The timeliines have been set for the upcoming basketball season and can be found on the Boys and Girls basketball league pages.  Scheduling has begun for all girls teams and 3rd-5th grade boys teams.  The boys 6th-8th grade slotting meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 28th.  An email was sent to all parishes/schools last week with information about this meeting.

Here are a few items of interest about the upcoming season:

1. 15 minute gap in between all games (same as 6th-8th grade girls volleyball)
2. Staggered start to season (boys 6th-8th will start on January 8th, everyone else will start on December 4th)
3. Earlier this month the State of Ohio changed their original order and will allow a team to play multiple games on a single day so at this time we are planning to have a post-season tournament.
4. Everybody will play 10 games + tournament
5. In order to make the best use of gym availability, MOST teams starting in December will play 5 games in December and their remaining 5 games in January.  MOST boys 6th-8th grade teams will play 5 games total during the weekends of February 13, 20, and 27 and their other 5 games in the weeks preceding.

Due to new rules that were just issued by the State of Ohio the GCCYS has to redo the entire schedule for this upcoming season.  The new rules by the State of Ohio prohibit any team from playing multiple matches/games within a 24 hour period.  Thus we have to adjust the league schedule to follow these State rules.

NEW LEAGUE SCHEDULE FORMAT

1. The regular season will now be extended to the weekend of October 9th 
2. The season ending tournament will start on Tuesday and/or Wednesday the week of October 12th
3. Only Grades 6th, 7th, and 8th will be playing the first weekend of the season
4. The League is going to strive to schedule 9 to 10 matches for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teams.
5. The League is going to strive to schedule 8 matches for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teams.
6. The League will not be able to accomodate possible scheduling conflicts for individuals coaching multiple teams.

We understand these changes are unexpected and last minute, but the new State of Ohio rules were not released until after the schedule was completed this week.  We are doing our very best to make sure every team and player gets to have a meaningful volleyball season, but there are some new constraints we have to follow in order to have a volleyball season.

We will be in touch with more information soon and hope to release the schedule for next weekend (grades 6-8) by early next week.

God Bless,

GCCYS

The league is making a few changes to girls volleyball warm-up and match times this season in order to provide the ability to better socially distance.

Grades 3-5

1. Matches will be scheduled for 60 minutes
2. The first two sets will be played to 25.  Winner has to win by 2 points or the first team to 27.
3. The third set will be played to 15.  Winner has to win by 2 points or the first team to 17.
4. Each team will warm up individually (3 minutes per team)

Grades 6-8

1. Matches will be scheduled for 75 minutes
2. The first two sets will be played to 25.  Winner has to win by 2 points or the first team to 27.
3. The third set will be played to 15.  Winner has to win by 2 points or the first team to 17.
4. Each team will warm up individually (5 minutes per team)

Please mark your calendars for a GCCYS Girls Volleyball Meeting on Monday, May 18th at 7:00PM via Zoom. We realize some of the organizations have multiple individuals that manage your girls’ volleyball program but for this meeting format we are asking for only one individual per organization. Login details will be sent out the week prior to the meeting. A link to the meeting will be emailed to everyone shortly.

A boys volleyball-only meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 14th at 7pm at All Saints. More information will be sent out to coordinators around the first of the year as will tentative timelines for the season. Here is the agenda:   Boys Volleyball Meeting Agenda

The Amerileagues Sports Supply on-line store is open for business. We are pleased to be able to provide you with top quality merchandise at buying group pricing. For 2019, we will be offering the Wilson Evolution and Jet Competition basketballs as well as a coaching kit that includes a mesh bag, score book, and dry erase board (these items may also be purchased separately). As we are now working with over 2600 youth basketball and volleyball teams in the Greater Cincinnati area, we have negotiated some nice discounts with our supplier.

Individuals purchasing items must pay via credit card at time of purchase. Coordinators placing bulk orders for their parishes/schools who do not wish to pay at time of purchase may enter their member code (available in your Coordinator Portal) during checkout. Payment must be received before the order is processed.  By entering your member code, you will not be charged tax due to your exempt status.

All purchases will help us keep these costs low and save money for our member parishes and schools.  Please visit our store at https://www.amerileagues.com/shop today!

After much discussion and feedback taken from a parish/school-wide survey, the calendar for the upcoming 2019-20 basketball season has been finalized. Games will begin on the weekend of December 7th and the Christmas break will take place on the weekends of December 21st and 28th. Games will resume on January 3rd. The entire timeline can be found on the Boys Basketball page or the Girls Basketball page.

Here are some highlights:

• Nov 2: practices may begin
• Dec 6: regular season begins
• Dec 21: no regular season games this weekend
• Dec 28: no regular season games this weekend
• Jan 4: regular season play resumes, the league will try to only schedule at most one game per team this weekend and games will be scheduled on Sunday first and then Saturday/Friday that weekend
• Feb 13-16:  3rd-4th grade (and 5th boys) tournament
• Feb 20-23:  6th-8th grade (and 5th girls) tournament

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The girls volleyball tournament is fast approaching and we have put together a list of preliminary site assignments for the tournament. The tournament schedule will be released on Thursday, October 3rd.

Tournament Gym Assignments

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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

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The schedule for the 2020 girls volleyball season has now been released (8/20 at 8:30am) 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).

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Please read the GCCYS Health and Safety Guidelines for the 2020-21 school year.  There will be a few small updates mae for basketball season.  For those parishes that did not sign this document during the fall volleyball season, they must do so to participate in the basketball season.  In addition, all parents must check a box on the GCCYS Liability Waiver indicating that they have read this document and agree to abide by its directives.

 GCCYS Health and Safety Guidelines

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.

Boys Basketball Kickoff Email

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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.

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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

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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 new Leagues menu. Also, basketball rules were updated on 1/3 and all coaches were sent an email with information about rules changes.

Also as a reminder, the maximum gate fee that a parish/school may charge is $5/family, $3/adult, and $1/child

Basketball Rules Basketball Player Tracker 10 Things Parents Need to Know

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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 August 8th, all teams for the fall volleyball 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!

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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.

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