Week of January 2: 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 15: Registration deadline for all teams wishing to play in, or host in, the WIVL.
February 20 through February 24: Lock in March 11 hosting locations.
February 27 through March 3: Lock in hosting dates for meets on March 18 and beyond.
March 6: Detailed meet schedule will be posted on the website for all teams playing on March 11.
March 10: "Skeletal" meet schedules will be posted on the website for March 18, March 25, April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22, April 29 and May 6 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 13: The detailed meet schedules will be posted on the website for March 18. This process will be repeated weekly throughout the season every Monday for the next Saturday’s meets.
The Enrollment Form to participate in the Spring 2023 season of the WIVL must be submitted by February 15, 2023.
The instructions on the form are self-explanatory. However, 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.
Spring 2023
Wisconsin Independent Volleyball League Season
If you are a coach or team contact who plans to enter one or more teams into the Spring 2023 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 2023 Enrollment Form
The Enrollment Form to participate in the Spring 2023 season of the WIVL must be submitted no later than February 15, 2023. 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.
2023 Spring Rules
WIVL 2023 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 "2023 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 2024 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.org) or Terri Green at 715-386-4317 (terri@gnbl.org).
Meets will be organized on ten consecutive Saturdays: March 11, March 18, March 25, April 1, April 8 (Easter weekend), April 15, April 22, April 29, May 6 and May 13 (regular meets for 6th and 5th/4th grade teams and League Championship Tournaments for 7th and 8th grade teams).
Separate Divisions and Experience Levels
The Spring 2023 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.
For the 2023 season, we have added a question to the Enrollment Form asking teams to let us know their experience level. The League will schedule some meets placing teams of similar ability levels at the same location. This will not be the case in all meets because it would mean less experienced, but talented, teams may have fewer opportunities to play more experienced teams. It would also lead to many teams playing each other several times in the season.
Fees / Hosting Credits and Penalties for Dropping a Meet
For the Spring 2023 season, teams will be charged $28 per match to play and the host will receive a hosting credit of $16 per team per match.
Teams dropping a meet less than seven (7) days in advance of a given meet, after their attendance was confirmed by phone call or e-mail to the League, will face the penalties spelled out in Rule C-10.
Flexible Scheduling
On the Enrollment Form, you can opt to have your team play three, four, five or more matches per day.
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 6, 2023, a detailed meet schedule will be posted on the website for all teams playing on Saturday, March 11. By Friday, March 10, "skeletal" meet schedules will be posted on the website for the March 18, March 25, April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22, April 29, May 6 and May 13 regular meets (not the 8th and 7th grade LCTs). This means by March 10 we will post who plays where and how many matches on these remaining dates, but not the exact opponent and time of each match. For all dates after March 11, 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 Tournaments for 8th Grade and 7th Grade Teams
On Saturday, May 13, the League will hold two separate League Championship Tournaments (LCT) for teams in 8th grade and 7th grade, provided that centrally-located communities with adequate playing surfaces agree to host on that date. (There will be regular meets scheduled for teams in 6th grade or 5th/4th grade.) Each LCT will be hosted by a different community or group of communities. A team must play in at least two meets prior to May 6 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: 1) give preferential treatment to teams playing in at least three other meets (rather than just two as noted above) and 2) if after that action, we still have too many teams, preferential treatment will be given to those teams with the best match and game records as of the completion of the May 6 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 4th place finishers in each grade, as well as to the Consolation Champions (there will be no Consolation Championship in any field with less than 16 teams). Medallions will be awarded to individuals on those teams that win a trophy. The League will provide ten awards per team at the event. Players on teams that fail to win a trophy will not receive individual awards. The cost to play in the LCT will be $180. 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 $8 per adult and $3 per student (versus $5 adult/$2 student during the regular season) to also help cover the added cost of hosting a larger event of this nature. As with regular League meets, LCT host communities (not the League) retain all admission proceeds and all concession profits.
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 or no later than March 15:
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.
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.
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 each meet by contacting Tracie at tracie@gnbl.org (only one coach or contact from each team should confirm). Teams will have until the Monday, 12-days prior to the meet at 10:00 p.m. to confirm their attendance. Unconfirmed teams will be removed from meets.
It is important when confirming your attendance that you include your team name and grade, the date of the meet and host site (for example: “I’m confirming attendance for Hudson Navy 7th grade at the April 22 meet in Barron”).
Here are the deadlines for each date meets will be held:
Length of Matches
See Section B-6 of the rules. We will follow the same match length used in previous years:
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 are published on the website for the exclusive purpose of seeding the season-ending League Championship Tournament for teams in 8th and 7th grade. No standings will be posted for 6th and 5th/4th grade teams.
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 2023 season:
Timeline Going Forward
What follows is a timeline we will follow leading up to the beginning of League play this spring:
Week of January 2: 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 15: Registration deadline for all teams wishing to play in, or host in, the WIVL.
February 20 through February 24: Lock in March 11 hosting locations.
February 27 through March 3: Lock in hosting dates for meets on March 18 and beyond.
March 6: Detailed meet schedule will be posted on the website for all teams playing on March 11.
March 10: "Skeletal" meet schedules will be posted on the website for March 18, March 25, April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22, April 29 and May 6 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 13: The detailed meet schedules will be posted on the website for March 18. 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.