We don’t usually play outdoor volleyball at this time of year but the weather has been kind in April for the last few years and our players, like many of yours I’m sure, are very keen to get back to competitive volleyball. I am therefore circulating a proposal to canvass opinion among MVL clubs on setting up some organised outdoor activity, either in the form of men’s and women’s Sunday leagues or as one-off mini tournaments. We will need to have effective arrangements in place to cancel and rearrange to cope with ups and downs on the weather front so I suggest a formalised system of pitch inspections to be carried out by hosts in advance of matches. I think it will also be necessary for fixtures and rearrangements (using dates supplied in advance by clubs) to be managed centrally to get the flexibility we will need,
Outdoor volleyball comes out of lockdown restrictions on March 29. Volleyball England issued some detailed guidance on managing the return last Saturday.
For full guidance click here https://www.volleyballengland.org/coronavirus
Covid19 Officer Job Description
Summarising briefly:
- sessions can have up to 32 participants split between two courts
- a COVID officer must be appointed to every session
- a register must be kept for track and trace purpose
- no spectators allowed
- players bring their own food and drink – no sharing
- social distancing should be maintained off court
- ball wiping and hand sanitation required every 30 minutes
- avoidance of face to face drills recommended
- one official or coach per court.
Men’s and Women’s Leagues
- held on Sundays, duration 3 hours starting between 11am and 2pm
- played on grass courts as mini-tournaments
- hosted by volunteer clubs
- two outdoor courts
- 5 teams per round
- short game format – 2 sets to 25 or best of three to 15
- off-court team referees on both courts
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- charge of £5 per team to go to hosts
- hosts provide COVID officer for event
- hosts responsible for providing outdoor courts and sending in results
- hosts responsible for pitch inspection and confirming conditions playable at least 2 hours before start time
- MVL organisers responsible for fixture programme – clubs can choose preferred dates when they sign up.
- MVL organiser maintains and publishes results and weekly league tables online.
Stand-alone Mini Tournaments
- Organisation and rules as above but with a final between winners and runners-up of each pool of five competition.
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There are some outstanding question:
- would you like to sign up? – give team name
- could you offer to host?
- would you prefer to play 4 or 6 a side?
- would you prefer men’s and women’s Sunday leagues organised over 8 to 10 weeks or one-off mini tournaments?
Have you any additional comments or suggestions?
Alan Bell
Secretary Merseyside League