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Handbook for 2008-09

(Revised Aug 1, 2008.)

• Statement of purpose:

• Vision.
• Mission.
• Goals.

• General membership information:

• Benefits of becoming a Hoosier Region and USAV member.
• 2008-09 Hoosier Region sanctioned playing season.
• Team, club and individual rules applying to all teams.
• Uniform rules.
• Hoosier Region age falsification policy.
• USA Volleyball age falsification policy.
• Hoosier Region membership fees breakdown.
• Change of address.
• Definitions.
• Volunteers.
• USA Volleyball Guide.
• Policy on alcohol at sanctioned events.

• Registration:

• Welcome.
• Registration overview.
• Details on the most common forms:

• Background screening forms.
• Individual membership form.
• Team registration form.
• Code of ethics form.
• Medical history and release form.

• Bulk registration option.
• Forms for internal use by junior teams and clubs.
• Registration fees.
• Club/team code (team number) is mandatory for every Region of USAV team.
• Purpose of participant waiver/releases and consent forms.
• No one-day or one-event memberships.
• Team and player residency requirements.
• No non-registered participants.

• Adults

• Hoosier Region adult divisions and levels of play.
• Revision: Team/club rules for the Hoosier Region adult division:

• Time period.
• New adult team/club rules.

• Requirements for adult teams.
• Hoosier Regional Adult Championships tournament requirements.
• Adult team zonal and national tournament participation and reimbursement:

• Adult region championships funds apportionment.

• Adult national 11-digit club/team code.

• Juniors

• Age definitions.
• Junior club commitment.
• Transfer of already-registered junior players.
• Age group waivers no longer offered.
• Background screening policy.
• Background screening process.
• Background screening for non-U.S. citizens.
• A summary of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
• Junior coaches and chaperones requirements.
• Chaperones required at junior nationals.
• Junior officiating requirements.
• Education and accreditation for coaches.
• USAV Coaching Accreditation Program (CAP).
• Usage of "Junior Olympic" terminology.

• Tournament sanctioning and hosting:

• How to host a tournament.
• Tournament director rules and guidelines.
• Procedures for foreign team participation in regionally sanctioned tournaments.

• Officiating:

• General officiating information:

• Extended insurance coverage for USAV-certified officials.

• Getting certified as a referee.
• Getting certified as a scorekeeper:

• Provisional scorekeeper.
• Regional scorekeeper.

• Special region certification for junior players.

• Insurance:

• Secondary sport accident insurance program for all registered individuals.
• Liability insurance.
• Auto use is excluded by the liability insurance program.
• Reporting insurance claim incidents.
• Occurrence reporting.
• Incident handling guidelines at the venue.

• Policies:

• Operating code of USA Volleyball.
• Hoosier Region general operating code.
• Hoosier Region violations and disciplinary actions.
• Child abuse and youth sports programs.
• Physical abuse, sexual abuse and sexual harassment.
• Region governance:

• General statement.
• Policies of the board of directors of Hoosier Region.
• Terminology/definitions regarding financial items.
• Approval of budgeted, unbudgeted compensation and expense reimbursement.
• Board of directors – membership requirements.
• Meetings.
• Organizational structure.
• Article VII (non-profit Domestic Corporation) Articles of Incorporation.
• Junior advisory council.
• Adult advisory council.
• Hoosier Region board members, associates and terminology.
• Recommendations for travel-related reimbursements.
• Hoosier Region guidelines on ethical conduct and conflict of interest.
• Hoosier Region documents available.
• Due process procedure.

Statement of purpose

Vision

The vision of the Hoosier Region Volleyball Association (hereinafter referred to as the Region) is to be the leader in amateur volleyball for the state of Indiana.

Mission

The Region is the governing body for the sport of Region sanctioned amateur volleyball in the state of Indiana. The Region is incorporated as a Federal and State Not-For-Profit legal entity and as such is a member of the Regional Volleyball Associations (RVAs) division of the United States Volleyball Association (hereinafter known as USA Volleyball or USAV). All is being consistent with the bylaws of USAV.

The Corporation shall have the responsibility to:

• Attain excellence in the sport of volleyball.
• Credential teams, players, administrators and officials for all region-sanctioned amateur volleyball competitions.
• Promote and develop, through its members, the sport of volleyball.
• Establish standards for the region.
• Conduct region-sanctioned events, tournaments, championships and other amateur competitions.
• Ensure compliance with USAV, USOC, federation and collegiate policies and procedures to maintain recognition as the Regional Volleyball Association for amateur volleyball in the state of Indiana.

Goals

The Corporation shall have the following goals:

• Sport Growth: to achieve full participation in volleyball at all levels and in all areas of the Region;
• Sport Enhancement: to improve support services necessary for the quality and conduct of programs to ensure recognition as the authority and expert for amateur volleyball;
• Geographical Representation: to have influential positions on all local, regional and national boards and commissions;
• Recognition: to receive consistent recognition of volleyball coaches, officials and athletes as top national and excellent performers;
• Administration: to develop and maintain a structure which will effectively and efficiently assist in achieving the vision and mission of the Region; and
• Finances: to develop, implement and maintain a financial plan to achieve the vision and mission of the Region.

The Region is committed to and works toward opportunity for all to participate. It is an advocate for anyone endeavoring to assure universal access to opportunities at all levels of the game.

Thus, the Region will diligently:

• Work toward provision of ample opportunity, quality opportunity and equality of access for every resident of this diverse nation.
• Act to expand opportunity for under-represented groups and aggressively recruit participation from those groups.
• Make its daily decisions concerning resources, players, coaches, officials, administrators, and employees on the basis of individual merit and excellence of performance regardless of age, class, ancestry, color, national origin, race, religious creed, disability or handicap, gender, or sexual orientation.
• Exercise its corporate will to encourage other amateur volleyball organizations to act in accordance with the foregoing principles.

General Membership Information

Benefits of Becoming a Registered Member of the Hoosier Region of USA Volleyball

Each member receives the USA Volleyball magazine, published by USAV four times a year. The Hoosier Region handbook is published annually on the Region website and edited and revised as needed.

Announcements of local and regional tournament schedules, referee and scorer licensing clinics, player tryouts for various regional, national and international competitions, coaching clinics and accreditation programs, and 2008-09 USA National Team Tours in our Region will be posted on our website.

IMPACT coaching certification is required for all Junior volleyball coaches. For more information, contact one of our IMPACT Clinicians about hosting or attending a clinic. Their information is posted in the Region handbook in the Education and Accreditation for Coaches section on our website.

Announcements of CAP (Coaching Accreditation Program) for those desiring higher skill and knowledge above the IMPACT level courses. The USA Volleyball website at www.usavolleyball.org has a section containing CAP information.

One 2008-09 USAV Rulebook is supplied to every registered adult member, except chaperones, and each junior volleyball team adult regular registered member. Each adult who attends a clinic and pays for an official's license receives a rulebook unless that person receives a rulebook for their membership payment.

A membership registration card may be printed out by you or your club representative. This allows you the right to participate in well run, high quality volleyball events in USAV Region Sanctioned tournaments, in a safe playing facility, anywhere in the United States. An opportunity to compete against individuals of your own playing capabilities.

An opportunity to interact with the local, regional, and national governing bodies of volleyball that form USA Volleyball and also individuals from our USA National and Olympic Volleyball programs.

Official Clinics: The Region offers referee and scorer clinics at different locations during the season. (See club and team requirements article.)

Insurance (See Insurance section of handbook for complete details): Excess Medical Sports Accident Insurance for each registered member. A $1 million Liability Insurance Certificate will be sent to each program/club director after they have completed all required paperwork and paid the proper fees, if requested.

Annual Hoosier Region Sanctioned Playing Season

The official USAV/Hoosier Region sanctioned season begins Nov. 1 and ends Oct. 31 each year.

In order to sanction all tournaments for the coming season, we ask that all participants register as early as possible. You will not have to register as a team until after Dec. 31 each season; however, each individual player must be a registered member. This allows tournament hosts to sanction a tournament for the liability and individual sport accident insurance and also allows players to participate on different teams and in different levels of competition before actually becoming a registered team. This is the same as a "friendship season."

Team, Club and Individual Rules Applying to All Teams

When players intend to form a volleyball club in Hoosier Region, each participant and team must be registered members of this region. The region office must be notified a minimum of six (6) days prior to a tourney if they are forming a club and plan to use players from the teams within that club. A team may only belong to one (1) club. There can be an interchange of players between teams of the same club.

A high level/division player can never compete in a lower level of competition, such as A, BB down to B, or F-16 down to F-15.

A lower-level/division player can compete in a higher level of competition, such as a BB level player moving up to an A level team, or F-15 up to F-16. The individual must be on the playing roster for that tournament.

Interchange of club players at the same level, for example Team BB 1 to Team BB 2, is legal, provided the change is made on the tournament entry roster form.

At the junior level, the age and possibly grade-level rules determine where an individual must compete. Junior players can play up in a higher division but can never play down in a lower division.

If there is a written complaint filed as a result of a tournament director knowingly allowing a higher-level player to compete with a lower-level team in a division lower than that player's known level of competition, that player, the team he/she competed with and the tournament director of that tournament are automatically suspended for (1) one month. Further infractions of the same nature could result in a year or longer ban from sanctioned competition. We hope that tournament directors and the players themselves will police this to prevent it from happening.

USAV Junior Olympic rule - Once a female junior player has participated in a USA/JOVC Qualifying Event, she may not p