Coaches:
Welcome to the seventh annual Mizuno Southern Dream Volleyball Tournament. Our
goal is to provide the opportunity for participants to play lots of volleyball against a
variety of opponents in this season-opening tournament, making this tourney one you’ll
want to come back to year after year. The fact that this is the first tournament of the
season for most participants also argues for a format that doesn’t eliminate teams from
championship contention during pool play.
To help attract clubs that play under USAV, JVA and/or AAU banners, the Dream will be
conducted under the AAU banner again this year. Teams winning their divisions will – in
addition to traditional Championship bling—receive a break in their registration fee for
the AAU National Championship Tournament in June. Divisions of less than 12 teams
will receive a pro-rata reduction based on the table following. This benefit is provided
for winners of club divisions and power divisions alike.
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# teams in division
% fee for AAU’s
12 or more
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
100%
90%
80%
70%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
The tournament will be held at two venues: Suwanee Sports Academy (“SSA” – courts 1
- 7) and Southern Volleyball Center (“SVC” – courts 1, 3, 4 & 5).
Every team will be play a minimum of seven matches, and most will play 8 - 12 matches.
No team will be eliminated from contention for the Championship based on pool play.
Pool play is for seeding purposes only; all teams will advance to Monday’s
Championship bracket. Therefore, tiebreakers will not be played in this tournament.
We have done our best to arrange the pools to minimize or eliminate the number of
times that you play the same team twice, and we have not pooled teams from the same
club together initially unless we had no choice. In several instances we have combined
divisions during pool play to ensure diversity of play, but during Monday’s bracket play
all teams will compete in the divisions in which they registered. Thus, a few of the
formats may appear at first glance to be contrived and complicated, but rest assured
there is a method to our madness.
The following narrative provides a brief verbal description of the format for each age
bracket.
18 Power – SSA; A.M. Wave – Courts 4 - 7
There are sixteen teams entered in this division. They will be organized into four pools
of four teams each. Teams will be re-pooled on day 2 based on their day 1 finish. These
results of pool play will be used to seed the Championship Bracket on Monday, to which
all teams advance.
17 Power – SSA; A.M. Wave – Courts 1 - 3
There are ten teams entered in this division. To ensure unique matches, they will be
pooled together, playing in a modified round-robin format (though they will not play
every team in the pool).
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The results of pool play on Day One and Day Two will be used to determine seeding in
the single-elimination Championship Bracket, to which all teams advance.
16 Power – SSA; P.M. Wave – Courts 1 - 3
There are nine teams entered in this division. To ensure unique matches, they will be
pooled together, playing in a round-robin format, playing each team in the pool once.
The results of pool play on Day One and Day Two will be used to determine seeding in
the single-elimination Championship Bracket, to which all teams advance.
15/14 Power – SSA; P.M. Wave – Courts 4 - 7
There are eight teams entered in the 15 Power Division, and six in 14 Power. They will
be combined during pool play to ensure diversity of competition, and broken apart for
the single-elimination Championship Brackets on Monday, to which all teams advance.
They will be organized on day one into two pools of four teams and two pools of three
teams, with members of the three-team pools playing cross-over matches. Teams will
be re-pooled on day two into two pools of four teams and one pool of six (though
members of the six-team pool will play only three matches).
The results of pool play on Days One and Day Two will be used to determine seeding in
the single-elimination Championship Brackets, to which all teams advance.
13 Power/13 Club – SVC court 5 – split between a.m. and p.m. waves
There are four teams entered in 13 Power and four in 13 Club, so to ensure diversity of
play, the divisions will be combined during pool play in a round-robin format and then
broken apart for Monday’s Championship Bracket, to which all teams advance.
12 Power/12 Club – SVC – A.M. Wave – Courts
There are four teams registered in 12 Power and five in 12 Club for a total of nine teams
entered in the two divisions. They will be combined during pool play and compete in a
round-robin format – i.e., a nine-team pool over two days, playing four matches on each
day. The results of pool play will determine seeding in the single-elimination
Championship Brackets, to which all teams advance. The two divisions will be broken
apart for the Championship Brackets, each competing in the division in which they
registered.
15/14 Club – SVC – P.M. Wave – Courts 1, 3 & 4
There are three teams entered in 15 Club and seven in 14 Club so to ensure diversity of
play, the divisions will be combined into one pool during pool play competing in a
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modified round-robin format. All teams advance to the Championship Round, with
those in 14 Club competing in a seven-team, single-elimination bracket, and those in 15
Club competing in a three-team pool (in which a tie-breaker will not be played, should
the pool result in a three-way tie).
REAL-TIME, ON-LINE UPDATES:
We’re going paperless again this year. Results will be continuously posted in real time
on advancedeventsystems.com. We will have i-pads and/or LED screens available at
both locations for those needing to check schedule obligations, results, ref assignments,
etc. Alternatively, participants may wish to spare themselves the walk to the central
desk at the Dream and every AES-scheduled tournament thereafter by downloading the
AES app. Simply go to the app store, search on aes xpress, and follow the prompts.
A NOTE ABOUT SEEDS AND INITIAL POOL PAIRINGS:
Seeding the first few tournaments of the year always involves a fair amount of
guesswork. More than anything, we endeavored to put teams from the same or sister
club in separate pools, and to minimize the instances in which teams from the same city
or non-SRVA region (e.g., Palmetto) are pooled together. Teams playing up one or more
age brackets are generally seeded lower than those playing in their age divisions.
Beyond that, we have formatted the tournament such that no teams are eliminated
from contention during pool play.
Teams will play 6 – 8 matches on Saturday and Sunday, with single elimination
championship play commencing on Monday. Unfortunately, owing to a different
number of entrants in virtually every division, some teams may play four matches on
Saturday and only two on Sunday and vice versa, and several lucky teams will be able to
get up to eight matches under their belt prior to bracket play.
Play starts in the morning at 8:00 a.m., with the afternoon brackets commencing at 3:00
p.m. It is important to check AES for starting times, as they vary from bracket to bracket
and day to day. Doors at both venues will open at 7:00 a.m.
Every division will remain in the same venue for all three days.
MATCH PROTOCOL AND WARM-UPS
All matches except where specifically noted will be based on two out of three sets to 25
(third, if necessary, to 15). Accordingly, it is imperative that we move quickly from
match to match if we are to remain on schedule. Referees have been instructed to start
the 10-minute warm-up clock immediately upon completion of the previous match, so
please have your teams ready to go.
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TIE-BREAKING PROCEDURES
Are more fully described in the SRVA handbook. However, since all teams will advance
to Championship Bracket play irrespective of the results of pool play, we do not
anticipate tiebreakers being played.
TEAM REFEREE OBLIGATIONS
Referee schedules are included in the pool assignments on AES. Teams losing in bracket
play on Monday will ref the next match on that court. Several teams will be required to
ref the 8:00 A.M. match on Monday match before they play, so again, please check the
website as well as the pools and brackets to see if your team is effected. Teams with 8
a.m. ref assignments must be in place on the court no later than 7:45.
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. For courts without an electronic scoreboard, scorekeepers should lift the
score board and show the score frequently, minimally at serve changes and time outs.
FACILITY/PARKING
Parking at SSA is limited. While early-birds should be able to park on site
without problem, those arriving later and/or as the a.m. wave is shifting to the
p.m. may have to park on Burnette Rd. or one of its arterial streets. The lower lot
is available as well; we will have signage. Please do not park in the upper church
lot; again, we will have signage. If you park on Burnette Rd., make sure that your
tires are fully off the road and on the shoulder. Please do not park in the parking
lot of a nearby business, as they may tow you.
As with SSA, the parking lot is expected to fill up at SVC. There exists parking to
the rear of the building, and the AT&T lot across the street may be used as
overflow. Please spare our staff the unpleasant necessity of towing your car by:
NOT parking in a space reserved for our contiguous tenants
NOT parking in the grass
NOT blocking anyone in — even for a minute.
FOOD TABLES
At SSA: There will be no food tables this year. The cafe will be open and
offering a wide variety of healthy snacks and food. You may pack food and drink
in your backpacks and purses to bring into the facility, but we ask that platters of
food, centerpieces, decorations, tables and coolers stay in the car, as the past
practice of reserving tables for participating teams has proven to be a source of
irritation for many participants. The tables in the cafe area are to be used by cafe
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customers. If you choose to sit there, please simply eat your meal and relinquish
your seat to another hungry spectator as soon as you are done.
At SVC: We have no concessions at SVC, so food tables will be allowed. That
said, room is limited and teams will be restricted to 1/2 table per team. SVC will
provide the tables.
FOLDING CHAIRS
Are prohibited at SSA. They damage the wood floor over time. There is abundant
bleacher space to facilitate spectators on every court. You may bring your own chairs to
SVC if you like, though we will furnish chairs at every court.
GATE
$7 per day; $15 for the entire weekend. Children 10 and under are free. Sorry, but we
are not equipped to take credit cards.
TRAINERS
A certified trainer will be on site at both locations for the duration of the tournament.
Feel free to call or email any of the undersigned with any questions. Feedback is
welcome.
We hope you enjoy the tournament.
Your Tournament Directors
Michael Fletcher
Southern Volleyball Tournaments; gym manager at SSA
[email protected]
c: 404-936-6723
Kurt Matthews
Southern Volleyball Tournaments; gym manager at SVC
[email protected]
c: 404.895.1155
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