To: Club Contacts & Coaches
Re: Neutral Minor Officiating Program Policy Change

Volleyball Alberta would like to sincerely thank the large number of coaches and club directors who took the time to reply to our survey in regards to the Neutral Minor Officiating Program.

The responses provided thoughtful and detailed explanations about the respondents’ position on the program.

When compiled, these responses were overwhelmingly opposed to the program for a few primary reasons:

• Lack of proper warm-up for athletes.
• Conflict with match analysis/preparation.
• Athlete and coach fatigue; long days with little rest/recovery time.

The themes of the positive comments included:

• Teaching athletes more aspects of the game.
• Continuing to keep athletes as lines people as they were less biased than parents.

A few additional topics emerged including:

• The need to properly educate coaches on how to address their disagreements on calls made by the officiating crew (especially with athletes as the lines people). 
• The need for an alternate recruitment program for Officials that includes teaching/involving club athletes (i.e. having 17 & 18U athletes learn to officiate younger age groups) on weekends that the athletes do not compete.
• The need to ensure that larger issues/concerns about on-site incidents are brought to the Venue Coordinators as these Coordinators communicate directly with full-time staff.

The results of the survey were presented at the Volleyball Alberta Executive Committee Meeting on Friday, March 19.  As a result of the strong negative feedback of our membership,

The committee voted to return to the 2015 Minor Officiating Protocols for Premier 3 and the Provincial Championships.

For a match in which a team is participating, they will be responsible for the provision of one (1) Line Judge.

• This individual must be a team player not registered as a starting member of the line-up
• This individual must be a team player not registered as the acting Libero (if applicable)
• If a team does not have enough athletes to provide a Line Judge, the referee shall:
  • Inquire to the opposition coach if they are willing to provide two (2) athletes to act as Line Judges.
  • Inquire to the opposition coach if they are open to a volunteer representative.
  • Inquire to the opposition coach if they would prefer the match to commence with no Line Judges and the sole discretion of the First Referee

For a match in which a team is participating, they will be responsible for the provision of one (1) Scorer/Assistant Scorer.

• This individual may be a team volunteer whether that be a parent, athlete or drawn from an alternative source
• The supplied individual must be familiar with the responsibilities associated with both roles and open to functioning in either capacity.

Thank you again for your valuable input into this program and for contributing to the growth and success of Volleyball in Alberta.

Best regards,

Terry Gagnon
Executive Director
tgagnon@volleyballalberta.ca