Icebreaker '10

Club Directors and Coaches:

The Icebreaker Invitational is fully subscribed and fast approaching, and we are working hard to ensure that it is one of the most competitive and enjoyable tournaments that you attend this year.  This email contains a significant amount of information about the tournament.  Please review closely and send to all of your participating coaches as well.

We are happy to announce that our website is hot and pools are posted.  Here is the link:southernvolleyballshowcase.com.  There is a great deal of information about the tournament on the website, so we encourage you to explore it fully.  We will have coaches’ meetings on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to reinforce much of the information contained herein.

A NOTE ABOUT POOLS AND INITIAL PAIRINGS:

If a team finished in the top 10 of the SRVA Regional Championship Tournament last season, we seeded them based on that finish.  Beyond that, we seeded teams based on their 2009 year-end ranking within the SRVA.  We then tweaked the seedings to ensure that teams from the same club were in separate pools, and also to minimize the instances in which teams from the sister clubs (A5/GA5; Tsunami South/Tsunami DeKalb) were pooled together.  So whether your team is listed first, second, third or fourth in a pool, we hope you will recognize that our goal is simply to provide all attendees with top competition in this early-season tournament.

3 SETS FOR ALL MATCHES DURING SATURDAY POOL PLAY

All matches on Saturday will be three-set affairs no matter what.  To avoid falling behind our schedule, sets on Saturday will be to 21 points (third set to 15).  If a team has already swept their opponent in two sets, the third set will be treated as a scrimmage and will not count in the pool’s rankings.  We are hopeful that this protocol will allow coaches to experiment with different lineups and get plenty of playing time to non-starters, which should be of benefit to all this early in the season.  We will need the cooperation of coaches and refs to ensure quick change-overs so that we don’t fall behind schedule.

Sunday matches will be the standard best two out of three sets, all sets being played to 25 points.

LIBEROS

May serve.

COMPETITION PROTOCOL

All teams will compete in pools of four on Saturday.  All teams will play a minimum of two matches on Sunday.  Teams competing in the Championship match will play three matches on Sunday.

13’s, 14’s and 18’s age brackets all have 8 teams.  Pool play on Saturday will be to determine seeding in the championship bracket on Sunday.  All teams will advance to the Gold Bracket.

15’s and 17’s have 12 teams, which are divided into three pools of four on Saturday.  Teams finishing first or second in their initial pool will remain in contention for the Championship.  These teams will be placed into two pools of three teams each on Sunday; the winner of each pool will play for the Tournament Championship.  Teams finishing third and fourth in their pools on Saturday will compete on Sunday in silver or bronze pools respectively. 

There are 16 teams competing in the 16’s division.  Teams finishing in the top two of their Saturday pool will compete in the Gold Bracket on Sunday; teams finishing third and fourth will compete in the Silver Bracket.

See the pool/bracket information posted on the website for further information.

FACILITY/PARKING

Here is a link with directions to the facility:  suwaneesportsacademy.com/direction.htm

Parking at Suwanee Sports Academy (“SSA”) is free but limited.  Earlybirds will be able to park in the lot adjoining the courts, but others will have to drop off their kids and coolers at the entrance and find other parking opportunities nearby.  There exists a well-marked overflow lot right off McGinnis Ferry Road which is fine.  The parking lot across the street from SSA that serves the adjacent church is NOT fine, and you will be towed if you park there.  Parking is not allowed on McGinnis Ferry Road either.  It is permissible to park on Burnett Road, the non-curbed road that serves SSA, provided that the wheels of your vehicle are not touching the paved surface, but are all the way on the shoulder.  Again, cars that intrude upon Burnett Road will be towed. 

We will post “no parking” signs to alert you to problem areas, but sometimes those signs walk off, so we’re emphasizing it in this email.  Beyond the above, there are side roads off Burnett that are fine.  Just bring your walking shoes!

HOTELS

If you’re traveling from out of town and have not already made your hotel arrangements, SSA’s Housing Bureau has reserved a block of nearby hotel rooms at special rates for the Icebreaker.  While you are not required to use the Housing Bureau—no stay-to-play policy at the Icebreaker—those who used it last year were highly complementary.  These rooms are convenient to SSA and were blocked months in advance to ensure housing for the teams, coaches, refs and parents the weekend of the event.  You must book your rooms together through the Suwanee Sports Academy Housing Bureau rather than call the hotel direct to ensure housing at these rates. 

To register for a hotel at this event, please use the following directions:

• Go to the facility’s website: www.ssasports.com
• Under the “Registration” tab, click on “Hotels.”
• Locate your event in the list and click on “Register.”
• Complete the Housing Registration Form and click “Submit.”                

In your room count, it is important to include the total rooms needed for the team and parents.  This will ensure that your entire group will be located at the same hotel.  The credit card info holds the block of rooms for your team until you submit the rooming list where you can make payment changes. 

• If you are housed in your first or second-choice hotel, you will receive within 24 hours or the next business day an email confirmation letter stating the hotel selected, rate, room type, check in and out dates and hotel contact info and a rooming list. 
• If your first and second choice hotels are both booked, you will receive a phone call from Suwanee Sports Academy Housing Bureau to discuss the next best option for your team.  Once a hotel selection is made, you will receive an email confirmation letter stating the hotel selected, rate, room type, check in and out dates and hotel contact info and a rooming list.
• On the rooming list, you will have the opportunity to specify who will be in each room and the option to add credit card numbers.  Parents can also call the hotel with their credit card numbers once you submit the rooming list. 
• Both the confirmation letter and the rooming list should be completed and faxed to the hotel as soon as possible. 
• Any further room cancellations or additions or special requests should be made directly with the hotel.

If you have any difficulties in using the Housing Bureau, please bring them to my attention.  Again—the intent of setting this up is to make the tournament a better experience for all teams and spectators.

FOOD TABLES

Are fine.  The food area is just inside the entrance to the facility.  Space is limited, so please be judicious about your use of it.  We will mark tables with team names.  Please confine yourselves to the marked area so that we don’t to have to referee any food fights. 

We will also have a coffee bar and smoothie bar open at the concession stand for your convenience.

GATE

$5 per adult per day.  Children under 12 are free.  To gain access to this outstanding facility and play all of the tournament’s matches under one roof, we had to either charge a gate or disallow food inside.  So rightly or wrongly we opted to allow the traditional food tables inside. This trade-off was well-received when we ran our first tournament out of this facility last year.

FOLDING CHAIRS

Are prohibited.  They damage the wood floor over time.  There is abundant bleacher space to facilitate spectators on every court.

TRAINERS

Two certified trainers will be on site for the duration of the tournament.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Championship photos as well as action shots will be provided by Dennis Esler Photography throughout the tournament.  Visit http://www.eslerphoto.com/ for more information.

TEAM REFEREE OBLIGATIONS

Referee schedules are included in the pool assignments posted on the website.  In most instances, teams losing in bracket play on Sunday will ref the next match on that court.  8 teams will be required to ref the 8:00 A.M. Sunday match before they play, so again, please check the website as well as the pools and brackets that will be posted at the tournament.  Teams with 8 A.M. ref assignments must be in place on the court no later than 7:45. 

As the 15’s and 17’s age brackets transition from pool play to bracket play on Sunday, the third-place finisher in each of the four gold medal pools will be required to ref the match immediately following completion of their pool.

Coaches, please remind your players that MP3 players and Cell Phones are not to be used while working the score table and that snacks and drink bottles should not be on the table.  They should lift the score board and show the score frequently, minimally at serve changes and time outs.

Please feel free to call me or email me with questions.  Emergency/last-minute contacts and phone numbers are included below.  We look forward to seeing you at the Icebreaker Invitational in a few weeks.