Great Northwest Basketball League (GNBL)

Spring 2021

 Wisconsin Independent Volleyball League Season

 

If you are a coach or team contact who plans to enter one or more teams into the Spring 2021 Wisconsin Independent Volleyball League ("WIVL"), please read this posting thoroughly.  This posting, along with the Enrollment Form and WIVL Rules, will answer virtually every question you will likely have about how to enter a team and how the League functions.

Spring 2021 Enrollment Form

The Enrollment Form to participate in the Spring 2021 season of the WIVL must be submitted no later than February 20, 2021.  If you have questions, please call Tracie Tilton at 715-749-9048 or, if you can’t reach her, call Terri Green at 715-386-4317.

2021 Spring Rules

WIVL 2021 League Rules can be viewed on our website at gnbl.org, by clicking on the "Volleyball League" tab at the top of the page and then "2021 Rules" tab.  These rules cover not only match rules, but also how the League is organized, the League’s fee structure and meet management.  It is imperative that all coaches looking to enter one or more teams in the League read and understand these rules.  While we will consider changes in these rules for the 2021 Spring season, any changes at this point must reflect a majority view of League participants.  If you have suggested rule changes, or you have questions about the rules, please contact Tracie Tilton at 715-749-9048 (tracie@gnbl.lorg) or Terri Green at 715-386-4317 (terri@gnbl.org). 

Length of Season

For the 2021, we have expanded the season to organize meets on ten consecutive Saturdays:  March 13, March 20, March 27, April 3 (Easter weekend), April 10, April 17, April 24, May 1, May 8 and May 15 (season ending League Championship Tournament). 

Separate Divisions

The Spring 2021 League will have a separate playing division for each of three grades:  6, 7 and 8.  There will also be a combined 4th/5th grade division, in which we’ll schedule play between 5th grade teams, 4th grade teams and combined 4th/5th grade teams.

Interest in Boys or Co-Ed Teams:  A few communities have expressed an interest in forming a Boys team or a Co-Ed team.  We have included a question on the Enrollment Form asking if there is an interest in this.  If enough teams are interested, we will consider adding either boys meets or co-ed meets to the schedule for meets in April and May.  This will be a new Division, and there will not be a League Championship Tournament for these teams in 2021.  We will consider all recommendations of rules concerning these teams.  Boys teams would consist of all male players.  Girls would be allowed to play on the girls team as well as the co-ed team.  Co-ed teams should try for a 50/50 balance of boys and girls, but would need to consist of no more than 75% of rostered players being from one gender – in other words on a team of eight, there could be six girls and two boys or six boys and two girls, however, four and four would be recommended.

Fees / Hosting Credits and Penalties for Dropping a Meet   

For the Spring 2021 season, teams will be charged $26 per match to play and the host will receive a hosting credit of $15 per team per match. 

Teams dropping a meet less than six (6) days in advance of a given meet, after their attendance was confirmed by phone call or e-mail from the League, will face the penalties spelled out in Rule C-5.

Flexible Scheduling

On the Enrollment Form, you can opt to have your team play three, four, five or more matches per day.

• If you choose to play three matches, your matches will likely be scheduled in three consecutive time slots, or usually over no more than four time slots, so that your team is making only a half-day commitment.  However, please note Section B-4 of the League Rules:  we cannot consistently guarantee a specific team that their matches each Saturday will all be in the morning or all in the afternoon.

• If you choose to play four matches a day, these will likely be scheduled over five to six time slots, with some back-to-back matches and some one time-slot breaks between matches.

• If you choose to play five matches a day, in most cases you’re looking at a full day commitment (e.g., 8:00 a.m., 8:30 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m.), with five matches over a six, seven or eight time-slot day.  The length of your day, however, will depend on how many courts are being used by the host team that day, how many other teams are in attendance and how many other grades are being hosted on that day by the host team.

• If your team wants to play more than five matches per day, you aren’t likely to have any longer day than those teams playing five matches, but you will play more back-to-back matches.

See Paragraph B-3 of the League Rules for an example of how flexible scheduling works with thirteen teams playing on three surfaces, where five teams play three matches each, three teams play four matches each, four teams play five matches each and one team plays seven matches.

Hosting 

When hosting, a community needs a minimum of two playing surfaces for a full day for one grade (first match starting between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m., last match starting sometime between 3:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., depending on attendance at that meet).  A community can also host a meet for one grade on three playing surfaces on the same Saturday.  If a host has three, four or more playing surfaces, it can host meets for multiple grades on the same date.

Posting Schedules 

A schedule of meet participants will be posted and updated as changes occur.  By Monday, March 8, 2021, a detailed meet schedule will be posted on the website for all teams playing on Saturday, March 13.  By Friday, March 12, "skeletal" meet schedules will be posted on the website for the March 20, March 27, April 3, 10, 17 and 24, May 1 and 8 meets (this means by March 12 we will post who plays where and how many matches on these remaining eight dates, but not the exact opponent and time of each match).  For all dates after March 13, the detailed meet schedule will be posted every Monday on the website for the next Saturday’s meets, showing each meet match-up, court assignments and start times.  This process will be repeated every Monday for the next Saturday’s meets.

This flexible scheduling approach is used in the WIVL rather than having concrete, set schedules from the beginning of the season.  This helps teams deal with the changing availability of their players during the spring season and keeps financial penalties for dropping out of meets to a minimum.

League Championship Tournament 

On Saturday, May 15, the League will hold a separate League Championship Tournament (LCT) in each division for 8th, 7th, 6th and 5th/4th grade teams, provided that centrally-located communities with adequate playing surfaces agree to host on that date.  Each of the LCTs will be hosted by a different community or group of communities.  A team must play in at least two meets prior to May 8 to be eligible to participate in the LCT.  If more teams at a given grade level sign-up to play in the LCT than court capacity allows, we will cut teams with the lowest match and game records as of the completion of the May 8 meets. 

At the LCT, each team will play between five and six matches.  Teams will be seeded based on their season’s record.  Trophies will be awarded to the 1st through 5th place finishers in each grade, as well as to the Consolation Champions (there will be no Consolation Championship's if there are less than 16 teams in a given LCT field).  Medallions will be awarded to individuals on those teams that win a trophy.  Players on teams that fail to win a trophy will not receive individual awards.  The cost to play in the LCT will be $170.  The slightly higher cost of the LCT relative to regular meets accounts for the increased number of matches each team will be playing, the cost of the awards and added staff time to organize a large event.  Hosts of the LCT will be allowed to charge $6 per adult and $2 per student (versus $4 adult/$2 child during the regular season) to also help cover the added cost of hosting a larger event of this nature.

Rosters and Liability Waivers / Concussion Agreements

All teams must submit the following information at least two weeks before the first meet your team will play:

A roster for your team.  Rosters can be submitted on the “roster form” that is posted on the website at gnbl.org (or a word-processed document with all of the required information).  On the website, simply click on the link for “Roster Form” on the “Volleyball League” drop-down menu.  Rosters must contain each player's first and last name, jersey number, home address, school and grade during the 2020-2021 school year (you can update this list as needed via email throughout the season by providing the names of new players, delete names of players no longer on the team, changes in jersey numbers, etc.).

Rosters can be returned to the League by scanning and emailing to jen@gnbl.org, or faxing to 715-796-2872, or mailing to GNBL, P O Box 506, Hudson, WI 54016.

A "Consent for Medical Treatment and Voluntary Release, Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Risks Indemnity Agreement" (hereafter "Liability Waiver/Concussion Agreement"). 

Parents/guardians must submit Liability Waiver/Concussion Agreements online, have them visit our website at gnbl.org, then click on “Waiver/Concussion Info” in the top menu bar.  From there, they can follow the online instructions.

Liability Waivers/Concussion Agreements must be submitted each school year for each player and each coach – we must have a newly submitted form each season.  We strongly urge you to take this process seriously.  The Liability Waiver/ Concussion Agreement provides legal protection to you as a coach, your school and your referees, not just those parties organizing the League. 

• All coaches and assistant coaches are also required to complete the online Waiver/Concussion Agreement.  The Coach Concussion Agreement has been made a part of the Liability Waiver/Concussion Agreement – so if you have signed this document for your child, you are in compliance.  If you are coaching and do not have a child participating, please complete the Liability Waiver/Concussion Agreement form using your own name instead of the player name.

• If a player was on a basketball team that participated in The Great Northwest Basketball League, that player’s Liability Waiver/Concussion Agreement from basketball also covers her for the volleyball league.  The parent/guardian does not have to complete the waiver/concussion agreement again.

Failure to comply with these rules by not returning completed rosters or having parents/guardians complete Liability Waivers/ Concussion Agreements online, could result in loss of meets this year or exclusion next season.

Pre-Meet Contacts

Each team will be responsible for confirming their participation in the next week’s meet by contacting Tracie at tracie@gnbl.org (only one coach or contact from each team should confirm).  Teams will have until the Wednesday, 10-days prior to the meet at 10:00 p.m. to confirm their attendance.  On the Thursday morning (nine days prior to the meet), a reminder email will be sent to the coach/contact, any team not responding to that final reminder by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday will be removed from the schedule for that upcoming meet. 

It is important when confirming your attendance that you include the grade, team name and host site (for example: “I’m confirming attendance for Glenwood City 8th grade at the March 27 meet in Bloomer”).

Here are the deadlines for each date meets will be held:

• March 13 meets.  Teams playing on March 13 will be notified via email on or before March 3 and will need to confirm their attendance for that date.  Schedules for this date will be posted on March 8. 
• March 20 meets.  Confirm by March 10.  Reminder email sent March 11.  The "skeletal" schedule for this date will be posted as soon as possible after the host dates are confirmed.  Unconfirmed teams will be removed from meets if they have not responded by 4 p.m. after receiving the reminder email.
• March 27 meets.  Confirm by March 17.  Reminder email sent March 18.
• April 3 meets.  Confirm by March 24.  Reminder email sent March 25.
• April 10 meets.  Confirm by March 31.  Reminder email sent April 1.
• April 17 meets.  Confirm by April 7.  Reminder email sent April 8.
• April 24 meets.  Confirm by April 14.  Reminder email sent April 15.
• May 1 meets.  Confirm by April 21.  Reminder email sent April 22.
• May 8 meets.  Confirm by April 28.  Reminder email sent April 29.
• League staff will contact teams to confirm attendance at the May 15 League Championship Tournaments.

Length of Matches

See Section B-6 of the rules.  We will follow the same match length used in previous years:

• 4th/5th and 6th Grade:  50 minutes apart – anticipated 40-45-minute match with a 5-10-minute warm-up for the next match.

• 7th and 8th Grade:  55 minutes apart – anticipated 45-50-minute match with a 5-10-minute warm-up for the next match.

Line Judges

Please note Section C-4 of the League Rules.  Each team must provide one of the two line judges for each match.  Coaches:  It’s your responsibility to make sure that a person associated with your team gets into position at least two minutes before a match is scheduled to start so that the official doesn’t need to take the time to remind you of this obligation.  Hosts:  If a given team fails to provide a line judge, do not proceed with the match until that team meets its obligation.  If a team refuses, the match will be forfeited by the team refusing to comply with this rule for purposes of League Standings, but played for "fun" so that the players are not disadvantaged.  Such refusal should be reported to the League because it may effect that team’s ability to participate in future meets, including the League Championship Tournament.  While parents and older siblings are the logical people who most often are asked to act as line judge, players are acceptable if necessary.  For example, if a team has eight players on it, rather than sitting out a game in a specific match, one player can line judge -- coaches can have three different players each line judge one game in a three game match, which allows each player to play in the other two games.  If all else fails, the team’s coach needs to line judge rather than shirk this responsibility.

League Standings

League Standings will be posted weekly and are calculated as follows:

• 7th and 8th Grade Meets.  The only time a third game in a match should be played is when the two competing teams each win one of the first two games.  Hosts are encouraged to get ahead of schedule, rather than play an "unneeded" third game. 

• 4th/5th and 6th Grade Meets.  The main difference between 4th/5th and 6th grade matches and those in 7th and 8th grade, is that we actually have a procedure in place to encourage (rather than discourage) the playing of the unneeded third game (see Section D-3 of League Rules).  This is done to give younger players more playing experience, even if the outcome of a given match has been decided.  The only difference between how we handle 4th/5th and 6th grade versus 7th/8th grade meet results, is that we will post the scores of all unneeded third games in 4th/5th and 6th grade matches.  However, we will not count the outcome of that third game in 4th/5th grade and 6th grade matches toward the League Standings, for purposes of calculating the game win/loss percentage, when the match was decided in the first two games.  In that way, the "winning" team isn’t penalized for playing all of its less experienced players in game #3.

Website

The Wisconsin Independent Volleyball League's website can be found at gnbl.org, then click on the "Volleyball League" tab located on the top of the page.  These items are on the website for the Spring 2021 season:

• Rules:  League rules are posted for all coaches, parents and players to access.  Rules for the Spring 2021 season are posted. 

• Consent for Medical Treatment and Voluntary Release, Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Risks and Indemnity Agreement/Concussion Law Agreement:  These protect the League, the coaches and the municipality/school hosting each game.  Parents/guardians and coaches can fill this form out directly online. 

• Schedules:  Meet and LCT schedules will be posted and updated continuously as changes occur.  See the "Timeline" section below for timing of postings.

• Scores:  Host teams are required to submit scores within 48 hours of the completion of each meet.  Scores will be posted on the website and standings updated on a weekly basis.  First scores for the Spring 2021 season will be posted on or about March 15.  Score results for all previous seasons are archived on the website and can be accessed at gnbl.org.  Click on "Volleyball League," located on the top of the page, then "Archives."

Timeline Going Forward

What follows is a timeline we will follow leading up to the beginning of League play this spring:

• Week of December 21:  Enrollment materials are posted and an email sent to all of last spring’s coaches.

• Mid-January through February:  Communities looking to enter teams in this League should conduct their local enrollment process if they haven’t done so already.

• February 20:  Registration deadline for all teams wishing to play in, or host in, the WIVL.

• February 24 through February 26:  Lock in March 13 hosting locations.

• March 1 through March 5:  Lock in hosting dates for meets on March 20 and beyond.

• March 8:  Detailed meet schedule will be posted on the website for all teams playing on March 13.

• March 12:  "Skeletal" meet schedules will be posted on the website for March 20, March 27, April 3, 10, 17 and 24 and May 1 and 8 meets (i.e., at this time, we’ll post who plays where and how many matches, but not the exact opponent and time of each match). 

• March 15:  The detailed meet schedules will be posted on the website for March 20.  This process will be repeated weekly throughout the season every Monday for the next Saturday’s meets.

Questions and Comments

If you have questions about enrollment packet information or copies of certain documents, please contact Tracie Tilton at 715-749-9048 or email tracie@gnbl.org, or Terri Green at 715-386-4317 or email terri@gnbl.org.