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Tournament Policies

General Tournament Rules & Information

For questions related to withdrawal, changes, or entries, email tournaments@palmettovb.com or call 864-576-3700.

For specific questions about tournament, hotels, or gym sites, contact the individual tournament hosts. Host contact info can be found in tournament schedule.  

NEW in 2023 - Roster Requirements

Beginning in 2023, complete rosters loaded in AES will be required in order to be accepted into any PVA tournament. Note that the roster must be applied to the specific event you are registered for, having a default USAV roster in AES does not meet the requirements.

Start Times

All single day region tournaments will begin at 8:30am, unless otherwise posted. Gyms open at 8am and a representative from each team must report to the captains’ meeting at 8:15am, in the event of a schedule change. If you are running late, you must call the gym supervisor.

Multi-day tournaments set their own start times, contact tournament host with any questions.

Tournament Rules / Formats

Palmetto Region single day tournaments follow the same rules and formats. Multi-day tournaments may have additional rules or different formats - Check the link for each event on our tournament schedule for details. 

Tournament Acceptance Guidelines

Tournament spots are awarded based on maximum number of teams allowed by division. Teams are accepted based on this criteria:

  1. Registration & Payment received on AES.
  2. Rosters complete and loaded into AES.
  3. If registration occurs on the same date and there are fewer spots than entries, it is determined by the time you paid the entry fee.
  4. If two teams from the same club are tied for one spot, the club director can decide.

Please note, if you request to move divisions from your original registration, you will be considered for acceptance by the date of new request.

Rules That Can Result in Fines and/or Sanctions

NOTE: If you enter a tournament without payment, you are assumed to be attending, and will be responsible for abiding by all rules, withdrawal policies, and fines listed below.  

NOTE:  Non payment of entry fee does not relieve a team/club to notify the region with withdrawal.  We assume you are attending unless you have met our requirements below. 

WITHDRAWAL, INCORRECT ENTRIES, NO PAYMENT:

All withdrawals must be emailed to tournaments@palmettovb.com AND must receive verification you have dropped from the region.  See rules below, if inside deadlines must call and talk with host or region staff.  

Teams MUST notify the region AND the tournament host for any change or withdrawal AND receive an email back from the region confirming the change. The email is your protection to avoid a sanction or fine. If withdrawal is made after deadlines, fine and/or sanctions will be imposed and must be paid prior to club participating in any future events. Note if you register, we assume you are attending unless we hear from you, paid or unpaid,  you are still responsible for entry and/or fines.  If you are inside 1 week, you MUST call or text region or host, and speak to someone to inform of drop.  Do NOT leave a message and assume it will be heard. 

NO SHOWS:

If you are registered in AES, paid or unpaid, we assume you are attending.  Withdrawal inside 5 days require you to call our region staff at 864-576-3700 and speak to someone (make note of who you spoke to in case this is questioned),  AND send an email of withdrawal.  Email- tournaments@palmettovb.com  If you have not emailed and called and received a response, you will be responsible for the tournament entry fee and applicable fines. No shows are fined at our highest rate due to the workload and rescheduling of pools the morning of.  See fines below. 

MOVING OR CHANGING DIVISIONS:

Requests to move divisions from original registration will be considered for acceptance by the date of new request. Keep in mind this can take you from accepted to a waitlist position. If you are moving from one host to another, or from one weekend to another, then all withdrawal rules apply.  This could cause if inside drop deadlines incur a fine and lose of entry from original entry.  If you want to change divisions, email the region and tournament host with specific information – name of club, name of team, tournament, currently registered division, and desired division. This applies whether your entry is paid or unpaid. Notifications must be in writing to both host and region. You must receive a written response from the region in order to avoid fines.

LATE PAYMENT OF TOURNAMENT ENTRY FEE:

Late entry fee payments past the deadlines are charged an additional $30. Entry fees for tournaments are due 4 weeks prior.

Withdrawal Deadlines & Penalties

Deadline Fine / Sanctions
4 Weeks Prior Loss of Entry Fee or Fee due if unpaid
3 Weeks Prior Loss of Entry Fee (Due if unpaid) and $50 Fine
2 Weeks Prior Loss of Entry Fee (Due if unpaid) and $75 Fine
1 Week Prior (Must call and speak with someone on phone and send an email) Loss of entry fee (Due if unpaid) and $100 fine
Within 72 Hours (Must call and speak with someone on phone and send an email) Loss of entry fee (Due if unpaid), fine of $200 and sanction
NO SHOW with no record of call AND email Loss of Entry Fee (Due if unpaid), fine equivalent to entry fee ($260 for single day; $450 for multi day) and sanction
Tournament Entry Fee is Due 4 weeks prior to event. Fees paid after this date will be charged late fee. Late Fee: $30 per team

Out of Region Team Withdrawals

Teams outside the Palmetto Region must abide by the above listed deadlines and rules. Clubs who withdraw late and fail to submit to guidelines outlined above will be placed on sanction list and teams from your club will not be allowed to participate in future Palmetto Region tournaments until all fines are paid.

USAV Rosters

Teams must bring at least two printed copies of your official SportsEngine team roster to each tournament. Make sure you are using the SE roster that includes USAV membership numbers - usually accessible only by the club director. In-region teams who fail to bring an official printed SportsEngine roster, or who are missing participants on the roster will be fined: $50 on first offense, $100 on second offense in the same season. Out of region teams who do not use SportsEngine may print an AES roster. No handwritten rosters will be accepted.

Officiating Requirements 

Teams are required to have met minimum region officiating requirements and have certified work crew prior to participating in all competition. It is the intent for Palmetto Region to provide a professional official R1 for all matches. If we are short in any division, the following rules will apply:

  • 1 official per net: The paid R1 official will have specific breaks during pool play, which will be identified at the start of the day by the gym supervisor or tournament director. During these breaks, the working team will be responsible for providing a certified R1. (Example: for 5 team pools, the official’s break would be the 2nd set of the 2nd work duty for each team during pool play)
  • If no paid official is provided, each work team will be responsible for providing a certified R1. In this case the affected team(s) is provided a pro-rated credit for future tournament entry fees.
  • For some reason your paid official is not arrived by warmups, have the working team start the match and notify the gym supervisor.

No Tolerance Policy

Spectators, Parents, Players and Club Members

The Palmetto Region has a NO-TOLERANCE policy on screaming, yelling, or making any derogatory remarks to ANY official ( Up ref, down ref, line judges, or scorekeepers). Keep in mind, they are human, and most of the time they are kids.

No Tolerance policy also includes unprofessional behavior to anyone else in the gym. 

Penalty is immediate dismissal from gym, no warning. Parties found guilty may face sanction to participate in future tournaments or team be fined. Note, part of our game includes bad calls and wrong scores.   Anyone who reacts in using an attitude or raising your voice to anyone on a working team is guilty or between spectators. 

Concerns are required to be handled through the club.  If you witness a violation of the No Tolerance Policy, if possible, take a video to remit a complaint to the region. First hand statements are also needed. 

Parents, Players, coaches and spectators:   No tolerance policy for anyone using profanity, threatening  another person, physical altercation, yelling (other than positive cheering) and similar behavior.  This can result in being banned from future attendance in all events and possible sanction to member, team or club.  

Inclement Weather Policy

This policy outlines the rights and responsibilities for the Region, individuals, teams, and Tournament Directors involved with sanctioned tournaments when weather conditions become a concern. All must realize that they bear a monetary risk when hosting and/or entering tournaments during the winter months. However, generally speaking, the Host will make every effort to hold a tournament. For bad weather that strikes one to two days before the tournament, the tournament WILL BE HELD unless teams are otherwise notified (canceled tournament information will be on the HOST and/or region web page and an attempt will be made via email to notify all teams).

Considerations to cancel will be made based on weather at the location of the facilities.  Refunds will not be provided  if the tournament is held based on weather conditions at the sites.  Refunds can not be issued because weather is bad from where team is coming from.  If the event is cancelled, pro-rata refunds will be issued. 

We try to make decisions by 3pm day before event begins.

Tournament Director Responsibilities

The Tournament Director is responsible to provide a safe playing environment. If local conditions warrant canceling the tournament or changing a playing site, the Tournament Director will be responsible for making that decision, no later than 9pm the night before the tournament. Once a decision has been made, the Tournament Director should also call or email each team representative notifying of the cancellation or site change AND POST ON THEIR WEBSITE. The Tournament Director may also enlist a team representative to help call other teams from the same area.

Tournament Host Responsibilities/Refund Policy

The Tournament Host will assume no financial responsibility to any team if the tournament is cancelled due to inclement weather. The entry fee, minus prepaid expenses, will be refunded to the participating teams. An accounting must be reported to the region office for evaluation of refunds.

Please check these sources before contacting the HOST. If you must contact the Host, please have only the club/team rep contact the office so duplicate inquiries from parents and players from the same club/team can be avoided. For bad weather the day of the tournament, it is unlikely that a tournament director could contact all teams beforehand, so the tournament will be held for all teams that are able to make it (unless severe weather conditions restrict tournament director from facilities).

Team Responsibilities/Actions:

In the event of inclement weather, each individual and team must make the decision whether or not to attend a tournament. This decision may be made regardless of the decisions of other local teams. Should inclement weather cause a team to decide not to attend a tournament, the team captain and/or other team representative must notify the Tournament Director and the gym supervisor immediately.

Failure to notify may cause the team to be sanctioned in accordance with the tournament entry/withdrawal policy. If a team has decided to attend but is concerned of the status of the tournament, a team representative should call the gym supervisor or tournament host for the latest information or see the Host Web page.

Online Tournament Check In

NEW in 2021, the Palmetto Region will be using online tournament check in through AES. 

Online check-in will open approximately 10 days prior to each tournament, and will close 3 days prior to the tournament. 

Through the online check-in process, teams will need to verify that they have met tournament requirements and read PVA tournament policies, as well as provide a verified roster that includes all participants for the tournament. 

Individual tournaments may have additional check-in requirements, contact the host if you are unsure.

For a video example of how to complete online check-in through AES, click here.