The OVR board of directors, officers, and staff convened from 7PM August 12 through 12PM August 14 in Strongsville, Ohio.

Present:		Ron Wyzynski, Bob Price, Keith Burke, Don Burroughs, Troy Dixon, Steve Donahue, Art Faura, Michelle Fox, Al Herbert, Tom Joseph, Tom Kohl, Jimmy McKinzey, Terry Miller, Nick Nystrom, Glenn Purdy, Barb Strome, Elaine Viney, Emi Vishoot, Bill Zehler
Not present:	Brian Hemelgarn, Kirby King, Patty Salvatore

Officer Appointments

The board appointed the following officers to terms beginning 9/1/05 and concluding 8/31/08:

Commissioner: Bob Price

Juniors’ Tournament Director:Tom Kohl

Regional Scorekeepers’ Chair:Terry Miller

Men’s Tournament Director:Hank Trimble

Registration

2005 regisration data were presented and discussed (see page xxx).

The OVR will continue to use its online registration system, periodically uploading data to the national office.

Club affiliation must be declared at registration.

Members with outstanding fees or paperwork will not be permitted to register for 2006 until all obligations are fulfilled.

Juniors’ club directors and adults’ team reps should reside in the region in which the club or team registers.

Background screening results for OVR members included 2,408 total screens, with 40 flagged and 1 disqualified.

In 2005, 14 coaches never completed background screening despite repeated e-mails to correct this oversight. OVR procedures must take a hard line about this procedure so that an individual cannot coach until the background screening is completed.

Verification through TIVA was problematic because of the limited access given to regional verification officers.

Steve Donahue will speak at the December ASEP meeting to outline problem areas an associated consequences.

OVR Facility

The OVR will soon be part owner of an LLC offering a $4M facility in Hudson, Ohio. The faciliity will have 4 courts, also offering other sports, and is tentatively scheduled to open in September 2007.

Finances

OVR salaries are less than 20% of total budget, whereas other nonprofits are 25% or over.

Expenditures this season included computers, projectors, and a trailer.

Relationships with sponsors, including Q-Sport, continue to be mutually beneficial.

Sales of the OVR College Pack continue to generate revenue and provide a valuable service to juniors wishing to play in college. Abby Johnson has been very helpful with marketing and sales.

Juniors’ Competition

OVR Girls’ Championships

The OVR-Kaepa® USA 2005 Girls’ Volleyball Championships went well. Additional courts were valuable: several teams were shut out the first weekend, but we were able to accommodate all teams during the second and third weekends. Total teams: 964 (new record). No teams dropped out until third weekend.

The 2005 Girls’ Championships at the Convention Center (2 weekends, 4½ days) netted $5826.36, excluding shipping costs which are not yet available. Rising costs and expanding this tournament will require an increase in entry fee to break even.

OVR-Kaepa® USA 2006 Girls’ Volleyball Championships

10s-12s: last weekend in April,Columbus-area sites

13s-18s: GCCCMay 6 (60 cts), May 7 (60 cts),May 13 (60 cts), May 14 (44 cts)

This new format eliminates Friday night play, reduces conflicts, and eliminates the long break between pool play and playoffs for 15s.

Entry fee: $250

We will recompete the photography contract for the 2006 tournament.

Bid Tournaments

The 2005 Bid tournament for 15s-18s at the Convention Center operated at a deficit of $24,419.77, not including shipping costs. To continue holding this tournament at a high standard, an increase in entry fee is required.

Ohio Valley Region-Molten® 2005 National Bid Qualifier

April 8-9, 2006 at GCCC

Entry fee for OVR 2006 Bid tournament at the GCCC: $600.

OVR Boys’ Championships

The OVR 2006 Boys’ Volleyball Championships will be held on March 4-5, 2006, at the Veterans’ Memorial in Columbus. The Championships will be held in conjunction with the Arnold Classic, providing excellent exposure for boys’ volleyball. Tom Kohl will help with organization, and Keith Burke will serve as on-site tournament director.

The entry fee for the OVR Boys’ Volleyball Championships will be changed to $250 for a 2-day event.

Boys’ Volleyball

Only one boy participated on a 10-and-Under team (which can be co-ed or gender specific). The team reported no problems with boys’ participation, which neither hindered nor enhanced the team.

The OVR boys’ program is moving in the right direction, but requires growth of high school programs to make headway together with OVR.

Juniors’ Tournaments

Tom Kohl summarized juniors’ tournaments and participation by age group and weekend. His goal is to determine the optimum number of tournaments to sanction in any given weekend, offering at least two events in every section of the region

Open tournaments will be restricted to Open teams, and Club tournaments will be restricted to Club teams.

The seeding policy will be revisited by the seeding committee.

Current procedures and costs for juniors’ regular-season tournament entry are fine.

Tryouts and Recruiting

OVR recruiting policies are unchaned for the 2005-2006 season.

There will be no post-tryout organizational meeting prior to the 10-day waiting period.

A club cannot have more than contact per player per weekend, not to exceed 3 consecutive hours.

There is no change to tryout fees.

Grade-level teams

The grade-level team program initiatied in 2005 was successful, with about 60% of club teams participating.

Teams requested (and were granted) waivers to participate as a grade-level teams in certain tournaments in the Pioneer Region, Great Lakes Region, and East Coast Championships). However, waivers created problems with other regions

We must adhere to the in-region limitation of this program.

Juniors’ Competition: General

The region’s investment in Charleston, West Virginia is paying off: the OVR staffed the first tournament, and now local club has taken over this function.

The OVR continues to be a prime recruiting area for college coaches.

Officiating and Rules

The Libero uniform is required to be solid black jersey with white number or solid white jersey with black number. The Board subsequently revisited this decision, concluding that the libero uniform will comply with the 2005-2006 Domestic Competition Regulations (page 52, chapter 6, section 19.2, equipment): "The Libero player must wear a uniform whose jersey at least must contrast in color with that of the other members of the team....."

Use of a juniors’ friendship tournament for rating new officials was a positive training environment for all.

Proper handling of background screening for new officials will be addressed.

The majority of evaluation efforts focused on new officials, preventing adequate feedback to existing officials. Limiting new officials to 25-50, through improved pre-screening of applicants, would alleviate this problem.

There are problems with the rating process, e.g. people submitting rating slips for tournaments at which they did not officiate.

Officials can be sanctioned for officiating events above their level, and tournament bonds may be retained for tournament directors who do not hire appropriate officials.

If official cancels an agreement with a tournament director, the circumstances should be filed as an Incident Report.

3 officials were suspended due to improper conduct. We must continue to emphasize professional conduct of officials both on and off the court.

Brian Hemelgarn will bring a proposal detailing sanctions for officials to the October meeting.

As the region grows, it is increasingly difficult to staff our tournaments with quality officials.

The size of the OVR necessitates sharing the workload and delegating functions.

Approximately 22 officials registered in 2004 did not return, some of whom were junior officials who graduated.

Officials must be re-rated. Those who conform to feedback can go on, while ratings may have to be lowered for those who cannot.

The possibility of allowing Junior Officials to officiate 13s and 14 Club was discussed and dismissed.

Considerable discussion on a variety of topics ensued; Brian Hemelgarn will follow up separately and at the October board meeting. Topics included:

Should P1 responsibility include all but 16O, 17O, and 18O?

What is the best compromise to prevent inadvertent assigning of inappropriate officials?

Grass-roots efforts should be expanded, encouraging new officials to stay in officiating and to bring in additional new officials. For example, recruit Junior National officials to lead classes throughout the region in the fall.

Should officials be reassigned to tournaments appropriate to their level?

Should Junior National officials be used to a greater degree?

Should the Early Bird be used as an opportunity for Regional officials to gain experience with higher-level competition?

Should only Regional and above (or P2 and above) be used for Regionals?

What can be done to help with assigning for the region’s larger tournaments? Would offering several regional assigners be a useful service?

Clinics sites and locations must be established and published as soon as possible.

Scorekeeping

Sufficient time must be allotted for th scorekeeping presentation at officials’ clinics.

Having the first referee sign the score sheet worked out well, and the signature field has been added to USAV score sheet.

Due to limited use for scorekeeper patches among regions, there will not be a new patch design until the current inventory is depleted.

Jr. Officials’ Development Program

60 certified clinicians were provided to club directors for running clinics throughout the region. No club director seeking a clinician failed to find one. At least 28 clinics were given.

The page of junior officials’ certifications will be revisited to improve ease of use.

Barb received many reports of outstanding work teams, and only 2 negative reports.

Approximately 12 players showed interest in the junior officials’ program, of which 7 were certified as new junior officials.

Additional work is required to help junior officials find assignments once certified.

Both Columbus and Pittsburgh offered 10s’ and 12s’ events, which may be possible training sites.

High Performance

The cost per player is about $1000, funded by revenue from coaching education and player fees.

The best players should not be involved in the region’s HP program, but rather trying out for the national program.

Don recommends keeping pure FIVB rules for the older division, but going to 9 players rather than 12 and adding a team. The additional cost could be covered by current CE revenue.

Don Burroughs is officially retiring from coaching HP, to continue instead as Head of Delegation.

We will actively recruit coaches for HP. CAP certification is required.

The 2006 tournament is likely to host 24 HPc, 24 Junior, and 12 Youth team. The tournament will be in June to avoid conflicting with Nationals; hence, our program will have to start earlier.

The OVR will look into getting boys involved in HP.

Don requested acquisition of video cameras for coaching and feedback.

Clear statement of purpose must be given to players and families participating in High Performance. Is the primary objective to win or to provide a positive learning experience?

HP Tryouts

145 players attended tryouts, of which 2 teams of 12 were selected.

Tryout participants should be nominations by club directors.

3-4 tryouts throughout the region could lead to a selection process for the final tryout.

We must reach the best players, and if we send the best players, everyone should play.

Bill Zehler will bring a proposal for revisions to the HP program to the October board meeting.

Coaching Education

Don bought a website for High Performance and Coaching Education, which will be linked from the OVR site.

CAP may have reached saturation. In the future, CAP I and CAP II may be offered on alternating years.

USA Volleyball is restructuringthe CAP system.

Don will continue to delegate clinics to instructors. Jeanne Colpus is a valuable addition to CE.

Late fees and online signups greatly helped with on-time registration. The maximum number of late registrations per clinic was 7.

Results from the YJOV Meeting

If the 6-1 sub rule applies, field more HP teams of fewer players.

The OVR should send 1-2 people to Colorado Springs in January for training and to instruct OVR coaches.

National HP would like to promote beach volleyball.

USAV will pursue some sort of automated seeding system or systems to seed national tournaments.

USAV will develop wording to deal with intentional forfeits. Consequence: no participation for the rest of the tournament.

If a forfeit is involved in pool play and a tie results to go to the Gold level, then all 3 teams will compete in the tiebreaker.

If 3-game matches are held for 3-team pools, then the third game will be treated as a deciding game, with a new coin toss.

Boys’ bid tournaments are considered one event, even if held on multiple weekends and at multiple locations.

All girls’ qualifying events will set their entry deadlines at least 6 weeks prior to the event.

Men’s and Women’s Competition

For all adults’ tournaments in the OVR, the tournament director will hire all-day officials to work the pool and bracket play. The tournament entry fee will be changed to $110.

2006 Ohio Valley Regional Volleyball Championships: April 8-9, 2006, Greater Columbus Convention Center

7-8 boys’ teams participated in men’s tournaments prior to the boys’ season.

Loss of the Kent State facility negatively impacted men’s participation in northeast Ohio. Additional support is also rquired in Northwest Ohio as well as in other areas of the region.

41 of 74 men’s teams are registered with the Team Ohio club. Whether this is creating opportunities or stifling growth requires careful examination.

Each registered adults’ team must have at least 6 unique players (excluding age-group teams).

Compliance with uniform requirements is better but still needs improvement.

Other Results from ROD Meetings

Bob Price discussed the formula for determining bids allocated to each region based on junior population

Two online region newsletters per season is acceptable.

The Competition Division requests input from ROD regarding competition format and structure.

Awards

Award presentations for 2004-2005 can be improved.

2005-2006 awards committee: Jimmy McKinzey (chair), Steve Donahue, Glenn Purdy, Elaine Viney, Emi Vishoot.

Jimmy will present a proposal for better presenting and publicizing awards.

Miscellaneous

Radios for use at large tournaments were purchased 8-10 years ago and are now failing. The region will purchase replacements after securing the best price.

The OVR has a new attorney, Mike Fults, who has a volleyball background and is located in Westerville. The base insurance policy through ESIX is for $2M per event, with a deductible of $25,000. Secondary sports accident insurance has a $25,000 limit.

There may be interest in forming sitting teams in Cincinnati and in neighboring regions. Servicing outdoor players and the disabled are two areas the OVR has not yet addressed.

An OVR booth at the AVP event in Cincinnati would be valuable for promoting indoor and beach volleyball in the region.

Future Board Meetings

• October 23, 2005, 9am: Westerville
• January, 2005
• August, 2006