12’s – 14’s Handbook

Welcome to Surfside Volleyball Club! Surfside believes in providing high level technical training in an environment where girls have fun and foster a true love of the sport. We take pride in a coaching staff that relates well to female players and understands how to prepare them for the next level of play. For the 2024 season, we have girls teams ranging from ages 11 - 18. Our season begins in November for 11's-14's and after Thanksgiving for 15's - 18's and goes through June or July, depending on the age group.

Please read each section and provide your signature at the end.

Roles & Responsibilities

COACHES:

• Coaches are responsible for coming to practice and tournaments prepared to create a fun and competitive environment for each player.
• The coach is the person in charge and should be respected.
• A coach wants spirited players, young people who are willing to sacrifice for the team. A coach does not want temperamental players who second-guess every move, and inwardly gripes about conditions that do not suit them.

PLAYERS:

• Treat your teammates as you want to be treated yourself.
• The player's job is to be respectful, attentive, and to understand thoroughly what the coach is trying to accomplish.
• If you want to become the best, you have to work hard.
• Every time you walk into the gym, you must take responsibility for motivating yourself. You must always be ready for a concentrated effort at practice.
• You are here to be part of the team and you want the team to be as strong as it possibly can.
• There is always something that you can do to make the team a little more successful. You should, in fact, take pride in not letting your team fail.
• You may not agree with the way the coach is using his or her personnel and you may think you deserve a larger role on your team. There is only one way to change the coach's mind; show them on the practice floor, with a little more determination and by working even harder.
• Remember that you represent Surfside at all practices, tournaments, or whenever you are wearing Surfside gear.
• There should be no swearing, poor sportsmanship, or taunting of a player, official, or person. Trash talking is not allowed.

PARENTS:

• Keep POSITIVE support, encouragement, cheering and general hollering and yelling to a MAXIMUM on the sidelines. When players are working hard, they need and deserve everyone's best POSITIVE encouragement and support. They need to know you are there and that you support them.
• DO NOT openly or publicly criticize players, coaches or referees.
• Public criticism of players on your team hurts morale. This rule applies to situations involving your own daughter as well. 
Coaches may need to be critical in order to teach or to get the most from players, let the coach provide the appropriate criticism when considered necessary.
• Criticizing the referee only hurts your team and the class organization that you are a part of. Please represent Surfside well by keeping rude, loud and unwelcome comments to yourself.
• Leave the coaching to the staff. This is a game for the players. Coaches are on the bench to guide the players through the stress of the game. The players need only receive feedback from one person, the coach.
• It is NOT APPROPRIATE for a parent to provide volleyball instruction to any player, including their own child, during practice or match play.
• Set an example. Do not break any club or tournament rules, by smoking in undesignated areas, leaving a mess or drinking where it is not permitted.
• Remember that this is a GAME. Therefore, it is supposed to be FUN. Please remember that your attitude in the spectator area can affect the mood and success of the team. Any spectator who persists in inappropriate behaviors may be asked to leave the gym. Emotions run high in competition and feelings can be easily hurt. Be tolerant.
• Please keep in mind that at all tournaments, the player is the responsibility of the parent. Please reinforce manners, behavior, and the code of conduct expected as outlined by SCVA. The SCVA Parent Handbook can be found on SCVA’s website.
• Players are not allowed to leave the playing or practice venues for any reasons, including lunch or snacks. Tournament schedules change and the coach needs to know where each player is at all times.
• Inform your coach if you are having trouble getting information. The team coaches and/or Director will instruct their players as to how they will communicate with them (text or email). Please understand that coaches may directly contact players of older teams via text or group chat, but will make sure to inform parents via email for any large matters.

Local Tournaments

All fees for local tournaments and practices are included in your "local dues" and collected starting October 4th (12-14s). Teams who choose to add additional tournaments will be charged $130/day (local only)

Refunds & Credits

If any payments are late or in default, the player will not be allowed to attend any practices or tournaments until payments are up to date. The player/family will be held liable for any costs associated with the collection of unpaid fees.

If a player is unable to participate during the season due to injury, illness, violation of Surfside policies or relocation, the player/family is still responsible to pay their full season tuition. All fees are NON-REFUNDABLE once paid.

If a player decides to end her participation with Surfside at any point in the season, the player/family is still responsible to pay their full season tuition. Playtime has no affect on fees due. All fees are NON-REFUNDABLE once paid.

Practice Protocol & Attendance

Surfside shirts are required at every practice.

Players should always have their backpacks at all practices with the following inside:

• Jump rope
• Water
• Sweatshirt
• First aid/toiletries - band aids, ice packs, athletic tape, tampons, extra hair supplies, deodorant, etc.

Players should always walk in the gym with their hair up and ready to practice. If they prefer to put their shoes on inside the gym or change out of sweats, players need to arrive earlier to make sure they are ready when practice begins.

Phone should NOT be used during practice, and will be confiscated if out/used during water breaks.

Attendance

“Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable”

The coach plans for their practices assuming the full team will be present. We understand situations arise that may cause players to miss practice. Acceptable reasons to miss practice include sickness, school events, important family functions (i.e., a wedding, NOT a family birthday dinner). Homework is not an excuse to miss practice. We understand that players are student athletes, but players need to learn to manage their time in order to continue to be a successful student athlete.

If you are injured, you are expected to be at practice. If you cannot make a practice or are running late, the only thing worse than being late/missing is not communicating about it. Players MUST notify the coach via phone call or text, prior to the practice that she plans to miss (hours before. not minutes or afterwards, please). If it is a planned absence, the player should notify their coach at least a week in advance. Please make sure you let your coaches know as far in advance as possible if you are going to miss or are running late.

Practice days/ times are subject to change, every effort will be made to provide consistency and advance notice of necessary changes.

Practices continue through the end of June leading up to the End of Season Tournaments. Please wait until after July 2nd to take vacations. It is really disrespectful to the team to be gone for a week or two before the End of Season Tournament when they are practicing intensely. Please do not plan spring break travel until all travel tournaments have been announced, as tournaments often fall on weekend around spring break. Unexcused absences will result in a conditioning punishment and may also result in the loss of playing the first set of the next tournament depending on how the absence situation was communicated and handled by the player. Surfside supports the decisions of our coaches when handling these matters.

At no time should a Surfside Player practice with other clubs/teams or be in contact with coaches from other clubs during our season.

Tournament Protocol & Play Time

All tournaments are mandatory. Parents should look at the tournament schedule before committing to a team, and let coaches know of any potential absences. Players arriving late to a tournament will be required to call lines for every game that day. Make sure you are communicating with your coach in advance if you will miss or are running late to a tournament.

Surfside Breaks and Holidays (Any scheduled SCVA Tournaments or Travel Tournaments will still take place during these dates)

• Thanksgiving: NO Practice Nov 20-26th
• Winter Break: NO practice Dec 18th-Jan 2nd
• No Practice MLK Weekend
• No Practice on Superbowl Sunday
• No Practice President’s Day Weekend
• No Practice Good Friday
• No Practice Easter Sunday
• No Practice Mother’s Day
• No Practice Memorial Weekend
• No Practice Father’s Day

***Coaches may still schedule a practice if needed on some of these dates based on individual teams upcoming tournament schedule.

Tournament dates and playing venues change frequently. We will pass on the information as soon as we confirm it. You may see it posted elsewhere but we will post it when we feel it is final to minimize confusion. We are given the location of play the Wednesday or Thursday before the tournament. You can check the location of play at the SCVA website under “Junior Girls→ →Weekend Sites” starting the Wednesday before.

Coaches will email or text tournament info to parents/players as well.

Please remember you are agreeing to follow our “24 HOUR RULE” about parents coming up and talking to coaches about their daughter’s play at a tournament. If you have an issue, you must wait 24 hours to speak to, call or email the coach!

Play Time

Our practice sessions are designed to create an instructional yet competitive environment. During practice, all players have equal opportunity. Playing time at tournaments is not guaranteed. Playing time is a privilege and not a right, and is earned in practice. Parents are paying club dues for their children to be well trained in practice, not for the right to play in tournaments. The coach is considered the VOLLEYBALL EXPERT when it comes to all playing time issues. They are doing what is best for the team and the club and will be treated as doing such. If your player has questions about how to see the court more, she should follow the Concern/Complaint guidelines.

Keep in mind that missing practices and being late/leaving early could affect your child’s play time.

Attire & Uniform

Players should arrive to the tournament in Surfside Gear, triple checking before they leave home that they have ALL jerseys possible.

• Spandex with grey/black pants on over if cold
• Surfside Socks, ankle braces, knee pads and shoes
• Warm up shirt with jersey underneath
• Surfside Jacket/Sweatshirt if cold
• Hair up and jewelry off

The Uniform Fitting day schedule will be emailed to all players. Full payment is due for the uniform at this time. The uniforms will be passed out to the players prior to the first tournament. It is the player’s responsibility to make sure they are wearing the correct uniform at the tournaments.

When traveling, we request that players wear their practice shirt with grey/black sweats/leggings, Surfside Jacket and tennis shoes. When going to and from the tournament, girls should wear their designated warm up shirt for that day, their volleyball shorts, and sweats and Surfside Jacket if it’s cold. Sweats and jacket should be in their bags regardless. Girls should have a change of shoes so they are not walking to/from the convention center in their volleyball shoes.

For team activities and meals girls should be dressed appropriately.

If you are flying, please make sure your uniform pieces are carried on the plane with you. If they have to check your bag last minute, please TAKE OUT your jerseys before they check your bag as these are NOT REPLACEABLE last minute. Please triple check your daughter has all of her uniform parts before you leave home (shoes, socks, kneepads, black spandex, 2 jerseys (+ libero jersey if libero), Surfside jacket, warm up shirts, sweats).

Sportsmanship & Scorekeeping

At Surfside, we pride ourselves in great sportsmanship, class, and officiating. Although we train to compete and win and emotions may be high, we always win and lose with dignity and class; and officiate the way we would like to be officiated. If players or parents show poor sportsmanship this reflects on all of us. Taunting or trash talking under the net and temper tantrums will not be tolerated. In most cases the player will receive a warning. Repeat violations will be addressed by the coach and/or tournament director. The discipline may come from a coach, Club administrator, referee or tournament official.

• Players are expected to stand when on the bench, and be actively cheering and engaged in the match.
• When not playing or reffing, teams are expected to cheer on other Surfside teams at tournaments - we are a family!
• Teams are expected to 'hang out' together when they have time off - players should not be isolated with family members or friends
• Teammates should use the buddy system when walking around during tournaments and events
• Team always leaves together (no leaving early after reffing assignments, etc.) after coach dismisses
• Everyone must know how to officiate every aspect of the game (R2/Down Officiate, Score Keeping, Libero Tracking, Line Judge) – players are expected to rotate responsibilities and contribute equally
• At many tournaments, teams must stay and officiate if they lose their final match of the day. When this happens, no player on the team may leave until ALL the coach releases the players.

Players should be respectful of their opponents, coaches, teammates, referees and facilities at all times, including but not limited to:

• Shagging for opponents
• Respecting reffing decisions
• Being engaged when reffing other teams and honest about calls
• Picking up all trash in area, even if not your own

Travel Rules

Junior National Qualifiers are tournaments that require an overnight stay for the weekend and possibly missing school on Thursday, Friday and/or Monday. Dates of play for Junior National Qualifiers may not be confirmed until later in the fall based on when tournaments announce dates and accept teams to play. Players are responsible for paying their own hotel and airfare. Please do not make any travel arrangements until explicitly instructed to do so. Players are expected to stay with a parent and the room will need to be secured by your personal credit card. Each team will have a Team Parent to help coordinate meals and transport, however each parent is expected to help with all of the tasks the Team Parent has for the weekend. The Team Parent will delegate accordingly. Any help is a big help! Travel fees are collected up front by the club, and all players are responsible whether they travel or not as the cost is shared amongst the team. Players are responsible for their hotel, airfare and food at travel tournaments.

Hotel:

Surfside abides by tournament “Stay and play” policies which require girls to stay in the assigned hotel. Surfside often does not have a choice in which hotel is assigned by the tournament travel agent, and hotels can vary greatly even among teams at the same tournament. All players must stay in the assigned team hotel with their parent(s). IF a parent is unable to travel, her family should arrange for her to stay with a teammate, but the coach must approve this. Families must let the coach AND Director know at the start of the season if they do not plan to use their allotted room for any travel tournament. Failure to do this may result in a fine assessed by the hotel and/or travel agent.

Please do not have players in a room alone without an adult. Any girls going to/from each other’s rooms should travel in groups of 3 or more, or be with an adult.

Transport:

All players/parents provide their own transport to/from the airport to the hotel at any travel tournament. Surfside will provide transport to/from all team meals and play until the final ball drops on the last day of play. For any team event (meal, activity, play), players will meet their coaches in a designated spot in the hotel to walk as a team to that event. Please walk your daughter to/from this spot for every drop off or pick up. In the evenings, after the final team meal, match or activity, coaches will release the players to their parents care at this spot for the remainder of the evening. Your coach will let you know at that point what time the girls are expected to be ready and in the meeting spot the next day. If a coach must help another team once your play has concluded, a coach may designate a team mom/dad to walk the girls back to the hotel.

On the final day of play, players will be released to their parent(s) at the Convention Center when play/reffing duties have concluded for the tournament. Girls will NOT be walked back to the hotel on the final day after the tournament is over.

Meals/Food:

Team moms/dads have organized food for the girls and coaches during the tournament. Please help and support them whenever needed. While the Convention Center rules will state no outside food allowed, if girls bring their bags outside and put their food in the bottom, they will be able to bring the food back in.

Night Time:

Coaches will provide a curfew each night that players are expected to follow and parents expected to enforce. This may include not only when girls should be in their rooms, but when phones should be turned off and lights out. Please respect the coaches wishes and make sure your daughter is getting proper sleep by following the coaches’ rules.

USAV and Surfside Code of Conduct Travel Policy:

Players are expected to remain with the team at all times during the trip from the first team meal on to the final match/ref match. Players are not to leave the competition venue, the hotel restaurant or any other place the team has gathered without permission/knowledge of the coach and/or team parent. Our players are representing both themselves and the club the entire length of the tournament, and are expected to act in a polite and respectful manner. The possession or use of alcohol, tobacco, weapons, or any illegal activity including but not limited to gambling, will result in immediate dismissal from the tournament and return home at the athlete’s expense.

Travel Tournament format:

Unlike the SCVA single day tournaments where you are playing similar level teams, the first day of a JNQ is “snake seeded,” and you may encounter teams of both significantly greater or weaker ability than your team. As the tournament progresses teams will become more similar in ability. Please also understand that the goal of this tournament is different than regular tournaments and as such, may have play-time changes that girls are not used to. The goal is to “win a bid” to Junior Nationals and the tournament is mostly a “can’t lose” situation or else teams are knocked out of “bid contention.” While teams are still in bid contention, coaches will be looking to keep their team in a good rhythm and preparing for the tougher matches to come. For teams playing in American, National, and USA, once a team is “knocked out of contention,” coaches will be able to ensure more girls get to play. For teams in Open, final finishes still matter for “at large” open bids, so teams must play to win the entire tournament.

Concerns & Complaints

We encourage parent participation in most aspects of our club, and we have great respect for the efforts of all the player guardians. However, the following policy is to protect everyone from himself or herself (both parents and coaches).

Tournaments and game days are very stressful and emotional time for everyone. It is very easy to over-react to any situation. However, the harshest penalties will be reserved for anyone who violates this policy. Please realize that the athlete will be held responsible for their parent's actions. This means that if a parent breaks any club rule, their child can and will be "sat" from play.

Over the course of a season, disagreements occur between players, parents, and staff. Please observe the following guidelines in resolving these issues:

• Observe the 24- hour rule: Issues such as playing time, player position, line-up, etc. should not be addressed with the coach on the day of play. Instead, the player and parent is expected to wait 24-hours from any perceived incident prior to speaking to the coach about that issue. We have instructed our coaches to exercise the 24-hour rule in situations in which the parent forgets this policy.
  • Violations of this guideline will be dealt with most severely because this can result in the most emotional of confrontations. If you are not sure whether an issue requires immediate attention, ask a staff member not directly involved.
  • We instruct our coaches not to discuss "coaching decisions" with team parents without the player present, and will not discuss other players.
• Do not jump the chain of command to the director unless the coach and site coordinator have been asked (realize that the directors will be dealing with the entire club, so give them time to address the issue).
  • Chain of Command: *player is expected to talk to the coach first --> if not resolved according to your satisfaction, parent may schedule a time to talk to team coach before or after practice with the player present --> if the issue has still not been resolved to your satisfaction, then discuss with the location director. --> If at that time, the issue still has not been resolved to your satisfaction, then discuss with the club director. ​
• The club will not tolerate hostile, aggressive confrontation between a parent and any official, coach, athlete or parent; likewise, the club will not tolerate hostile, aggressive confrontation between an athlete and any official, coach, athlete or parent regardless of whether the coach, athlete, or other parent is a member of Surfside or not. Violation of this policy may result in the athlete being dismissed from the club.
• It is not appropriate for an athlete or parent to complain to any other Surfside members. Asking uninvolved persons to take sides in an issue is unfair to those third parties and the club. Competitive team athletics, by its very nature, creates situations where everyone may not be happy all the time. Any member, who is asked to listen to express an opinion about matters between two other parties in the club, is strongly encouraged to suggest the complaining party take up the matter with the head coach then the Site Coordinator(s) and refuse to listen to the matter further.

Violation of not adhering to the 24-hour policy or jumping the Chain of Command can result in anywhere between loss of playing time to dismissal from the club.

Policy Enforcement

The Club has a number of options available to deal with violations of club policy. The directors are the primary arbitrator of club policy. Head Coaches have the authority to exercise these options only when the directors are not reasonably available.

Methods of enforcement (in order of severity):

• Increased refereeing duties: A player may be required to officiate in all the team's assignments for the next tournament.
• Game Suspension: This should be the next game(s) that the player attends.
• Match Suspension: This should be the next match (es) that the player attends
• Public Apology: The audience may depend upon whom the player has let down. If the player has let down the club, their teammates, their guardians or whomever.
• Team Demotion: For example- A 16- player continually misses practices because of outside commitments. This would show that the player is not committed to the level of team for which they currently play. They may be moved down to the lesser commitment on the 16- team.
• Team Dismissal: A last resort for chronic problems.
• Club Ban: The player would be banned from any Surfside participation. Usually the result of personal conduct violations.

College Recruiting:

Many athletes will wonder about being recruited to play college volleyball. For most players and parents, "Will I get recruited?"; "When will I get recruited?"; "Who will recruit me?"; "What should I do when I am recruited?"; "How do I get colleges to recruit me?" are overwhelming questions. We maintain communication with hundreds of colleges and coaches around the country to expose our players to all feasible options. Please let us know of any changes in your information. While we can't guarantee that a player will be recruited, we will do everything we can to help you master the process and guide you through it. Check out our youtube page with all our girls highlight videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYd76PN9vVLjt_Hw2e2GCCw/videos. Also, please take the initiative and review the NCAA websites. There is a great section on questions to ask potential college coaches and recruiting in general. Look into registering your daughter through the NCAA clearing house. Division 1 coaches cannot contact you over the phone or return your phone calls or emails until June 15th of your sophomore year.

Other Information

Drinking and drugs will not be tolerated. If this, or any illegal activity occurs (whether during a tournament, practice, Club activity, or outside of the Club) it will end the player’s membership in the Club. It also involves a sanction from the USA Volleyball region or at the national level and could mean forfeiture of playing status for a year. If it occurs during a traveling tournament it will mean an early flight home and the involved player’s parents will pay for the added costs. If this action penalizes the entire team because of the number participating in the illegal activities, and thus results in the teams’ inability to participate in the tournament, parents of the responsible should assume those costs as well. There is no warning for violating this policy.

Your daughter's image may be captured during the course of training in our facility (camps, lessons, practice, tournaments, etc.). Surfside Volleyball Club reserves the right to use these images in our professional marketing material and/or social media.