THIS IS THE LAST SUNDAY NEWSLETTER
It’s hard to believe, but this is the last week of the regular season! On behalf of the GKCOA volleyball leadership team, we thank you for all your hard work, attention to detail, and your willingness to improve your skills. In my mind, this has been one of our best seasons–I’ve heard more good things this year than any year I can remember. Great job! Finish the season strong!
THE LINE JUDGE VIDEO
As we get closer to post-season, it’s important that we as referees AND line judges remind ourselves of the finer points of line judging, so please take a little time to watch the GKCOA line judge video we created several years ago. One correction in the video–my touch signal with the flag is incorrect. Make sure your elbow is high so that your forearm is parallel to the floor–unlike how I show it in the video.
DISTRICT TOURNAMENT SITES
If you weren’t selected to work, but want to go check out district tournament matches, the following sites are where they are being played in and around northwest Missouri:
CLASS 1: Adrian, Archie, West Platte, Tarkio
CLASS 2: Knob Noster, St. Michael the Archangel, Lexington, Lawson
CLASS 3: Pleasant Hill, Central Academy of Excellence, St. Pius X, Cameron
CLASS 4: Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs, William Chrisman, St. Joseph Central
CLICK HERE TO SEE BRACKETS AND MATCH DATES/TIMES
You may be able to contact the activities director to get on the pass list, but MSHSAA generally doesn’t allow that for post-season matches. If the activities director says no, please just pay the admission fee to enter.
POST-SEASON WARMUP PROTOCOL
Except as noted below, teams may not use balls on the competition court until the 16-minute warm-up begins (i.e., after the toss). If the host school has an alternate gym, they may allow teams to use it and there are no restrictions.
If the finals are played on the same day as the semi-finals (as they are with Sectionals and some Districts), there will be a 30-minute rest period before warm-ups begin for the Final. The participating coaches and host management may agree to shorten the 30-minute rest period. Balls may be used on their own half of the court (i.e., no hitting at the net) during the rest period, unless host management wants to close the court for cleaning. What has been done in the past is to put 41 minutes (adjusted for a shorter rest period) on the clock and let it count down to match start. (Note: The MSHSAA Volleyball Manual now states the rest period is in addition to the 5:5 warm-up, meaning the normal 5 minutes of shared court time is now included in the rest period time.) Putting the full amount of time on the clock lets everyone know how long before the match starts. The coin toss can be done at any time prior to the 11:00 mark. If host management wants to use another protocol or to set the clock differently than above to indicate the rest period and/or warm-up period, they may do so.
REACHING OVER THE NET
I’ve been getting a few reports about referees not applying Rule 9-6-4 properly. A team is allowed to reach over the net to block a ball only if an attack attempt has been completed. All third contacts are considered attack attempts, so if a blocker intercepts a third ball before it crosses the net, that is legal. The judgment that comes in on a first or second ball is whether or not there is an attack attempt. I’m hearing reports from some coaches about referees calling an over the net violation after attack attempts have been completed. Make sure you take a closer look at Rule 9-6-4.
DOUBLE REPLACEMENTS INVOLVING THE LIBERO
Remember, the only time a double replacement can occur is if the libero is serving. Essentially, the libero is coming off the court for one player, then right away re-entering the court to replace the player who is serving during the same dead ball. The tracking sheet is then marked that way with both replacements, but the libero can remain on the court with the two regular players exchanging to represent the double replacement. If there are two regular players exchanging WITHOUT the libero serving, something isn’t right and the R2 should immediately check with the libero tracker to see what happened.
DROP BOX QUESTION
- In a tournament this past Saturday, I noticed that a player who had recently went out due to substitution was back in the game. I didn’t have them subbing back in on my card as the R2. I checked with the score keeper, she didn’t have it in her book either. The libero tracker did have a libero/player switching. What I believe happened was that player A/libero switched and then the libero/player B switched when the libero came back out of the game. So an illegal alignment was called, rally point awarded, they lost the serve, they subbed to get the player B in for player A and we continued. Question 1: Did we call everything correctly? Question 2: Is it the libero tracker’s job to let the R2 know when the same person who came out for the libero isn’t the same person who goes back in for the libero? And if they do tell us, do we call illegal alignment? Illegal substitution? ANSWER FROM DIXIE OUSLEY: This sounds like an illegal libero replacement if I am understanding the situation correctly. The call/penalty depends on when the illegal replacement was called. It is unnecessary delay if it happened prior to the whistle/signal for serve. If it is discovered after the whistle/signal for serve, it is illegal alignment. Yes, the libero tracker should notify the R2 when this happens. ANSWER FROM DON SLEET: The writer said “they lost the serve”, so that tells me it was the serving team that was in the wrong… there should have also been point(s) canceled. When the writer says the tracker had the libero player switching, do they mean they had the number of the player that actually came on for the libero (assumed to be the wrong player, as in “2,L,9”) or did they write the number of the correct player assuming the correct player returned (“2,L,2”) and we don’t know when 9 came on? In the first scenario, all points in this term of service ( back to the time of the illegal replacement) would be canceled; in the second scenario, only points known to have been scored while the illegal replacement was in would be canceled (was there a timeout or some other time where 9 could have taken the court instead of 2)? I have never had a tracker tell me when an illegal replacement occurred.
RULE CHANGES FOR NEXT YEAR?
If you have a suggestion for an NFHS rule change or a MSHSAA by-law change for next season, we will compile a list and forward them to the MSHSAA volleyball coaches advisory committee. They usually meet after the state tournament in November, but we need to get agenda items as soon as possible. If you have a suggestion, please email ken.corum@nkcschools.org by Oct. 20.
CLUB VOLLEYBALL OFFICIATING
We have had a number of GKCOA officials enter into the USA Volleyball and club officiating circuit over the last couple of years. They have an excellent training program and there may be opportunities to get valuable experience. The season generally runs from November to April, but signups are beginning to happen now. Denise Jett is the Heart of America Regional officials coordinator. Please contact her at her email address ha.officials.coord@hoavb.org for more information.
GKCOA SURVEY
As usual, be on the look out for the annual GKCOA membership survey. We have tried to incorporate your ideas and suggestions in our programming over the last few years. Please let us know in the survey how we did in training, assigning, and other duties plus how we can do better. We take pride in having the best officials association in the state, but we know there’s always room for improvement.
GREAT JOB THIS SEASON! LOOK FOR COMMUNICATION THIS SPRING ABOUT SUMMER CAMPS AND OTHER LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES!
DR. KEN CORUM 