Island Fire Volleyball Academy

2018 PARENT / PLAYER HANDBOOK

SKAGIT-ISLAND VOLLEYBALL ACADEMY Mission Statement

Skagit-Island Volleyball Academy (SIVA) is a not-for-profit organization committed to the introduction, development, and promotion of volleyball in Island, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties. Our primary objective is to facilitate and nurture a passion for the sport of volleyball within our academy members resulting in a continued growth of volleyball.

PROGRAM RULES GUIDELINES & TRADITIONS

Memberships

1. Players, coaches, and chaperones must have and maintain USAV memberships in good standing.

Payment Information

Fee information is provided at tryouts. The total dues include tournament entry fees, coaches’ salaries, administrative fees, and uniforms. Fees will be adjusted based on the number of tournaments played, extra uniforms purchased, and unexpected travel costs. Players whose payments are not up to date will not be allowed to practice, play in any tournament, travel with the team, or participate in any other Skagit-Island Volleyball Academy activity.

Payment Plans

1. Full Payment a. Full Payment is due by December 1st, 2017

2. Payment Plan Payments are due on the dates listed below. We will provide account invoice upon request.

a. The following payment plan has been established:

SIVA 18/17/16/15 SIVA 14 SIVA 17 / 14 / 12 National Program National Program Regional $2800 $1800 $500 Payment Schedule: Payment Schedule: Payment Schedule:

11/27/17 $800 11/27/17 $500 11/27/17 $200 12/15/17 $400 12/15/17 $350 1/1/18 $400 1/1/18 $250 1/1/18 $100 2/1/18 $400 2/1/18 $250 2/1/18 $100 3/1/18 $400 3/1/18 $250 3/1/18 $100 4/1/18 $400 4/1/18 $200

SIVA Time

1. SIVA time is as follows: a. On time is considered late. Athletes should be at every practice, meeting, or other team activity at least 15 minutes early.

b. Players should arrive early enough to practice and tournaments to allow them to be properly dressed, stretched, and are ready to start as per directed/instructed by the coach.

c. Practice time is limited, so coaches want to get the most out of it. Over the course of a season, if you spend the first 15 minutes or practice getting ready, stretching, etc, you have lost the equivalent of 9 full practices over the course of a season. So please plan on players arriving at least 15 minutes prior to scheduled practice to accomplish the necessary preparation and warm-up.

Practices

1. Practices are mandatory and all athletes are expected to attend practice unless they are ill or have an excused scheduled conflict. If you are unable to attend practice you must contact your coach as stipulated. (Coaches all have different preferences for this sort of news…phone call, text, email, etc.) a. Penalties for unexcused practices

1. Players that have one unexcused absence from practice or other required team activity will be benched for one match of the next tournament.

2. Players that have three or more unexcused absences from practice will be benched for the next entire tournament. Players that will be benched will not be allowed to dress in uniform (dress in club warm-ups and club attire is expected) but will still be responsible for work duties. b. Excused Practice Definitions

1. Religious commitments

2. Death in family

3. Education (This means you have exams the next day, or some other major test.) Missing practice due to procrastinating normal work (e.g., a term paper) is NOT an acceptable reason to miss practice.

4. Other reasons (case-by-case basis) approved by consensus of the Director, coach, and SIVA Advisory Board.

2. All SIVA teams may have work duties before or after practice as well as after tournaments such as assisting with maintenance and clean up during the club season in exchange for large discounts on gym rental and other fees to SIVA.

a. Teams failing to clean up after practices or tournaments will face the following penalties. 1. First Offense: Written warning to each team member, parent, and coach.

2. Second Offense: Team will be forced to forfeit their next practice session, and instead will spend the two hours cleaning up facility. 3. Family vacations should be carefully planned especially as the plans affect practice for the national qualifying tournaments and the national tournament. Missing practices or competition in preparation for these important events is unfair to other team members who have expended a great deal of their own time, money and effort. Team schedules are posted, giving plenty of time to make your vacation schedules.

4. All members are to be back to practice after the Winter Holidays break. This is key training period for the upcoming season

5. The practice environment is a place to work and improve your skills. Our goal is to make you a better player and consequently, improved team play will follow.

a. Any and all jewelry including earrings is prohibited. b. NO gum at any time in any facility we play or practice in. c. Volleyball shoes are only to be worn inside the gym, and never outside in the parking lot coming to or leaving practice.

Tournaments

1. When two or more SIVA teams attend the same tournament, SIVA athletes will support and cheer on the other SIVA teams. 2. Drugs, alcohol and tobacco have no place in youth athletics. They are also a crime and will result in immediate dismissal from the program. 3. Athletes must wear their SIVA attire, for example SIVA Warm-Ups, t-shirts, etc at any playing venue. Signed seniors may wear their college of choices t-shirt or sweatshirt.

Playing Time

1. SKAGIT-ISLAND VOLLEYBALL ACADEMY DOES NOT GUARANTEE EQUAL PLAYING TIME ON ANY TEAM OR AT ANY EVENT . SIVA believes that your fees are for instruction time during practices, not a specific amount of time spent playing in tournaments. The athlete’s attendance, attitude, effort, and performance determine playing time.

2. Decisions about court time are, at all times, the sole discretion of the staff. Coaching decision are not up for debate or question.

3. Athletes are encouraged to ask what they can do to get better and see more playing time. Parents should question their player regarding playing time prior to addressing this issue with the coach or Skagit-Island Volleyball staff. PARENTS SHOULD NOT EVER APPROACH A COACH ABOUT PLAYING TIME WHILE AT A TOURNAMENT.

SIVA TEAM TRAVEL GUIDELINES AND RULES

Dress Code Dress code will be followed for all tournaments. a. If driving with parents, athletes are encouraged to wear their Skagit-Island Volleyball attire, for example Skagit-Island Volleyball Warm-Ups, t-shirts, etc. All Athletes must be in approved attire by the official meeting time and place. b. If traveling as a team, athletes will wear jeans (clean, not frayed, no holes) and same color practice t-shirt and warm-up jacket. c. Uniforms are to only be worn on the court and at no other time. When the team is done playing their match, players will remove their jerseys and replace them with approved Skagit-Island Volleyball attire. When it is time to play again, only then will teams be allowed to put their uniforms back on.

Travel

1. If more than one team representing Skagit-Island Volleyball is to travel to the same tournament, then the club will travel together. This includes any bus, train, plane, or other form of transportation unless otherwise approved by the Director ahead of time. The club will stay at the same hotel as well, to promote the idea of one team, one club, one family. 2. While teams are traveling, it will be a volleyball trip. Teams will be expected to behave like a team. This means eat together, travel together, etc. Tournaments are not a time for families to take players to see family, friends, shopping, site seeing, etc. The athletes are there for volleyball. Any distractions take away from the volleyball experience and team building. 3. There will be a curfew that will be strictly enforced by each coach. USAV Guidelines say 11pm or one hour after play is completed, whichever is earlier, shall be all junior age athletes’ curfews. Any player found to be breaking this curfew will be dealt with quickly and appropriately with penalties ranging from benching for remainder of tournament to immediate removal from the team (or other penalty as determined by the Coach and/or Director.)

Cell Phone Policy

The use of cell phones is restricted during travel. The reason for restricting cell phone usage is to minimize distraction among team members, and to focus each athlete on interacting with the team. This is an essential element to team cohesiveness, and personal development of each athlete. Minimal use of cell phones is permitted to call immediate family members (mom, dad, brother, sister). These calls must be kept to a minimum as to not interfere with team activities. The following guidelines must be followed: 1. Players are prohibited from using cell phones while at the playing venue or during team functions outside the venue. 2. Cell phones may be used minimally to call immediate family members. (Please notice significant others and friends are not considered immediate family members.) 3. Cell phones will be turned into the coach by curfew. Players will receive their phones back when use is approved 4. If a player is caught using a cell phone inappropriately during a tournament, that player will be benched for the next match and the cell phone will be confiscated until after the tournament is over.

Drug & Alcohol Policy

Drugs, alcohol and tobacco have no place in youth athletics. They are also a crime and will result in immediate dismissal from the program. SIVA Grievance Policy Aspiring athletes, by their very nature, create situations where everyone may not be happy all the time. Knowing when to communicate and how to communicate with your athlete’s coach is a concern for almost every parent at some time during the season. Most often the concern is how to inquire about issues surrounding playing time.

At Skagit-Island Volleyball, we encourage the athlete to take responsibility for their participation. We expect the player to talk to the coach first when they have a problem concerning their playing time or if it is unclear what a coach expects either in practice or competition. The appropriate way to do this is for the athlete to ask the coach what they need to do to get more opportunities to play in matches. Often the player knows why they may not be playing as much as a teammate when the parent may not.

Parents can help best by helping their athlete set goals to achieve more playing time. When a parent has a problem that is specific to their child, we first expect them to talk to their child to discover all relevant facts and context, to the problem. Afterwards, we ask parents to schedule a meeting with the coach via email and courtesy copy (CC:) SIVA Advisory Board ([email protected]). Please note that Skagit-Island Volleyball coaches have been instructed to not discuss “coaching decisions” with anyone other than our staff. These coaching decisions include, but are not limited to: specific match decisions about who played where, when, and who was subbed out for how long and when. Coaches will not be asked to defend or explain their decisions and judgments about playing time. It is improper for a parent to request that.

Grievance procedures are as follows: The following steps should be followed to handle a grievance:

1. The athlete will meet or speak to the coach to discuss the matter. 2. The parent(s) should speak with their child to discover all relevant facts and the context for those facts to gain a complete understanding of the problem. 3. The parent should speak to the head coach. Meetings should NEVER be done at a tournament. If a parent approaches a coach at a tournament, we have instructed the coach to refuse to discuss any controversial matters at that time but to strongly suggest they contact the SIVA Director and to walk away from the situation. The recommended time for a scheduled meeting between parent, athlete & coach, is immediately before or after a practice session as time permits. 4. The parent may request a meeting with the head coach and the Club Director. In most situations, we will ask the athlete to attend the meeting as well. Meetings must be scheduled 24 hours or more in advance. Meetings will not be scheduled during a practice or tournament. The coach and SIVA staff will not engage in discussion about “coaching decisions.”

PARENT & PLAYER CONTRACT 1. We realize that Skagit-Island Volleyball Academy (herein listed as SIVA) is an excellence program and we are committing our financial support for the entire season, even if our child chooses to leave the program.

2. We acknowledge that volleyball or any sporting event is an extreme test of a person’s physical and mental limits and that my participation in a volleyball event can cause potential death, serious injury, or property damage. With a full understanding of the potential risks, I HEREBY ASSUME THE RISKS OF PARTICIPATION WITH SKAGIT- ISLAND VOLLEYBALL ACADEMY AND ALL ASSOCIATED EVENTS.

3. We acknowledge that SIVA is a “travel” program which requires players to participate in out-of-area tournaments resulting in additional cost consisting of air/motor vehicle transportation, hotel accommodations, and meals for player and coaches.

4. We understand that the following actions are prohibited and may result in immediate dismissal from SIVA: a. Possession, consumption, or distribution of alcohol, tobacco, or illegal substances. b. Physical damage to a facility or theft of items from a room, dormitory, residence or other person. (Restitution will be part of any penalty imposed.) c. Possession of fireworks, ammunition, firearms, or other weapons or any item or material which by commonly accepted practices and principles would be a hazard or harmful to other persons. d. Any action to be considered to be an offense under Federal, State, or local law ordnances. e. Violation of the specific policies, regulations, and/or procedures of the USAV, RVA or the facility used in conjunction with sanctioned event. f. Conduct which is inappropriate as determined by comparison to normally accepted behavior. g. Physical or verbal intimidation of any individual. This includes the use of social medial. h. Actions detrimental to USAV, RVA, and SIVA.

SKAGIT-ISLAND VOLLEYBALL ACADEMY DISCIPLINARY POLICY Infraction When Occurred Suggested Maximum Penalty Before or during Individual disqualified and sent home immediately; event parent or guardian notified. After event SIVA Board of Directors and Club Director will First concludes review case and issue judgment which may result in the immediate dismal from SIVA, and reporting to RVA (USAV Puget Sound Region). Before and Individual disqualified and sent home immediately; during event parent or guardian notified. After event SIVA Board of Directors and Club Director will concludes review case and issue judgment which could result Second in the immediate dismal from SIVA, declared ineligible to participate in SIVA program for two years, and reporting to RVA (USAV Puget Sound Region). Third Individual could receive lifetime ban from SIVA programs, and reporting to RVA (USAV Puget Sound Region).

5. We will be positive and refrain from any public outburst that could be viewed as detrimental to our child, their coaches or teammates or Skagit-Island Volleyball program. We also have the right to expect the same courtesy from our staff members. We agree to handle any and all complaints in a professional manner and will observe a 48-hour policy before responding. All problems should be addressed to the Skagit-Island Advisory Board ([email protected]).

6. . Practice and tournament protocol: a. All practices are mandatory. If you cannot attend practice please make personal contact with your coach at least 24 hours in advance.

b. Only seniors are allowed to miss practice/tournament for Prom. All other prom activities must be attended in your own time, not practice or match time.

c. All athletes will be expected to observe SIVA Junior’s Time, which is: arrival 15 minutes prior to any scheduled activity. We only have a limited amount of practice time, we cannot waste any waiting for players to get dressed or stretch.

d. Gum and jewelry are not part of the practice or match uniform. Also, wearing make-up is discouraged. We want you to be respected for what you are, not how you look.

e. All athletes will stay at tournaments until their coach dismisses them. Remember, if you could stay if you were playing in the finals, you can stay until your coach dismisses you.

f. All players will be expected to keep themselves in excellent shape at all times. This involves adequate rest as well as healthy eating habits.

7. We understand that every player will receive equitable time and training in practice. We also understand that Skagit-Island Volleyball will attempt to field the most competitive team possible at tournaments as determined by the coach. Factors considered by coaches in determining playing time for each player will include: attempting to qualify for nationals, player absence from practice, illness or injuries, player skill level, and the like. Consequently all players will not receive the same playing time in tournaments.

8. We hereby take the following action for myself, my child, my executors, administrators, heirs, next of kin, successors and assigns:

a. I WAIVE, RELEASE, AND DISCHARGE from any and all claims or liabilities for death or personal injury or damages of any kind, EXCEPT THAT WHICH IS THE RESULT OF GROSS NEGLIGENCE AND/OR WANTON MISCONDUCT OF PERSONS OR ENTITIES LISTED BELOW, which arise out of or relate to my traveling to and from or my participation in any volleyball event, THE FOLLOWING PERSONS OR ENTITIES: USA Volleyball and its Regional Volleyball Associations, Skagit-Island Volleyball Academy Board of Directors, administrative staff and coaching personnel, tournament directors, sponsors, and the officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents of any of the above. b. I AGREE NOT TO SUE any persons or entities listed above for any claims or liabilities that I have waived, released or discharged herein. c. I INDEMNIFY AND HOLD HARMLESS there persons or entities mentioned above from any claims made or liabilities assessed against them as a result of my actions.

6. We have read, reviewed and understand the Skagit-Island Volleyball Handbook. 7. We agree to follow all rules and regulations stated in the Skagit-Island Volleyball Handbook.

Parent Signature/Date: ______Parent Signature/Date: ______

Athlete Signature/Date: ______