Schedule Changes to the Club Season
The 2020 volleyball season will be anything but business as usual, especially here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The pandemic has caused the Virginia State High School League to modify their traditional schedule, in lieu of one that…
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Continue ReadingThe 2020 volleyball season will be anything but business as usual, especially here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The pandemic has caused the Virginia State High School League to modify their traditional schedule, in lieu of one that allows more time to prepare for the seasons in an effort to ensure the safety of the student-athletes. The three sports seasons were shuffled with the first sports starting action in November and pushing boys and girls volleyball from their traditional August to November season, to a season starting in February and ending in May.
This shuffle has also had a huge impact on the club seasons, as “travel ball” traditionally starts in November and runs into the summer months depending on the team and level of play. Clubs all over the state are scrambling for practice locations and tournament sites with the limitations of the usage of school facilities. Most teams are starting tryouts in September and are doing one of two options:
First, some teams will do a two-segmented season with session one starting in September and running into the start of high school season and the second segment resuming after high school season and ending in the more traditional summer end times. The other option seems to be just having one elongated season but slowing training during high school season and ramping it back up at the end of the season.
Travel ball programs are covered by three groups in the commonwealth with both hosting events in Virginia in 2020-21. USA Volleyball, the sports governing body nationally has two regions within the state. The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is the other entity that runs events in Virginia and is increasing its footprint in the commonwealth in the past few years. The newest group and is trying to expand is the Juniors Volleyball Association. The variety allows a lot of opportunities for teams to play and some groups are more cost effective than others.
Old Dominion Region covers a majority of the state with the exception of Northern Virginia. They have released a schedule starting in December and January but have yet to have anything beyond that for the girls events.
The Chesapeake Region (CHRVA) covers the portion in Northern Virginia which also includes Maryland, Washington DC, and parts of Delaware and Pennsylvania. CHRVA has many of the top club teams in the state including Metro American, Virginia Juniors, Paramount, X-Performance and several others.
Some of the girl’s USA Volleyball national qualifiers are already scheduled for the 2021 season while many others remain in limbo. The Boys bid tournaments will start January 2, 2021, in Rochester for the Molten Can-Am Qualifier. Some scrimmage events start in November for club with tournaments starting in December on a much smaller scale than normal.
The Junior Volleyball Association will host a variety of single day and multiday tournaments nationally including in the commonwealth. Events start in December and run into the early summer months. Many clubs have memberships with multiple groups to provide flexibility.
The Amateur Athletic Union runs the largest girl’s sporting events in the world including the only Volleyball National Championship this past summer. They run numerous events throughout the state including events in Roanoke, Richmond and the Tidewater area. AAU is starting to rival USA Volleyball in participation in the Old Dominion region.
High school practices can officially begin February 15, 2021. The first contest can be March 1, 2021. Teams will be permitted to have 12 contests between March 1 and the start of regional play on April 12. The state semifinals will be held April 20 and the finals held April 23-24 at locations that have yet to be determined. The abbreviated schedule was created to prevent players from losing an entire year of competition. In previous seasons, teams were allowed up to 20 matches or 18 matches +1 tournament or 16 + 2 tournaments. The largest tournaments traditionally have been held in Richmond and Virginia Beach in previous years. There is no word on if tournaments will be allowed during the 2021 Winter Volleyball season.
The Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association has canceled its state championships for the Fall of 2020 due to Covid-19 concerns. Some programs are still carrying on with their traditional Fall season, while many others are awaiting announcements by their respective conferences to determine their fate for the 20-21 academic volleyball possibilities. Some schools want to start in October and run a relatively traditional Fall season while others want to join the public school option for spring season play.