Team Operations:

Court Masters is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of officers of the board, coaches and a team representative from each team. The club is a member driven organization that requires parental support to succeed.

Parents have the opportunity to serve on the board as a team representative or a board officer. Team representatives are elected at a team’s first membership meeting. Elected officers and representatives serve one-year terms. The board meets monthly throughout the entire year. Interested parents should contact your child’s coach at your initial team meeting.

Selection: Typically there are two teams selected per age division with 8-9 players per team. Our goal is to offer two teams per each age division. The number of teams selected is dependent on the number of available coaches in respect to the number players registering for the try-outs.

Mid fall we conduct a ‘try-out’ in which the participants are grouped into the USA Volleyball age divisions. The try-outs are devoted to coaches running the players through drills and games to determine which players are the strongest for given positions. Attributes the coaches look for are:

Attitude Leadership Strength Speed Technique/Skill Game Sense

For a given team, coaches look for the strongest players to for the following playing positions:

• 1-2 strong setters
• 2-3 players who can play best as ‘middle hitters/blockers’
• 2-3 players who can play best as ‘left side hitters/blockers’ with possibly 1 who can play best as ‘right side/secondary setter’
• Additionally, coaches look for strong defensive (back row) specialists, strong servers, and all around skilled players.

Schedule

Each team will practice 1-2 times per week based on gym availability. Players are given instruction in technique, position and strategy. Tournaments begin in January. Each team is expected to enter 8-10 tournaments which will include Regionals. The parents and coach select the tournaments a team will participate in.

The majority of teams play in tournaments within a two hour driving radius from Dubuque, such as Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Cedar Falls, Madison, Rockford, etc. Some teams travel to tournaments in Chicago, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Omaha, etc. Typically tournament travel can be done in one day. The tournament season concludes with a regional tournament in March/April in Des Moines. You can plan on two nights of lodging for regionals.

Some teams elect to play post-season tournaments in May and June. Teams that qualify for the Junior Olympic Volleyball National Championships will compete at the end of June/beginning of July. Court Masters takes great pride in sending teams to Nationals. We hope to continue the tradition of having Court Masters teams earn the right to compete at Nationals.

Awards Night

At the conclusion of the regular season, the club conducts an Awards Night recognizing the individual players and coaches as well as providing the opportunity to bring the entire club together for one event. This allows us to recognize the season accomplishments of all teams.

Playing guidelines 2008-2009

• Each team will enter 8-10 tournaments which will include Regionals.
• All teams are expected to participate in the USA Regional tournament in Des Moines
• Each team will practice 1-2 times per week based on gym availability.
• Coaches will determine the roster of each team. Teams will not be organized by high school, junior high or any other organization.
• No player may leave a tournament without permission from the coach. Often it is customary to have a refereeing assignment when eliminated from tournament play. All players are expected to be present during the team’s last officiating assignment.

Team Designation --The caliber of the teams are defined below:

Black Teams
The Black Team, which is the elite in each age division is expected to compete and to be competitive in the Qualifying division at the annual USA Regional Tournament is Des Moines. Black teams are expected to enter highly competitive tournaments that may require travel to cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, etc. Should ANY Court Master's team qualify for nationals either by winning the Iowa Region or other National qualifier, the team is expected to attend any of the National Junior Olympic Volleyball Tournaments in late June/early July.

Black team players can be ‘specialized’ (setter, middle hitter, outside hitter, etc.) It’s possible that a player may only play the front or back row. Consideration will be given to ensure ‘similar’ players have equal playing time. Playing time on the first team is earned and based on a coach’s discretion.

A Black team player is expected to have an extremely high level of commitment to club volleyball, placing it as their top priority to other non-school extra-curricular activities. Additional practices may be held to prepare for competition. Absences from tournaments and practices are unacceptable and demonstrate lack of commitment for this level of intense playing.

White and Red Teams

A white or red team is expected to compete and to be competitive in the non-qualifying division at the annual USA Regional Tournament in Des Moines.

White or Red players may be ‘specialized’ (setter, middle hitter, outside hitter, etc.) Coaches will work with players to develop all-around skills. In some cases, a player may not have the physical characteristics to play front row or back row.

Playing time on a white or red team is based on an equal playing time concept. A coach has the discretion to play players of his/her choice if a game is critical to advancement in a tournament.

A white or red team player is expected to be available to attend all tournaments and practices unless the player makes prior arrangements with the coaches for any absences. White or Res team players are expected to have a high level of commitment to club volleyball.