Based on a recent league vote, there will be some changes for the 2022-23 girls basketball season. Due to declining numbers, the GCCYS wants to be proactive and provide fewer obstacles for girls who want to play basketball but also play another sport.  The hope is that these changes result in increased numbers for girls basketball.

Here are the changes for the upcoming season:

1. The girls season will begin the first weekend in November and will take place on the following weekends:  11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 12/3 (boys start at this time), 12/10, 12/17, 1/7
2. The girls tournament will take place from January 12-15
3. Instead of separate 5th and 6th grade divisions, there will now be a combined 5th/6th grade division and will be referred to as the "reserve" division.  Levels of play offered will be level 1, level 2, level 3, and level 5 (recreational).  Parishes/schools can choose how they want to build the combined grade teams, but they need to register them in the appropriate skill level.
4. Instead of separate 7th and 8th grade divisions, there will now be a combined 7th/8th grade division and will be referred to as the "varsity" division.  Levels of play offered will be level 1, level 2, level 3, and level 5 (recreational).  Parishes/schools can choose how they want to build the combined grade teams, but they need to register them in the appropriate skill level.

A season timeline will be updated on the girls basketball page in the coming weeks.  Please note that in order to start earlier, teams must be registered earlier so parishes/schools need to pay close attention to the timelines and hold tryouts/evaluations (if applicable) earlier than in past seasons.

This information was emailed to all league members a few weeks ago.  If you have any questions, please contact the league.  Thanks!

COVID protocols/policies for the 2021-22 season will be regulated by each individual facility. Please familiarize yourself with the different protocols at all game sites by going to our Gyms Page. Coordinators are responsible for updating this information from their Coordinator Portal by editing the gym in question and entering information in the Covid Info box.  If you do not see a policy listed for a gym, then you can assume there is no policy.  We have encouraged all coordinators to make sure there is clear signage at their facility to indicate any policies that are being enforced.  Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Ursuline Academy is having a Grade School Volleyball Night on Thursday, September 9, 6:00 p.m. in their home gym. 5th - 8th graders receive free admission to Ursuline's home volleyball game and pizza and treats between matches, including a spirit wear raffle. Wear your grade school or UA spirit wear! The Varsity game against Seton High School begins at 6:30pm. Grade school night treats will be available starting at 6:00pm.

Register at www.ursulineacademy.org/admissions/admissions-events

Here is some information about the fall girls volleyball season:

1. The season will begin on the weekend of August 27th
2. Matches WILL NOT be played on Labor Day weekend this year
3. The season-ending tournament will be on the weekend of October 18th
4. A full timeline is available on the Girls Volleyball page.
5. The rules document was updated on 8/20/21, you can find it here:  Girls Volleyball Rules
6. At this time, the league will not be providing a policy on COVID.  If any host site has specific protocols that need to be followed, we will post them here.  We anticipate this list growing larger and when it does, we will provide a link to a dedicated page for this information.

A general league meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 30th at 7:30pm at St. Columban.  The meeting will take place in parish hall St. Kevin Room (enter behind school church in lowest level parking lot through glass double-doors).  We will discuss financials and the timeline for the girls volleyball season, however, the focus of the meeting will be girls basketball.  We need to brainstorm as a league a way to improve numbers for girls basketball.  All parish/school leaders as well as girls basketball coordinators are invited to attend.

As girls volleyball teams are approved and assigned to divisions/zones, they will appear on the Standings page.  Please note the following about how this process works.

6th-8th Teams

6th-8th grade teams are registered by their coordinator into Level 1, 2, 3, or 4 with level 1 being the most competitive division and level 4 being considered as a recreational division which plays by a different set of playing time rules.  Our girls volleyball commissioner reviewed the registrations and we had a league meeting on June 24th to discuss with all volleyball coordinators.  Some teams were moved up or down a level from where they registered to try and find the best level of play for each team based on how that team finished last year and how their roster looks for the upcoming season.

3rd-5th Teams

A survey was sent out to all girls volleyball coordinators asking them to re-affirm (or not) the methodology used to group these teams into zones.  The results of the survey overwhelmingly confirmed the approach the league has taken since its inception four years ago.  Since all of the teams in 3rd-5th grade are considered to be "balanced" teams (i.e. talent is spread evenly across teams if a league member has multiple teams for a given grade), our member's first priority is to reduce travel time to away games for parents, players, and coaches.  Thus, teams are assigned to zones mostly be geography.  We would like to have fewer teams per zone (ideally 11 teams), however, it is also a high priority for our members to not play other teams from the same parish.  Since some of the larger parishes can have 3 or 4 teams per grade, we are forced to create larger zones with enough teams to avoid intra-parish matchups and to also avoid a team playing another team twice in the regular season.

We hope you find this information useful!

NEW 2/6:  A few updates were made to weekend 1 (all parishes involved are aware) and we added 4 hours to St. Gertrude and 2 hours to Cardinal Pacelli on weekend #2 as St. John XXIII is no longer able to host.

The basketball tournament is fast approaching and we have put together a list of preliminary site assignments for the tournament. Here are the tentative gym assignments for both tournament weekends.  Please note that when a time is listed such as 12pm-6, that means the first game starts at 12pm and the last game starts at 5pm, meaning that we hope the last game ends by 6pm.

Tournament Gym Assignments

All parents and coaches should take a moment to read this letter that the OHSAA recently sent to all high schools in the state of Ohio regarding fan behavior at OHSAA-sponsored sporting events. It is a stark reminder the direction fan behavior is heading and how it might affect the ability for children to play in organized sports in the future.

OHSAA Fan Behavior Letter

The schedule for the 2021 girls volleyball season has now been released (8/18 at 10pm) and is available for viewing from the Schedule menu and all portals.  This schedule should be considered "frozen".  Any comments or questions about the schedule should be directed to parish/school coordinators at this point.

Parents should continue to fill out Liability Waivers (your player absolutely cannot play until a waiver has been filled out correct on our web site).

The following email was sent on 11/30 to all boys basketball coordinators, athletic directors, and boys basketball coaches for whom we have a valid email address. Best of luck to all boys basketball teams this season. A similar email will be sent to girls coaches and coordinators in a few weeks.

The Ohio Department of Health has announced new legislation referred to as Lindsay's Law which addresses Sudden Cardiac Arrest in youth athletes.  The law went into effect on August 1, 2017.  GCCYS sent an email to all parishes during the week of August 1st to provide guidance regarding how this should be implemented for our member coaches, athletes, and parents.  You can read more about Lindsay's Law on the Ohio Department of Health web site:   READ ABOUT LINDSAY'S LAW 

We have included links to resources below which might be helpful for our members, but please note that it is the obligation of the parish/school to make sure everyone for their program is trained and in compliance with the Ohio state law.

The following resources were developed to implement Lindsay’s Law:

For parents/guardians and youth athletes:

• Required video
• Required SCA Informational Handout
• Required Signature Form

For coaches:

If you are a coach for an interscholastic sport and are licensed by the Ohio Department of Education, please visit their website for information about their training requirements around Lindsay’s Law.

If you are a coach in a community program, please use the following resources:

• Required video
• Required SCA Informational Handout

All parents should take a moment to read "10 Things Parents Need to Know" which is a great reminder to all. Coaches, if you need help tracking playing time for basketball, please print out and use the Basketball Player Tracker. League specific information is available under the Leagues menu.

Also as a reminder, the maximum gate fee that a parish/school may charge is $5/family (meaning two adults for this year) or $3/adult

Basketball Rules Basketball Player Tracker 10 Things Parents Need to Know

All league fees ($110 per team for all leagues) can be paid to "GCCYS" and sent to the following address:

GCCYS
PO.Box 42376
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242

On October 15th, all teams for basketball season were set to "Approved" status which triggers the creation of web site account for coaches (or an update to your existing account). If you received an email from the web site with account information but did not reply within 24 hours OR you never received an email, you need to claim your account. To do so, please request a new password by navigating to the Password Reset Page and enter the email address that your coordinator gave the league.

If you are not sure which email address this is, then go to the Teams Page on the Organization menu and look for the email address associated with your team. When you request a new password, if the system does not recognize your email address or you never receive a subsequent email (it should happen within 30 minutes), please Contact Us and we will get it sorted out. Thanks!

Account registration is now open for those that want to follow and subscribe to teams. To register, please click on the Register link in the upper left corner of the web site. You will be asked to choose a user name, password, and enter your first and last names and email address. Choose the organization you are affiliated with and then one of more teams (winter league teams will not be available until late October/mid November) from the parish/school that you want to follow. You can also choose to subscribe to a number of different email and text message notifications.

Once you have created your account, you can login to the web site and will now notice a Portals menu which has a Subscriber option. By choosing that option, you will see your own personal portal with information about the teams you are following. PLEASE NOTE ... that coaches and coordinators have accounts with higher level access created for them. Coaches and coordinators CAN create their own account if they like, but PLEASE USE THE EMAIL ADDRESS that your school/parish supplied to the league. Coordinator or coach privileges will be added to your account after your organization contact information or team information has been communicated to the league.

Regular account holders can choose to subscribe to the following types of notifications:

1. Game Change Notifications - receive an email or text message any time a scheduled game is changed (new location or time), added, or removed from the schedule.
2. League Announcements - receive an email of any league wide announcements that are published on the web site.
3. Score Reporting Reminder - Coaches can choose to receive an email with a link to the score reporting form which will be sent during the game.