Practice Policies

PRACTICE ARRIVAL & PREPARATION

Players should plan on arriving at the practice facility 15 minutes prior to a scheduled practice time, to ensure that they are dressed and prepared for practice to begin on time. Players MUST wear one of their official practice t-shirts and spandex to all practices.  Head coaches are allowed to create additional policies, such as wearing the same color t-shirt on an individual team basis. Additional practice t-shirts may be purchased through your Program Director throughout the season.

Players needing treatment or taping prior to practice must arrive at least 20 minutes prior to a scheduled practice to allow enough time to receive treatment.

Practices are closed; we ask that parents to wait at the main entrance of the building on the west side. Due to USAV Insurance protocols, parents are not allowed on the courts at any time during practice sessions.

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PRACTICE ATTENDANCE

Practices are mandatory and a player’s attendance is expected. Practice attendance will factor in determining a players’ role on the team. Attendance will be kept by the coaches’ throughout the season. All absences will be consider unexcused with the following exceptions:

  • Family Emergency
  • Illness / Injury
  • School Sport/Activity Conflict
  • College Entrance Exam
  • Religious Ed
  • Allotted Homework Day (see section)

Finally, while excused absences do not have any direct consequences, we want players and parents to understand that the player’s role may be affected if they miss significant time training with their team. Missing opportunities to work within the team’s system and develop the timing and chemistry necessary to compete may or may not affect how the player is used in tournaments. We anticipate that our coaching staff will work closely with those players to communicate where the coach stands on the situation and ensure that the player is fully aware of the circumstances dictating any such decision.

Should a player have unexcused absences, they will be addressed by the team coach, lead coach and club director.

NOTE: Missing practice for homework and studying (including finals) is not considered an excused absence. This is an important part of our student athlete’s time management skills.  Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis, but are not encouraged.  Academics are extremely important to us so we have added Homework Days for each player to use throughout the season.

Please contact your team coach and the lead coach, in advance, when you will be missing practice.  Contact information will be available through SportsEngine Team once teams have been chosen in December.  Should your child miss practice before teams are selected, you can the lead coach assigned for your age group.

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HOMEWORK DAYS

Homework Days are EXCUSED absences that can be used throughout the season in the event that a player needs to miss a practice for academic purposes.  Some examples may be:

  1. Final Exams
  2. School Project
  3. ACT/SAT Prep
  4. Significant homework load
  5. National Honor Society event
  6. Private tutoring

The number of days are based on the program.  Any additional days taken for these reasons would be considered unexcused.

Number of Days by Program

  • Select Programs = 2 days/season
  • Travel Programs = 3 days/season

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MAKING UP PRACTICE

We encourage players to make-up practice whenever they miss one of their own practices.  We ask that the following guidelines are used when making up practice:

  1. Try to make up practice with a similar age group/program.  (For example, if you are 15 Travel you should seek out a 16 or 14 Travel practice).
  2. Contact the coach of the team whose practice you will attend prior to attending.  It can be disruptive to have a player simply show up to the practice unannounced.
  3. Do NOT abuse this opportunity.  If we find a player is consistently attending another team’s practice, for any reason, we will address the situation immediately.

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PRACTICE CANCELLATIONS

Practice cancellations are rare. Practices may be cancelled due to inclement weather. However, due to the fact that our players reside in many different locations, we usually make every attempt to hold practice. We ask that each family evaluate the situation on a case by case basis. Players not attending practice due to inclement weather in their area would be considered excused from practice. Please check the website after 2pm on such days for updates on practice status for the evening. We also will post such events on our Facebook page New WAVE Volleyball Club. We ask that you do NOT call the office on these days as the volume of calls can be difficult to manage. Be sure to opt-in to the Text Messaging notifications through your SportEngine Team account once it is setup so that you receive notifications to your mobile phone.

In addition, on occasion, coaches will give the players a practice day off to allow for recovery and rest if they have had a rigorous schedule. Coaches must approve this through their Program Director and are responsible for communicating this properly to their teams. We do not encourage this practice, but do understand the need from time to time.

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GENERAL PRACTICE FACILITY RULES

Whether New WAVE is the primary tenant or we are renting a facility, New WAVE has a high standard for our facilities. We ask that our players be FULLY responsible for the maintenance and cleanliness of their facility during their practice times. We ask that players, at a minimum do the following:

  • Players must enter the correct entrance to the facility.
  • All bags should be placed in the designated areas in the facility before every practice.
  • Players are required to pick up all garbage after every practice, in the court area as well as any common area that our players use during the practice. This especially refers to all plastic bottles and food wrappers.
  • All balls, boxes, cones, extension cords, and other equipment used during practice are to be picked up and put away.
  • Nets are to be loosened (or in some cases taken down) at the completion of practice.
  • Bathrooms are kept clean and players properly notify a member of the staff if supplies are running low.
  • Training supplies are kept organized and trash removed from the area.

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SCHEDULE RELEASE POLICY (PRACTICE & TOURNAMENT)

Scheduling for our teams is a monumental task that requires balancing many factors each month and each season. With 32+ teams and other programs using our space, we ask that our players and families understand our goals in releasing this information. We understand that many of you are balancing several schedules at home and receiving our schedules in a timely manner is important to maintain that balancing act.

We will release the practice schedule for the remainder of this year no later than October 20th.  The remainder of the schedule for this club season will be completed and posted by the end of October. Schedules will be made available online and will NOT be printed or available in hard copy form.  We will do our best to notify families as soon as possible, of any changes that may occur.

The season tournament schedule will be released at the parent meeting.  It will be made available online and will NOT be printed or available in hard copy form. The schedule is subject to change at any time due to tournament cancellations and unforeseen conflicts.

Individual tournament information (start times, location, etc.) may not be available until the Wednesday or Thursday prior to the weekend. Many tournament directors are unable to release the information in a timely manner and we apologize for the inconvenience in advance. Information will be released as soon as we receive it on our website.

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