Northwest Volleyball

Thank you for volunteering to be the Focal and/or Chaperone for your team.  This is an outline of some things your coach may need help coordinating.  Every Head Coach has their own way of doing things, so ask what they would like you to do and coordinate with them. 

As the Focal, you will assist the Head Coach with planning and coordination for the team; you are also the liaison between your team's questions and the club (so only one e-mail is sent on a given question instead of 12). 

As the Chaperone you are responsible for the players from the time their parent hands them off to you before the first day of the travel tournament, until you hand them back to the parent at the end of the travel tournament weekend. You make sure players are where they should be at the correct time for tournaments, team meetings, meals, bedtime. 

Below are some tips and steps that should help you in planning and coordinating your teams activities and travel this club season. Be sure to read it carefully in it's entirety.  

If you still have questions after carefully reading this information and the individual tournament pages, then please check with your Head Coach as they will most likely have the answer. Otherwise, please e-mail info@nwvolleyball.com.  Thank you!

ANY QUESTIONS regarding your team's practice schedule, tournaments, etc. should be directed to your coach.  

Power League: You can find the information on PSR website, but your coach will let you know which facility your team will play at.  The Facility locations and rules are posted on the Puget Sound Region USAV website: https://www.psrvb.org/facility-info

The club hosts several tournaments in Centralia and also participates in the Puget Sound Regional Championship Tournament. Centralia is considered "in region" so we do not classify these as Travel Tournaments. However, because of the distance, some families may want to make arrangements to stay overnight for these tournaments in order to avoid the back and forth drive.

Club dues pay for coaches to stay at least one night for these events and they are assigned by the club. For parents wishing to secure accommodations in these events, we do set up tournament blocks with the Twin Cities Sports Commission.  

For parents wishing to secure accommodations in these events, we do set up tournament blocks with the Twin Cities Sports Commission.  Once the link and information is received, it is posted to our dedicated “Centralia Travel Resource” page and then the page will then go live.  This page can be found under the “For Parents” tab under the “NWJR Tournament/Travel”.  

A dedicated page is created for EACH TRAVEL Tournament with information posted as it is finalized.  You will see the individual travel pages on the left-side of the page when you click on "NWJRS Tournament & Travel" under the "For Parents" tab: https://www.nwjuniors.org/for-parents-tournament-travel

**Travel pages are prioritized by when the travel tournament will occur, so please be patient as we work to get this information posted.

Chaperones are REQUIRED to get USAV or AAU Membership.  Type of membership is dependent upon which organization the travel tournament is affiliated with - typically it is USAV.  Be sure to check before getting membership.
(See below for link and instructions on how to get USAV and AAU Membership).

• U15-U18 Teams: The club reserves and pays for the hotel for U15-U18 Coaches, Chaperone, and Players. (The cost of the hotel for the team is included in your club travel dues).  We also reserve a block of rooms for parents to pull from.
• U12-U14 Teams: The club reserves the hotel for U12-U14 Coaches.  The club also holds a block of rooms (number of rooms held is based on availability) at the same hotel for parents to reserve from and pay directly to the hotel.  One room per family.  Parents are responsible for housing their players with them for U12-U14 teams. 

• Travel Tournaments within the Pacific Northwest are within driving distance by car and are coordinated at the team level. 
• Example: Oregon MLK, Spokane PNQ, Yakima Jamboree, Willamette Classic.

For all U15-U18 teams participating in fly to tournaments.
Arrangements made at the TEAM level: 

• USAV Qualifier and AAU Qualifiers:  The cost of the coaches and the chaperone's airfare is reimbursed by the club up to $600.  *The chaperone and coaches must e-mail their receipt with itinerary to billing@nwvolleyball.com for reimbursement by the club. Be sure to include your mailing address. Please note, the club cannot reimburse your flight if you use mileage.  
• Parents should communicate to their team's coach and chaperone their player’s flight itinerary including the adult their athlete is flying with.  
• TEAM FOCAL and/or CHAPERONE should help their Head Coach keep record of the player and coaches flight itineraries (even if the player is not flying with the Chaperone).  If the Focal is NOT the chaperone, then this information needs to be shared with the Chaperone as well as the Head Coach. It is extremely important that your team's flights are reserved by at least the end of January to ensure players can get the needed flight times.

Whenever we have multiple day tournaments that require an overnight stay, we always bring the athletes in the night before play begins. Regardless of what wave they play. As a matter of fact, when we go to longer post-season tournaments we bring them in an extra day early. 

• The primary reason is because these tournaments are treated like a “business trip” so the priority is in getting the athletes the best opportunity to play at their best. Not “just be there”. 

• The secondary reason is that many of the hotels that make rooms available for these tournaments do so with a minimum night guarantee. They tend to be business hotels and in order for them to set blocks aside for sports teams, they have to turn away their bread and butter business travelers. Holding all these rooms, they want some guarantee that their rooms will be sold and their hotel will be occupied. So many have that minimum night stay requirement, and some cancel your room if you do not check in the first night. 

Back to the primary reason.  Whether the teams play first thing in the morning, or in the afternoon, they often have team meetings the night before to discuss team schedules, strategies, hand out tournament wristbands, etc. Team stuff.  They also often have team breakfast in the morning. Again, “team stuff”. Arriving the night before also give the athletes a chance to wake up in the city they are playing in and be somewhat rested before they play. This is preferred to sitting in a car with their legs in one position for 5 hours before stepping out of the care and attempting to be an athlete. Again, it’s a business trip, and we want our athletes there for business. Rested and ready to play their best.

Another thing to consider is that these multiple day tournaments (especially in January) also provide an opportunity for team bonding and team activities. So those night before meetings and team breakfasts with everyone there actually helps bond the team together. 

IMPORTANT: ONLY Chaperones are REQUIRED to get USAV or AAU Membership.  As the Team Focal, if you are NOT the Chaperone for a travel tournament then you do not need to get a membership.

Teams participate in TRAVEL tournaments that are either USAV or AAU.  So, be sure to verify first if a tournament is USAV or AAU before asking your chaperone to get their membership.) You can find out if a tournament is USAV or AAU by clicking on it's travel page.

*It is not required for the same parent to be the chaperone for every travel tournament.

**Once the Chaperone is determined, be sure they get their membership right away so chaperones can be rostered with their team and get FREE entry into the tournament with their team. Background checks can take 6-8 business days - sometimes more. 

Chaperones should e-mail their receipt with their mailing address for reimbursement to billing@volleyballnw.com.  

USAV Travel Tournaments: Includes a background check and SafeSport Certification.

Here is the link for your chaperone to register and automatically add their membership to NW Juniors VBC. 

https://memberships.sportsengine.com/org/puget-sound-region-volleyball/affiliation/northwest-juniors-volleyball-club

MEMBERSHIP TYPE: PSR Adult - SafeSport & Background Screen Required.

AAU Travel Tournaments:  2024: 18UA Blue and 18UA Grey - Festival in Phoenix

Here is the link for your chaperone to register for AAU Membership: https://aausports.org/page.php?page_id=99977
MEMBERSHIP TYPE: Non-Athlete (Individual)

This is information you need for 2024 so you can associate with our club:

Travel Arrangements

• For U12-U14 teams, all travel arrangements and accommodations for the season will be the responsibility of the parents. The club will book hotel rooms for the coaching staff; the costs for coaching staff hotel rooms are included in the travel costs. The club will set up a group block for parents to call in so that all players and their families can stay in the team hotel. All players must stay in the team hotel in order to be in close proximity to their coaching staff. This policy is not in place for tournaments in Centralia – overnight stays for players are optional for tournaments in Centralia.
• For U15-18 teams, players will stay as a team in the team hotel. Team hotel accommodations include: coaching staff, team chaperone, and players. Costs for team hotel arrangements are included in the travel costs. Travel arrangements, where teams fly to tournaments, are the responsibility of the parents. The club will arrange for ground transportation for coaches only; we do not make the arrangements for team transportation.

If the event is a Stay to Play tournament, you must book hotels through the link provided by the tournament and posted to the club’s event travel page. In most cases, teams that fail to meet the Stay to Play requirements will not be permitted to participate in the tournament.

• Player's travel to and from the tournament is the responsibility of the parent or guardian.
• Player and family are entirely responsible for player’s welfare in travel process.
• Player and family are responsible to transport player from the airport to hotel and vice versa.
• It is mandatory for the player to arrive at the hotel on time for the team meeting, to be determined by coach.