As we near the end of the season, our traveling teams inevitably look towards the annual Girls USAV National Championships (GJNC). At that event, eight different age divisions (18s, 17s, 16s, 15s, 14s, 13s, 12s and 11s) are hosted.

As many as seven different  skill divisions are offered across the age divisions. In order, those are:  OPEN, NATIONAL, USA, LIBERTY, AMERICAN, FREEDOM and PATRIOT.  The chart attached to the right describes which Skill Levels are offered in each of the Age Divisions. 

There are three paths to get to the GJNC: 1) Qualify at one of the  Junior National Qualifiers (JNQs) that take place across the country. 2) Qualify at regional Bid-Qualifying tournaments (RQs), or 3) Pay-to-Play in the Patriot Division. Most of you are familiar with items 1 and 3 above, so let's turn to item 2, the Regional Qualifiers.

USAV grants each region a certain number of bids in each of three skill levels: National, American and Freedom.  The RMR is a "mid-sized" Region, so we get ONE bid in each of those three divisions. But remember that not all age-divisions play in all skill divisions. (The 11s, for example, only play in the "National" category) 

We take great pride in hosting our Regional Qualifiers. We host several:  

The 18s Zelinkoff Bid Tournament (ZBT-18) in early March

The RMR National Bid Tournament (NBT, for 14s-17s) in mid-March

The Zelinkoff Bid Tournaments  (ZBT 11-13s) and  (ZBT 14-17s) in late April and early May

Of course, teams might participate in several JNQs and/or IQs during their season. As they get better, and win at ever-higher levels, the bids they win are "passed down" through a process we call "bid progression." It can be challenging to track all the progression moves through the spring, and so we publish "Bid Standings" for our RMR teams HERE    (use the tabs at the bottom of the sheet to navigate between age-divisions)

Talk to your Coach or Club Director for more information about this important process, or send your question to: office@rmrmvolleyball.org

Click HERE to see our presentation of the current bid status of all RMR teams

Not one, but FIVE of our Rocky Mountain members will be honored at the 2023 USAV Boyce Banquet in Dallas this May. The Banquet is hosted each year by USAV in conjunction with the Volleyball Hall of Fame ceremonies. The dual ceremony serves  to identify and recognize unusual skills and service across USA Volleyball.

Our Hall of Fame Inductee will be (my great friend, the late) Dan Apol. He will be honored as co-winner ( along with fellow Beach Volleyball Referee Verna Klubnikin of Los Angeles)  in receiving the Wilbur H Peck Referee Emeritus Award. This is our  nation's highest referee award, and spotlights the career highlights of our most capable officials. 

Front Range Coach and Club Director Jim Miret will bring home the most prestigious of the USAV Service Awards. Jim will receive the coveted "Girls Indoor Coach of the Year" award! Joining Jim as an award recipient will be Emily Lett, from the Elevation Volleyball Club. Emily will receive the USAV "Scorer of the Year" award. (Way to go girl!) 

On the administrative side, long-time International Scorer Becky Brockney will receive the "Edward P Lauton Scorer Service Award,"  in recognition of her years of tireless work keeping score at countless events, and recruiting and training our next generation of scorers.  Finally, RMR Executive Director Keith Murlless will receive the "Junior Club Service Award." (evidently they give points for "trying hard!")

To read more about all of the Hall of Fame Inductees  and the USAV Award winners, navigate HERE

Congratulations, all!

This Sunday almost all of our courts will play under our new format, with six teams playing on two courts. This "modified" pool plays each team against only four of their five potential opponents, so that everyone gets four matches under a fixed schedule.  That's the "sweet spot" for length of day, I'm told.. and there's no waiting around for "the other pool to finish" before you can play your crossover. In fact, no teams are "off" at any time. With only three teams per court, you're either reffing or playing all the time. There are fewer teams (fewer people overall)  in the gym too! We do schedule a 30 minute lunch break in after the first three rounds, so that everyone gets a chance to have a bite to eat.

Enjoy!

SOS rankings for the RMR Girls division for the 22-23 season are now public. To find your team, please click on this rankings link and see where your team stands!

Best of luck to all teams as we continue our season!

This year we have some of the largest registration numbers ever! The recent Girls Power-1-Even saw more than 320 teams play on more than 100 courts! 

Most RMR events play at 20 or more different sites, and those sites change every week. Depending on site availability, we utilize gyms from Ft. Collins to Colorado Springs. Different age divisions and pools will play in different areas each week, depending on the numbers of teams registered and how those best fit into the available gyms. It's a big puzzle, every week!

Since registration closes "Mondays at noon" only 6 days before any given Power, we are not able to publish playing sites until Tuesday evening.  We understand that it is of the utmost importance to get out the schedule in a timely fashion, and we do appreciate your patience throughout the season!

Click HERE to see all RMR events.

Schedules for upcoming events, as well as results from past events, are all presented by our Event Management platform TM2sign