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RESOURCES

All Athletes, Coaches and Club personnel must register in the OVA Membership Registration System (MRS) prior to participating in any OVA or Club activity (including tryouts). This is necessary to ensure compliance with provincial concussion legislation (Rowan’s Law) and to sign off on the online waivers of liability prior to participating in any OVA related activities

MRS will provide OVA members with an upgraded interface and improved functionality for an enhanced experience while introducing some new changes.  Such changes include:

  • All Waivers of Liability, OVA Terms & Conditions, and Concussion Code of Conduct Acknowledgement Forms will be completed online as part of the MRS member registration process.
  • Clubs will no longer be permitted to create member profiles for athletes or Club staff. This is a directive to comply with Rowan’s Law legislation regarding concussion education and prevention. As such, all waivers of liability and concussion code of conduct acknowledgement forms must be completed by the participant and their parent/guardian (if under 18 years of age) in order to become a member of the Association.
  • Athletes must upload their Proof of Age documentation to their MRS account. This will be a one-time upload and the document will then live with the athlete’s account for future seasons.
  • Club Contacts will submit their Club forms online through the Returning Club Form (found on the MRS’ Quick Links menu).

The online registration link will be located on the OVA’s Become a Member page along with a comprehensive series of How to Guides to help members navigate the new system.

Each member must have a unique email address which will be their User ID. If parents would like to have all OVA/MRS emails and correspondence directed to them, their MRS account can be set up with each of their child’s email address as the username while the parent’s email can be entered as the contact email.

A Tryout Player role ($0) has been added to the new MRS so that players are not required to pay for a membership prior to being selected to a team.

Players who are selected for the team will then have to upgrade to a paid membership prior to attending Club practices

Clubs must ensure that athletes and/or parents/guardians show proof of MRS registration on the first night of tryouts for a club via smartphone screen or paper print out.

Due to the uncertainty regarding the start of the indoor season athletes will not be required to purchase a full OVA membership until just prior to the first competitive event.

A Collaborative Effort

The Early Contact Initiative (ECI) is a collaborative effort between the OVA Youth Competitions Staff and the Indoor Volleyball Development Committee  (IVDC).  The IVDC  is made up of 11 members from an array of Indoor Clubs from across the Province;  Boys and Girls volleyball, big city, big club, small town, small club, grassroots volleyball, competition teams, etc., were all represented.

The ECI establishes OVA as a leading organization in the design of developmentally-appropriate youth competition systems.

Anchored in the principles of Long Term Development (LTD), the ECI is a set of rules geared toward assisting entry level players find the appropriate entry point along the OVA’s competition pathway. This flexibility increases developmentally-appropriate competition opportunities for younger players while providing the best experience possible for long term retention and success.

In order to achieve this success, three divisions were created to  help athletes find their fit.

4v4 Rallyball (follows VC Rules for Tripleball): (UPDATED FOR 2023/2024)

  • Athletes born January 1st, 2011 and younger are eligible to participate in 4v4 Rallyball
  • There will be 4 regular season events for 4v4 Rallyball and the Ontario Championships.
  • Athletes in this age division are permitted to play in any division within ECI.
  • This stream will offer a male/coed division. This is due to the limited number of boys we experience within this age group. 
  • Please click here for more information on 4×4 Rallyball

6v6 Rallyball (follows VC rules for Tripleball) (UPDATED FOR 2023/2024)

  • As per the Early Contact Initiative, the 6v6 Rallyball division features a 24-month age eligibility that allows athletes born January 1st, 2010 and younger to participate. 
  • There will be 4 regular season events for 6v6 Rallyball and the Ontario Championships.
  • Athletes are permitted to participate in all streams of ECI.
  • Please click here for more information on 6×6 Rallyball
  • *As a Reminder* The 6v6 regular season tier structure is setup with a developmental focus. Both the boys and girls divisions will only split into 2 tiers (Trillium & Championship). If you are a very strong 6v6 team and are not finding the 6v6 Championship competition meaningful, your team should strongly consider moving to TLS. This will not only improve your teams meaningful competition but also the competitive balance for the remaining teams in 6v6. 

Traditional Limited-Specialized (TLS) (UPDATED for 2023/2024)

  • Athletes born September 1st, 2009 and younger are eligible for the TLS division. Athletes born between January 1st-August 31st, 2009 must complete an application stating their reasoning for playing in the TLS division prior to being eligible to compete (Application found here). 
  • There will be 4 regular season events for TLS and the Ontario Championships.
  • Please click here for more information on TLS

*Please note 2013 and 2014 DOBs are permitted to participate in 6v6 Rallyball if developmentally appropriate, however, it is strongly encouraged that these athletes experience the full development spectrum as identified in ECI.

* Athletes born in 2009 are encouraged to play 15U Youth Competitions. However, athletes who are new to volleyball and born from September 1st-December 31st, 2009 have the option to play TLS if that is better suited for their skillset. Athletes born from January 1st-August 31st, 2009 are only eligible to compete in the TLS division through an application.

 
Thundercats Volleyball Player/Parent Handbook is distributed to all club players at the onset of the season and contains club rules and policies, These policies are reviewed yearly.  In the absence of a code, we will defer to the OVA policies.

CLUB REFUND POLICY
Any NSF charges will require payment of $50 by the responsible party.
 
Club Level:
  • No refund will be given if a player withdraws from the team, as the initial budget was based on the number of players on the team.
  • If the player can be replaced then a prorated refund maybe determined by the Club.
  • If a player has been released by the coach then a prorated refund will be considered by the Club.
Camps and House League:
  • Full refunds will be issued less the administration fee of $50 up to two (2) weeks prior to the start date of the program. Following this, no refunds will be issued. Exceptions to this policy will only be made for medical reasons.
Respect in Sport is an accessible, online resource in the prevention of bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination (BAHD). The program’s mission is to empower participants to recognize signs of BAHD and eliminate it from the game, through a global culture of respect.
 
Respect Group was co-founded by former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy in 2004. It partnered with the Canadian Red Cross to create a best-in-class e-learning curriculum for mass consumption. Participants are certified through a 60-minute on-line program, they can do from anywhere with internet access. Cost is $12.00.
 
At least one parent or guardian of each player registered in OVA volleyball will need to complete the online RIS Parent Program by March 31, 2018 as a condition of participation in OVA Championships. 
 
The program is a proactive, educational program that empowers parents with the tools to ensure the game is enjoyable and respectful for themselves, their children, and all other stakeholders in the game. To register, visit https://ontvolleyballparent.respectgroupinc.com/start.jsp. 
*Please note that the program is also available offline by downloading the Respect In Sport mobile app after you have initialized your profile through the website above.
 
View detailed Parent Access Instructions.  
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More questions? Check out the FAQ’son OVA. 
The Rowan’s Law Concussion Code of Conduct requirements came into effect on July 1, 2019. All sport organizations must require that athletes under 26 years of age, as well as their parent (for athletes under 18), coaches, and team trainers confirm that they have reviewed the sport organization’s Concussion Code of Conduct every year before registering in a sport activity within the sport organization, and/or serving with the sport organization. To read more on Rowan’s Law, click here.

https://youtu.be/UvBDdBoLKjg

 
Please review our Concussion Policies here:
Concussion Resource E-Booklets:
SCOREKEEPING
 
Here are some tools to get you started:
  1. How to Score Keep
  2. How to Score Keep – Simple Version (OVA)
  3. Score Sheet Cliff Notes (developed by a club parent, Thank you Christine!)
  4. OVA_Scoresheet_11x17
  5. Volleyball Canada Scoresheet Presentation
  6. VIDEO: How to Scorekeep
  7. Triple Ball Score Sheet
  8. Line Up Cards
  • Don’t mark points until signaled by the ref. 
  • When a player begins serving put a small tick mark on the Service Round box where the score will be entered. If the ref calls you over to discuss an issue (e.g. injury), there is an extended rally, or a time-out, it is easy to lose position.
Try to get into a routine when you’re scoring:
  • After every point have your number flipper read out the score and the number of the player serving, so you can validate.
  • After every loss of service, record the point awarded, then the Service Round score, then tick the box of the next server.
  • If you get behind and need to catch up just signal the ref, who will be happy to wait for you to get things right
Referees are there to help, so don’t be shy to ask questions. If you are uncomfortable with scoring you can choose to flip numbers instead.

LINE JUDGING

A few tips:

  • Be dressed and on the court at least 20 minutes prior to the match start time.
  • Report to the first referee/R1 who gives line judges instructions and informs them of their court positions.
  • The R1 will determine whether line judges will useflags or hand signals to indicate fouls.

The following link can be found on the OVA website and are a few resources provided to Team Ontario Beach by dieticians at
the Canadian Sports Institute of Ontario that is shared with the community.

Beach or Indoor volleyball or any sport, it is important to maintain healthy eating habits so athletes can best prepare themselves for optimal training and competition.

Nutrition_Tips

https://www.ontariovolleyball.org/strength-conditioning