The Old Dominion Region is authorized to conduct regional championship tournaments to certify a regional championship team that shall qualify for entry to the AA, A, BB, and B divisions of the United States Adult Open Championships for men and women.
A host intending to conduct a fellowship tournament shall obtain approval for the tournament from the Tournament Coordinating Committee Chairman. The information regarding each fellowship tournament shall be given to the Chairman:
- Date, time and site for the tournament.
- Number of courts available.
- Playing divisions to be scheduled.
- Entry fee to be charged.
The Chairman of the Tournament Coordinating Committee shall approve fellowship tournaments on the basis of prior request, appropriateness of playing opportunity for the various playing divisions, and ability of the Old Dominion Region Referee and Scorer Rating Teams to provide raters for the tournaments.
Notice of tournament dates shall be published and circulated among Old Dominion Region members as thoroughly as possible prior to the fellowship tournament period. Tournament hosts shall serve as Tournament Directors for their own tournament. Entries are to be submitted directly to the tournament hosts and selection of participating teams shall be made by the tournament host on a first-received/first accepted basis.
Registration at Fellowship Tournaments
All players, coaches and officials must register prior to participation in any clinic, fellowship, or regular season tournament.
Registration consists of completing the Individual Membership Form and USA Volleyball Participant Code of Conduct, signing the form, and mailing the completed form with the appropriate registration fee to the Registrar.
For fellowship tournaments, players need only be registered as individuals, not with a team. For regular season tournaments, a group of players must be registered as a team.
Registrations mailed to the Registrar must be postmarked at least five days prior to the event in which the individual or team is participating.
The Registrar will mail each person who registers a registration card which will serve as proof of registration. Participants are required to show their proof of registration at every clinic, fellowship tournament, and regular season tournament.
Entry Fees
Entry fees for fellowship tournaments shall be that amount of money, divided by the non-host participating teams, that will cover the cost of the facility and necessary equipment and materials. There shall be no more than one host team per court. Additionally, $50.00 per court shall be remitted to the Old Dominion region to help defer the cost of supplying raters for the referee and scorer candidates. Most fellowship tournament hosts are able to meet their costs with a $50.00 per team entry fee.
Sanctioned Tournaments
- Each registered team, unless suspended from participation, shall be guaranteed an invitation for competition within its division.
- In order to be registered, a team must have registration numbers for the team and all individuals on the team issued by the Registrar or his/her delegate.
1. For teams that submit applications on or prior to the entry deadline date:
1st Priority: Host team(s) sponsoring the tournament shall be guaranteed acceptance of one team per playing pool.
2nd Priority: Teams that host fellowship or sanctioned tournaments may designate one tournament for which they shall have 2nd priority acceptance. Only one host team per fellowship or sanctioned tournament may claim this priority.
3rd Priority: Teams that have not participated for the longest period of time. If more than one team has not participated for the same amount of time, the team which registered earliest shall have the higher priority. For priority purposes, a team will be considered to have not participated if the team travels more than 120 miles to participate in that tournament.
2. For teams that submit applications after the entry deadline date, entries shall be selected on a first-received/first-selected basis.
Matters regarding the selection of teams for entry into Old Dominion Region tournaments shall be directed to the Chairman of the Tournament Coordinating Committee. The Chairman’s decision in these matters shall be final.
In the event of inclement weather, each individual and team must make their own independent decision whether or not to attend a tournament. This decision must be made regardless of whether the tournament director or ODR Tournament Coordinator decides to hold the tournament and whether or not other local teams decide to attend. Should inclement weather cause a team to decide not to attend a tournament, the team coach or other team representative must notify the Tournament Director and the ODR Tournament Coordinator immediately.
As a general guideline, the Old Dominion Region will make every effort to hold a tournament. The Old Dominion Region will generally not cancel a tournament based on “predicted” weather. The assumption should be made that a tournament will be held, unless the participants are directly notified that a tournament has been cancelled. If a team must contact the Tournament Director or ODR Tournament Coordinator, only the club director, team coach, or team representative should contact the Tournament Director or ODR Tournament Coordinator to avoid duplicate inquiries from the same club or team. Individual players and parents should only contact the club director, team coach, or team representative. For inclement weather that occurs on the day of a tournament, it is unlikely that a Tournament Director will be able to contact all teams in advance. In such a case, the tournament will be held for all teams that are able to attend.
NOTE: In the absence of actual notice of cancellation from the Tournament Director, teams shall presume that any tournament in which they have received notice of entry shall be held as scheduled.
A multi-court round robin tournament in the same playing division shall require a playoff to determine the champion provided at least four teams are assigned to each court and each pool has its own playing schedule. Playoffs for single-court round robin tournaments, or multiple-court round robin tournaments where one court has less than four teams, shall not be conducted unless there is a tie in the pool for first place.
Four or five teams shall be scheduled per pool in round robin tournaments. When multiple courts are used for teams of the same playing division, a maximum of two teams from each pool shall be eligible to advance to the playoffs. Championship brackets shall not exceed sixteen teams.
Types of Matches Used in Round Robin Tournaments: When multiple courts are used with at least four teams per court, and a championship playoff is scheduled, round robin matches may be:
- Two 25-point sets
- Best two of three 25-point sets
- Three 25-point sets
When time is a factor, and the approval of the appropriate Tournament Coordinator is obtained, round robin matches may be two 11-point sets. If this format is used, entry fees should be reduced accordingly. Semi-final matches shall be best two of three 11- or 15-point sets. Final matches shall be best two of three 15-point sets. If time becomes a factor, the Tournament Director, with the approval of the Chief Referee, may change the format so long as no team is thereby unfairly disadvantaged. Consideration should be given to the number of matches scheduled for each team; entry fee assessed; and travel time of the teams involved. The scheduled format for all competition shall be arranged so that the final match will not start later than 9 p.m.
Two 25 point sets 55 minutes
Two 21 point sets 50 minutes
Two out of three 25 point sets (15 point 3rd set) 1 hour, 10 minutes
One 15 point set 20 minutes
One 25 point set 26 minutes
Two out of three 21 point sets (15 point 3rd set) 1 hour
Three 25 point sets 1 hour, 30 minutes
Three out of five 25 point sets (15 point 5th set) 2 hours
A minimum of five additional minutes of warm-up shall be allotted for the first match for each team except in those facilities that provide an adequate warm-up area not in conflict with the playing areas. For all subsequent matches, a maximum of 10 minutes between matches (from the whistle ending a match to the whistle directing teams to the end line for the next match) shall be allowed. Nine minutes or less at the agreement of both teams is permissible, except for quarter or semi-finals, which must start at the same time. Except for each team’s first match of the day, all references to scheduled times are only a guideline.
Team 1 is the host team; team 3 is the team that has the farthest to travel.
| Match# | Team | vs. Team | Work Team |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
Team 3 is the host team; team 4 is the team that must travel the farthest; team 1 is the top seed.
| Match# | Team | vs. Team | Work Team |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 6 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
Team 3 is the host team; teams 5 and 4 have the farthest to travel; team 2 is the top-seed.
| Match# | Team | vs. Team | Work Team |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 3 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 8 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 9 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 10 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
On 2 courts — Team 3 is the host team; teams 5 and 4 have the farthest to travel; team 6 has the least travel other than the host.
| Court 1 | Court 2 | |||||
| Match# | Team | vs. Team | Work Team | Team | vs. Team | Work Team |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 2 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
| 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| ************ 45 minute Lunch Break *********** | ||||||
| 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 6 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| 7 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| 8 | 3 | 6 | 1 | |||
On 2 courts — Team 7 is the host team; team 3 has the farthest to travel; team 5 has the least travel other than the host.
| Court 1 | Court 2 | |||||
| Match# | Team | vs. Team | Work Team | Team | vs. Team | Work Team |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
| 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| 7 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 7 |
| 9 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 6 |
| 10 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| 11 | 4 | 7 | 3 | |||
1st Priority: Results of the match between the tied teams. First consideration is the sets won/lost comparison. Second consideration is the point differential. If the teams are still tied:
2nd Priority: Comparison of the point differential based on total round robin competition. If teams are still tied:
3rd Priority: Coin flips.
To determine the point differential, subtract the total points lost from the total points won. The highest positive or lowest negative remainder shall be the top seeded team for playoff position.
a. If two or more teams are tied for the last playoff position, the minimum number of 25-point sets shall be played.
b. If two teams are tied for the last position, one 25 point set shall be played.
c. If three teams are tied for the last position, the top seed is determined by sets won/lost or point differential comparison. If one team has a better sets won/loss record against the other two teams, that team is the top seed. If the teams have the same sets won/loss record against each other, the top seed shall be determined by point differential. The other two teams will play one 15 point set with the winner playing one 25 point set against the top seed.
d. If four teams are tied for the last position, use the point differential to determine seeds. Play one 25 point set between 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3. The winners of those sets shall play one 25 point set to determine the team to enter the playoff round.
e. If three teams are tied for two playoff positions, the team with the greater point differential shall be awarded one playoff position and the other two teams shall play one 25 point set for the remaining playoff position. If a point differential tie exists, a coin flip shall determine the top seed but all three teams shall playoff as follows: Team 2 shall play team 3 one 25 point set. The winner shall be awarded one playoff position. The loser plays the top seed one 25 point set for the other playoff position.
Scheduling of Playoff Matches: In playoff schedules involving two pools, the semi-final matches shall be the first place team in each pool playing the second place team from the other pool. In playoff schedules involving three or more pools, care must be taken to ensure that teams from the same pool do not meet before the final match.
Work Teams for Playoffs. The losing team of the final round robin set preceding playoffs shall be the work team for the first round of playoffs. If the losing team qualifies to participate in the first round of playoffs, the winner of the last round robin set shall be the work team for the first round of playoffs. If both teams qualify to participate in the first round of playoffs, the work team for the last round robin match shall be the work team for first round of playoffs. The losing team for each round of playoffs shall be responsible for providing the work team for the next round of playoffs. If an excess of teams are subject to this responsibility, the teams shall be released from work-team assignments on the basis of greatest distance to travel. Playoff work-team assignments shall not be changed unless the host team volunteers to provide qualified work team personnel. Teams responsible for work teams shall not be released from assigned matches unless they are specifically advised of their release by the Tournament Director.
Withdrawal of Teams from Tournaments: If withdrawal from a tournament is made more than seven days prior to the tournament date (or is made within seven days of the tournament date but is due to extenuating circumstances that create a necessity for withdrawal) and notification is made to the Referee Chair, the Tournament Director and the appropriate Tournament Coordinator, no disciplinary action shall be taken. Teams that have been accepted into a tournament and withdraw within 72 hours preceding the tournament date shall, at the discretion of the Tournament Director, forfeit their total entry fee, unless a suitable replacement team can be found. If a team withdraws from an Old Dominion Region sanctioned tournament for a second time in a season within seven days of the tournament date, and no extenuating circumstances apply, the team may be subject to suspension from competition for a 30-day period. Any subsequent violation of this guideline shall be governed by the provisions of the section in this handbook dealing with Registration and Eligibility. If a team, having entered and been accepted into an Old Dominion Region sanctioned tournament, fails to appear and participate without having notified the Tournament Director and the Referee Chair at least 48 hours prior to the tournament, the team may be suspended for a 60-day period, unless good cause for the failure to appear is presented. The responsibility for decisions in matters of this regard shall be that of the Chairman of the Ethics/Eligibility Committee.
Tournament Results Report. The Tournament Director will telephonically report tournament points earned by all teams in each division to all appropriate Tournament Coordinators on the first working day following the tournament (form on the ODR Web Site (www.odrvb.org ) – Forms]. This is necessary to keep point standings updated for seeding any upcoming tournaments. In addition, the Tournament Director will mail a written report of teams’ standings in pool play and playoff results to the appropriate Tournament Coordinator within 48 hours after the tournament and to the Region Newsletter Editor within one week of the tournament.
Sanctioned Event Report: The Tournament Director will complete and submit the report on the reverse of the Sanction Request to the Regional Treasurer within two weeks after the tournament.
Score Sheets. The Tournament Director will mail all completed score sheets from the tournament to the Scorer Chair within 48 hours after the tournament.
Team Rosters – Tournament Entry Agreements: To ensure eligibility of all participants, the Tournament Director will mail all team rosters and the tournament entry agreements to the Region Registrar for review within 48 hours after the tournament.