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USA Volleyball Cancels all activities through MAY 8

03/20/2020, 6:15pm PDT
By Tony Miranda

Date extended by USAV on 4/22/20

 

April 24, 2020 Update

Dear USA Volleyball Membership,

As parts of our nation have commenced plans for reopening, USA Volleyball CEO Jamie Davis and Board Chair Cecile Reynaud have established a task force to create a comprehensive roadmap to safely restart USAV’s sanctioning of activities when it is appropriate. The team is comprised of the following members:

  • Jamie Davis: USAV Chief Executive Officer
  • Chris Vadala: USAV Chief of Membership Services
  • Stacie Kearns: USAV Chief Financial Officer
  • Rachael Stafford: USAV General Counsel
  • Cecile Reynaud: USAV Board Chair, Member of USAV Coaching Education CAP cadre
  • Steve Bishop: USAV Board Member, President of the Florida Region of USA Volleyball, Member of the RVA insurance committee and the USAV Beach Assembly member
  • Dave Peixoto: USAV Board Member, Commissioner of the New England Region Volleyball Association, Member of the RVA Assembly
  • Steve Kenyon: USAV Board Member, Member of the RVA and Officials Assemblies
  • Dave Gentile: USAV Board Member, Chair of the Junior Assembly

We believe that this joint staff and board task force provides for a broad representation of USAV’s membership constituency and is also comprised of members from regions with varying stages of COVID-19 severity and recovery.

This group will be collaborating with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, medical experts, government entities, volleyball clubs and other national governing bodies to adopt a phased reopening plan in accordance with federal, state and local guidelines and with the foremost goal of safeguarding USAV members and spectators. We will not be removing the suspension of USAV sanctioning activities until it is safe to do so.

Thank you in advance for your patience as we develop our roadmap forward.

Jamie Davis
Cecile Reynaud

 

April 22, 2020 Update - 3 p.m. Mountain

USA Volleyball is extending the elimination of sanctions for all USA Volleyball activities (including but not limited to events, practices, team activities, individual training sessions or anything covered by USA Volleyball insurance) through May 8, 2020.

Following several communications with the USOPC, the U.S. Center for SafeSport, and our insurance providers, USA Volleyball has received permission to sanction virtual training/coaching/instruction/meetings during this period of sanction suspension. Any virtual training/coaching/instruction/meetings involving minors are subject to requirements of MAAPP, specifically the regulations on electronic communications and one-on-one interactions. These requirements include the following:

  1. All virtual trainings/coaching/meetings must be “observable and interruptible,” able to be ended at any time, and have at least two applicable adults on each session, i.e., coach and assistant, coach and club director, etc.
  2. All parents/guardians must be provided the code or link to join the virtual session.
  3. All parents/guardians must sign a waiver in advance as these sessions could be viewed as individual training. A record of which clubs/coaches have been approved to conduct these sessions should be kept. USAV has created a standardized waiver form if you care to use it.
  4. If a minor athlete ends up emailing a video to a coach for feedback or additional coaching, the coach needs to copy the parent/guardian and/or other applicable adult on all correspondences.

To be clear, virtual training/coaching/instruction/meetings will only be considered sanctioned so long as the above requirements are followed.

USA Volleyball has been asked by local clubs whether such ban applies to club activities covered under the club’s own (non-USA Volleyball) insurance. In these situations, USA Volleyball strongly encourages all member clubs and coaches to adhere to USA Volleyball’s policies. However, should a club decide to voluntarily disregard those policies and assume all risks associated therewith, we recommend that the club adhere to CDC; local, state and federal guidelines and recommendations when deciding whether or not to host practices or individual training sessions. If a club does host practice or individual training sessions, those activities would be considered a non-sanctioned activity by USA Volleyball and thus NOT covered by USA Volleyball insurance.

The health and welfare of our membership, volleyball families and fellow citizens is our primary concern in all decisions we are making during these uncharted times.

USA Volleyball is monitoring the situation daily and will continue to provide updates on a regular basis.

 

March 31, 2020 Update

USA Volleyball is extending the elimination of sanctions for all USA Volleyball activities (including but not limited to events, practices, team activities, individual training sessions or anything covered by USA Volleyball insurance) through April 30, 2020. USA Volleyball is monitoring the situation daily and will continue to provide updates on a regular basis.

USA Volleyball has been asked by local clubs whether such ban applies to club activities covered under the club’s own (non-USA Volleyball) insurance. In these situations, USA Volleyball strongly encourages all member clubs and coaches to adhere to USA Volleyball’s policies. However, should a club decide to voluntarily disregard those policies and assume all risks associated therewith, we recommend that the club adhere to CDC; local, state and federal guidelines and recommendations when deciding whether or not to host practices or individual training sessions. If a club does host practice or individual training sessions, those activities would be considered a non-sanctioned activity by USA Volleyball and thus NOT covered by USA Volleyball insurance.

The health and welfare of our membership, volleyball families and fellow citizens is our primary concern in all decisions we are making during these uncharted times.

 

March 19, 2020 Update - 3:30 p.m. Mountain

USA Volleyball is announcing the elimination of sanctions for all USA Volleyball activities (including but not limited to events, practices, team activities, individual training sessions or anything covered by USA Volleyball insurance) through April 15, 2020. USA Volleyball is monitoring the situation daily and will continue to provide updates on a regular basis.

USA Volleyball has been asked by local clubs whether such ban applies to club activities covered under the club’s own (non-USA Volleyball) insurance. In these situations, USA Volleyball strongly encourages all member clubs and coaches to adhere to USA Volleyball’s policies. However, should a club decide to voluntarily disregard those policies and assume all risks associated therewith, we recommend that the club adhere to CDC; local, state and federal guidelines and recommendations when deciding whether or not to host practices or individual training sessions. If a club does host practice or individual training sessions, those activities would be considered a non-sanctioned activity by USA Volleyball and thus NOT covered by USA Volleyball insurance.

The health and welfare of our membership, volleyball families and fellow citizens is our primary concern in all decisions we are making during these uncharted times.

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ANNOUNCEMENT FROM USA VOLLEYBALL
Posted March 13 @ 5 PM MT

 

We are continuing to monitor the status of COVID-19 coronavirus.  In the interest of welfare and safety of our membership, USA Volleyball is eliminating the sanctioning for all USA Volleyball activities (including but not limited to events, practices, individual training sessions, or any activity covered by USA Volleyball insurance), effective 11:59pm MT, Friday, March 13th.  This ban on all USA Volleyball sanctioned activities extends through March 31st.  We are monitoring the situation on a daily basis and will provide periodic updates as information becomes more apparent.  

Email sent to Club Members:

Parents, players, coaches:
 
Our priority is the safety of all of our members. By now, I am sure you have heard that USA Volleyball has shut down operations until March 31. What they have done is eliminated their sanction from all events, which essentially cancels the insurance for all activities. In essence they are removing coverage to discourage clubs from having any activities – period.
 
We are complying, of course and cancelling all practices though March 31. This includes SAQ Training. Barring an extension or another announcement from USA Volleyball, we will plan to resume practices beginning April 1 using our currently available facilities for the entire club. More information and a schedule will be published at a later date and distributed through our coaches.
 
We are cancelling all activities for the very same reason USA Volleyball and nearly every other sports organization in the world is cancelling events. 
The most recent information coming out of the CDC mentions the term “asymptomatic” spreading of the disease. We won’t go into all the details in this email, we’ll leave the explanations up to the experts online and on TV. But essentially, our young, athletic players may not be showing symptoms, but it doesn’t mean they don’t carry the virus. By minimizing or eliminating these opportunities for the disease to spread, we feel be are being socially responsible and doing our part to help flatten the curve of the widespread outbreak. 
 
We hope our families will understand and appreciate our position. We want to encourage our players to continue to stay active at home. The internet is a wonderful thing – there are a lot of tips and drills that the players can find and do online. 
 
We encourage you to continue to follow recommended protocols.
 
Stay safe. See you on April 1st.
 

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