This article is an introduction to Yankee for new (and potential) members and is presented here as part of an effort to make Yankee more accessible to volleyball players of all levels throughout New England. Although the article is targeted toward people that are new to Yankee, even long-time Yankee members might find some interesting information in it.
Yankee is a non-profit member organization of the New England Regional Volleyball Association (NERVA), one of 35 regional member organizations under USA Volleyball (USAV). USAV is the national governing body for the sport in the United States as recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) and the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). As NERVA's and USAV's representative, Yankee's mission is to promote volleyball among adults in non-Maine New England. Maine adults and New England youth are covered by other NERVA member organizations.
Yankee's main activities are centered around indoor men's, women's, and coed tournaments from September through May of each year. Yankee sponsors fall and spring tournament drafts, where independent tournament directors sign up to run Yankee-sanctioned tournaments at their facilities. The tournament draft ensures that tournaments are available for players at a variety of skill levels and that tournaments at similar levels do not compete. By signing up to run a Yankee tournament, each tournament director agrees to run the tournament according to the following Yankee standards:
| The tournament facilities meet Yankee's standards for safety and
playability
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| Each tournament match will be run according to Yankee rules, which are
USAV rules with a few rules relaxed, such as the USAV rule that teams wear
identical uniforms (USAV rulebooks are available at most Yankee tournaments)
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| USAV certified officials will be used to referee matches
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| Each tournament participant must be a USAV member and each team entered
in the tournament must be within the skill limits of the tournament rating
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Yankee currently sanctions three different types of tournament: men's, women's, and coed/reverse coed (called Mixed Sixes in the USAV rulebook). Tournaments are held on weekends at various sites around Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Tournament costs are set by each tournament director, but generally run about $145 per team. Tournaments usually run from about 9 a.m. to about 6 p.m. and usually consist of pool play (often 8 games to 25), with the top 50% of teams advancing to playoffs. Tournament prizes are chosen by the tournament directors but are commonly things like T-shirts, shorts, or mugs. Yankee-sanctioned, independently-run tournaments are held from September through March. From March through May of each year, Yankee runs men's, women's, and coed/reverse coed Championship tournaments for most Yankee levels.
As part of the effort to maximize opportunities for players, Yankee has instituted a system that rates individual players instead of teams (as in other USAV regions). Most USAV regions consist of member teams, each of which is rated according to the performance of the team. A player in these regions joins a team and must play with that same team for the entire season. In contrast, Yankee members join as individuals. Each player has an individual Yankee rating and a team's rating is computed from those of its players. This gives players flexibility and playing options, since a player can play several different levels of tournaments and can move between teams. Yankee also provides more levels (individual ratings from D to A+) than most regions (which provide team ratings of Open, A, BB, and B).
A year's membership in Yankee currently costs $32, running from September 1 to August 31. One-day memberships are available for $15. Players can sign up at any tournament, via the Yankee website (www.yankee.org), or by contacting Yankee's registrar. Membership includes membership in USAV, a subscription to the newsletter Volleyball New England, the right to play in Yankee and USAV tournaments, and the privilege of voting in Yankee elections, e.g. for board members and charter amendments.
Yankee is now also providing a Club
fee for college, collegiate club and HS teams to play in Yankee tournaments.
They are still responsible for the team entry fee to the Tournament Director.
Details:
Fee $60 per team
Max of 4 tourneys per year Sept- May
All HS, College, and College Club teams are available for this team membership
fee (men and women)
JO teams/players are already registered as full year members.
When a team signs up for this fee, each individual player must fill out
the NERVA membership forms and instead of selecting the full year or one-day membership,
they write in "club team" in the membership type field and list
the club team name. These forms need to be sent to the registrar and she will list
players on the one-day list. Once a team plays in 4 Yankee tournaments and wants to play
in more, they will have to pay another $60 for up to 4 more tournaments.
Yankee will keep track of the club teams signed up for this membership and when your
team is planning on playing in a tournament, you MUST let the TD know you have
registered for the club fee. They will confirm you are all set and registered
correctly.
If a player or group of players play in other tournaments with other Yankee
members, they must sign up for a Yankee one-day or full year membership and the
club registration does not apply.
Some people confuse Yankee with local club teams, many of which are organized to play Yankee tournaments. These clubs are run by private individuals or organizations and are not affiliated with Yankee, although many of their members and organizers are Yankee members. Yankee maintains a symbiotic relationship with these clubs, as well as with the many places that organize leagues and open play. These are good places for individuals to get introduced to volleyball and put together teams for Yankee tournaments, so many of them advertise in Volleyball New England and the Yankee website. The Yankee website also lists teams looking for players and players looking for teams, both of which can help new Yankee members find teams.
Many players new to Yankee (and some players that have been in Yankee for a while) are confused by Yankee's system for rating individual players. Yankee members are rated from D (beginner) to A+ (very advanced). The Yankee ratings sheet, copies of which are posted at every Yankee tournament, provides guidelines for calculating a player's rating. The sheet has categories for several volleyball skills, such as hitting, setting, passing, and defense. A player is rated in each category on a scale from 1 (D) to 10 (A+), the lowest is dropped and the highest is doubled. A chart on the sheet assigns the proper letter rating to the player based upon the point total. Copies of this sheet are posted at tournaments primarily for members to suggest new ratings for other players. However, the sheet can also be used by new Yankee members to compute their ratings, which they are asked to select upon joining Yankee.
Even with the rating sheet, however, it can be difficult for a new Yankee member to rate his own skills, e.g., to know whether his passing is worth a 3 (C), 4 (C+), or some other rating. Another way for a new Yankee member to select a rating is to find a current Yankee member with similar skills and select a rating close to his. As a general rule of thumb, a beginning player without much skill and only rudimentary knowledge of offense, defense, and strategy is a D. As this player gains more understanding of what is expected, but still without much skill, he will move up to C- and then to C. A C+ can generally play two positions well but is not necessarily consistent at all positions. Players at the B- through B+ levels are consistent at every position and have good court sense, with B+ being more skillful and smarter than B-. Players that play at the A- to A+ level are at the level of strong college level players.
Yankee has two ratings chairpersons who are the ultimate authority over each individual's rating and have the responsibility to maintain correct ratings across the Yankee membership as much as possible. A player can request a rating for himself and other players can suggest a rating on the rating sheets, but the rating chairpersons determine when a player's rating actually changes. A player who is "written up" at several tournaments often gets placed on the Yankee Membership Ratings Watch List until one of the ratings chairpersons has a chance to observe him.
When organizing a team for a Yankee tournament, the individual player ratings determine whether a team is eligible to play at a particular level and what players can make up a team for a particular tournament. The cumulative point values, i.e., 1 (D) to 10 (A+), of a team's six highest rated players must be no more than three points above the cumulative of a team consisting of players rated at the tournament level. In addition, no player on the team can be more than three levels above the tournament level. For example, a team playing at a C+ (point value of 4) tournament can have its highest rated six players totaling up to 27 points, i.e., 6*4 + 3. These points can be spread among the six players in any manner as long as no individual player is rated higher than B+ (three levels above the tournament level). A team consisting of three C+ and three B- players (27 points) and a team consisting of five C+ and one B+ players (27 points) are both eligible to play. However, a team consisting of two C+ and four B- players (28 points) and a team consisting of one C, four C+, and one A- players (27 points, but A- is four levels above C+) would both be ineligible to play in the C+ tournament.
Yankee is overseen by a board elected by the membership, consisting of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and at-large members. Elections are held each summer for the positions for the following year. Any Yankee member can run for office and all Yankee members are eligible to vote. Yankee board meetings are announced on the Yankee website and are open to the Yankee membership.
People who want to keep up with Yankee activities can do so through the Volleyball New England newsletter, which is published 4-5 times a year and mailed to every current Yankee member and the Yankee website at www.yankee.org. In addition, the BAVP electronic mailing list has discussions about volleyball in the Boston area including, but not limited to, Yankee. To subscribe see the BAVP website.
