reg.geva.org/HAI_P/H_LOGON.php.
2. If not already done, click on "Add or Select Current Club" under the "Club Mgt" heading and select your club.
3. Click on "Add or Select Current Team" under the "Team Mgt" heading and select the team you wish to enter into a tournament.
4. Click on "Enter Tournament" under the "Team Mgt" heading.
5. Check the boxes for the appropriate filters (such as Girls and 16) and then click on the "View" button.
6. Click on the age group to enter for the given tournament under the column labeled "Division".
7. Click on the "OK" button to confirm your request to enter the tournament.
8. Your status will now be (P)ending. To complete the entry process, click on the name of the event and print the Tournament Entry Form.
9. Mail the Tournament Entry Form and Entry Fee to the address indicated on the form.
10. You can see the status of teams accepted into a tournament, and results from completed tournaments, by clicking on Juniors, Tournament, Results on geva.org.

December 5, 2007 - How to add your players to Team Rosters

1. Select the current team (Add or Select Current Team)
2. Click on Add or Select Current Indv
3. Click on the Add Individual button
4. If someone printed off the blank form from geva.org and filled it in by hand, you type the info on the screen that you see now.
5. If someone registered online (HIGHLY recommended), you click on the “Find” button at the bottom of the screen.
6. Now type in their PIN number in the box labeled “New Indv by PIN Number” and click the “Find” button next to the entry.
7. You’re now back at the page with all of the personal information filled in.  Click on the “Player” box (or if doing a coach, click on that), and then hit “OK” at the bottom of the page.
8. Now you can click on the “Add Another” button to go to the next player.
9. Once you have done all of your players on to a team, get back to the main entry page – the one that has the Club Mgt, Team Mgt and Indv Mgt columns.
10. Click on “Team Reports” under the Team Mgt heading.
11. Click on “Team Roster” and print the page displayed.
12. Send in the Team Roster, the $80 team fee ($40 team fee if EVERY player on the roster is entered into the system already), and the individual registration fees ($15, $25, or $35 per person depending on type).  Submit a single check per team! You may combine all teams into one check from the club, but we DO NOT want individual checks for each individual registration – they will be returned and the team will not be registered.

December 5, 2007 - Regional Championships for 12s and 13s

The GEVA Regional Championships for ages 12 and 13 will be held as a "Club" championship, meaning that a team must play in two GEVA sanctioned tournaments to be eligible for regionals.

November 18, 2007

I have had numerous reports of clubs not following the rules related to tryout offers and commitments. Let me reiterate that NO CLUB may require a commitment or decision prior to November 26th. They MAY make offers earlier, and a player MAY choose to accept earlier, but if an offer is made, it MUST be valid until November 26th or the club may be suspended from GEVA competition for the season. If you know of any clubs that are violating this policy, please send me a message.

November 17, 2007

The 2008 USA Volleyball High Performance Tryout Schedule is on the website. The Downstate Athletic Center will be hosting a tryout in our region, for all ages, on Sunday, March 16th, from 5pm to 8pm. Register on the USA Volleyball website.

November 16, 2007

USA volleyball is hosting an online "webinar" IMPACT series. Click here for more information and registration instructions!

November 6, 2007

With tryout season upon us, I want to remind players, parents, and club directors alike that players with outstanding balances to their previous club(s) will not be allowed to register and play this season until the outstanding balance is paid or mutually resolved. Club directors, please send me a list of last season players that should be prohibited from registering and an explanation. Due to privacy concerns (these are minors) we can't publish the lists. However, we'll let the new clubs know of the blocked registration when they come in.

October 27, 2007

For those that may have missed the Club Directors meetings that were held around the region, I want to cover a few of the more important topics that were discussed. You can get a copy of the agenda by clicking here. First, let me start by stating that lack of knowledge regarding these regulations WILL NOT be an excuse for non-compliance! If you have any questions, drop me an email.

• TRYOUTS
  • Requirements to have your club tryouts Sanctioned:
    • Directors must create your club in the online registration system
    • Apply for a Tryout Sanction
    • Must have an IMPACT certified coach on the Tryout Sanction Request
    • All adults associated with the tryouts MUST be Background Screened
    • If needed, apply for an Insurance Certificate for your tryout/practice facility
  • Everyone, including all players and coaches, must register prior to participation
  • No club/player commitments will be recognized by GEVA prior to Monday, November 26
  • Offers made prior to 11/26, MUST be valid for 72 hours, or through November 26th, whichever is later
  • The maximum allowed tryout fee is $100, including the cost of GEVA registration
  • Failure to follow any of the above may result in a club being barred from GEVA sanctioned events.
• REGISTRATION
  • GEVA is using a new registration system, this season.
  • Individuals (including coaches, players, chaperones, officials, etc.) should register as Individuals
  • Club directors will register in the Club Director side, after creating their clubs
  • All individual forms can be printed from the online registration system
  • IMPACT Certification
    • All junior activities must be done under the direction of a registered and IMPACT certified coach
    • Coaches IMPACT status can be verified here
    • Register for an IMPACT class or Renewal class, here
• GEVA TOURNAMENT SERIES
• GEVA Regional Championships
  • All age groups will have an Open Regional Championships at the end of the season.
  • IF an age group has sufficient teams, a Club Regional Championship may be offered.
  • To be eligible for the GEVA Open Regional Championships, you must play in all three Ranking tournaments
  • If there is not a Club Regional Championship and you do not meet the requirements for Open, your team will not play at Regionals.
• GEVA Bid Tournament
  • To be eligible, you must be eligible to compete in the Open Regionals
  • Maximum of 8-12 teams per age group (depending on sites and teams), based on ranking, will be accepted
  • Format will be double elimination
• Seedings and Rankings
  • All GEVA tournaments will be seeded
  • Results of all sanctioned competition between GEVA teams will be counted
  • Rankings will be available online from the Juniors menu once tournaments begin
• General Info
  • Tournament entry fee for all single day events is $180
  • You must register for all tournaments using the online registration system
  • Entry is not confirmed until the tournament director receives the Entry Form and Payment
  • Tournament Calendar is available here.

October 5, 2007

Welcome to an exciting new season of GEVA juniors' volleyball! Its amazing how fast the summer and has come and gone; and, now we're already preparing for a new season! Speaking of preparations, all tryouts need to be sanctioned by GEVA. Please submit a Tryout Sanction Request (or do it online)as soon as you have them scheduled! Don't forget that all coaches need to be registered, screened, and trained before participating in any event, including tryouts. Registration and screening can be completed via the online registration system and Bill Doyle is working to provide IMPACT training classes around the region during October and November. Please contact him, directly, if you can help by providing a facility to host the training! Please see the IMPACT Training page for class schedules.

To help everyone get ready, we’ll be running a series of meetings for area club directors.  Anyone that is responsible for running a junior club or is thinking about starting a new club should attend.  Here’s the schedule for the meetings (please note the change in time and locations!):

Territory	Date	Time	Location	City, ST
Northern Counties	10/14	1pm	Downstate Athletic Center	Peekskill, NY
New York City	10/21	4pm	Queens College	Flushing, NY
Long Island	10/21	4pm	Queens College	Flushing, NY
New Jersey	10/21	10am	PowerZone	Denville, NJ

Topics to be covered include:
1. Registration
2. Tryout regulations (dates/commitments)
3. Tournament schedule and format
4. Club officiating responsibilities

Directions can be found at http://geva.org/giDirections.php. The location for the NJ meeting will also be posted as soon as it has been confirmed. I hope to see you at one of the meetings!

Junior Boys are off and running, and Marilyn Maccio is leading a boys working committee responsible for promoting the growth of junior boys competition. Visit the "Boy's" section for more information (coming soon).

Tentative dates have been set for the Junior Girl's Tournaments for this season; note that these are subject to change pending playing site commitments. We need gyms for all of these dates except the New Year's Classic. Please let me know if you have access to 2 or more courts that GEVA can reserve and rent for any of the days, below:

Name of Event	Date(s)
New Year’s Classic	Jan 5, 6
GEVA Open Seeding Event	Jan. 26, 27
GEVA Mandatory Ranking #1	Feb 9, 10
GEVA Mandatory Ranking #2	Mar 8, 9
GEVA Mandatory Ranking #3	Mar 29, 30
Junior Regional Championships	Apr 26, 27
J.O. Bid Tournament	May 3, 4

We will be using an online Tournament Entry system this year. The GEVA sponsored tournament schedule will be available, online, within the next few days. There are many dates available for your club to host a tournament! If interested, you will be able to request a tournament date, online! All dates not used for the GEVA sponsored tournaments are open until November 1st. The season tournament schedule will be posted shortly after that; and requests to run tournaments after November 1 will be on a first come first serve basis.

This is YOUR region, and we're here to help make this a GREAT USAV Volleyball season, for you! If you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact me, or any of your Junior Competition Committee members. All of our contact information is on the Board of Directors page.

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