Mixed Intermediate League » Suffolk Volleyball Association

NEW FOR THE 2023-24 SEASON - Suffolk Mixed Intermediate League

Fixtures pre-Christmas

	Date		Time	Venue	Teams
Sun	29	Oct	1-4pm	Bury Leisure Centre IP33 3TT	BURY v Stowmarket v Seagulls
Sun	5	Nov	3-6pm	Suffolk New College IP4 1LT	SEAGULLS v Team Suffolk v Ipswich
Sun	26	Nov	3-6pm	Suffolk New College IP4 1LT	TEAM SUFFOLK v Stowmarket v Bury
Sat	2	Dec	11am-2pm	Stowupland High School IP14 4BQ	STOWMARKET v Ipswich v Seagulls
Sun	17	Dec	1-4pm	Bury Leisure Centre IP33 3TT	BURY v Team Suffolk v Ipswich

Fixtures post-Christmas

	Date		Time	Venue	Teams
Sat	20	Jan	11am-2pm	Ipswich School IP1 3SG	IPSWICH v Ravens v Stowmarket
Sun	11	Feb	1-4pm	Bury Leisure Centre IP33 3TT	BURY v Seagulls v Ravens
Sun	3	Mar	11am-2pm	Stowupland High School IP14 4BQ	SEAGULLS v Ipswich v Bury
Sat	23	Mar	11am-2pm	Stowupland High School IP14 4BQ	STOWMARKET v Bury v Ipswich
Sun	14	Apr	3-6pm	Suffolk New College IP4 1LT	RAVENS v Stowmarket v Seagulls

The team in BOLD are hosts for the day - help visiting teams with parking etc, set up the hall, provide match balls, first aid kit, print SVA scoresheets and line-up sheets, keep the games on schedule, post the match result on WhatsApp

Visiting teams remember to bring your own balls for warmup and whistles as you will be required to referee.

Registered Players

	Standard	Quota
Bury	Ben, George, Nathan, Andras	Erika, Sophia, Maria, Gabriella, Charlotte, Niamh, Alex, Simon, Daniel, Jake, Cairo, Tracey
Ipswich	Jaypee, Jeff, Joe, Kylan, Logan, Eric, Hristian, Matthew, Rafal, Amy S, James, Eva, Hannah, Julia, Meg, Yolinda, Jessica, Cristian, Sri Harish, Girishwaran, Chris	Maisie, Harvey, Chris, Theodore, Toby, Isla, Arianne, Josh, Gabriela, Marcus, Siana, Vlad, Amelia, Amy B, Gabriella
Seagulls	Sepideh	Lyn, Emily, Helen, Philippa, Lisbeth, Andrea, Mozhdeh, Steve, Simon, Julie, Fatou
Stowmarket	Ben, George, Marcin, Joel, Andrew	Ewelina, Kat, Mark, Louise, Miles, Isaac, Claire, Pat, Sam, Hayley, Tom
Ravens	Kylan, Logan, Mason, Amy, Zac	Louise, James, Fearne, Nicole, Josh, Aire, Adam, Vykinta

Results and Points pre-Christmas

Date		Result		Bury	Ipswich	Seagulls	Stowmkt	Team Sfk
29 Oct	Bury Stowmarket Bury	1-1 (25-17, 16-25) 2-0 (25-17, 25-17) 2-0 (25-18, 25-17)	Stowmarket Seagulls Seagulls	2.5		1	2.5
5 Nov	Seagulls Seagulls Ipswich	0-2 (9-25, 15-25) 2-0 (walkover) 2-0 (walkover)	Ipswich Team Suffolk Team Suffolk		3	2		0
26 Nov	Team Suffolk Team Suffolk Stowmarket	(scratch) 0-2 (scratch) 0-2 1-1 (22-25, 25-22)	Stowmarket Bury Bury	2.5			2.5	1
2 Dec	Ipswich Stowmarket Stowmarket	2-0 (25-17, 25-18) 2-0 (25-16, 25-16) 0-2 (22-25, 14-21)	Seagulls Seagulls Ipswich		3	1	2
17 Dec	Ipswich Bury Bury	2-0 (walkover) 2-0 (walkover) 2-0 (25-18, 25-17)	Team Sufffolk Team Suffolk Ipswich	3	2			0

TOTAL				8	8	4	7	1

Results and Points post-Christmas

Date		Result		Bury	Ipswich	Ravens	Seagulls	Stowmkt
20 Jan	Stowmarket Ipswich Ipswich	2-0 (25-19, 25-17) 1-1 (25-9, 6-25) 0-2 (19-25, 16-25)	Ravens Ravens Stowmarket		1.5	1.5		3
11 Feb	Bury Bury Seagulls	2-0 (25-5, 25-9) 1-1 (24-26, 25-22) 1-1 (25-23, 12-25)	Seagulls Ravens Ravens	2.5		2	1.5
3 Mar	Seagulls Seagulls Ipswich	0-2 (20-25, 6-25) 0-2 (11-25, 10-25) 1-1 (12-25, 26-24)	Ipswich Bury Bury	2.5	2.5		1
23 Mar	Stowmarket Stowmarket Bury	1-1 (25-20, 22-25) 2-0 (scratch) 2-0 (scratch)	Bury Ipswich Ipswich	2.5	1			2.5
14 Apr	Ravens Ravens Seagulls	1-1 (25-13, 17-25) 2-0 (26-24, 25-11) 0-2 (17-25, 9-25)	Seagulls Stowmarket Stowmarket			2.5	1.5	2

TOTAL				7.5	5	6	4	7.5

Intention

The aim of the league is to give match opportunities to Intermediate level players.
The league is mixed ie. for men, women, and juniors
Matches need to be played in a friendly spirit, particularly to get the league established, and to avoid stress on any inexperienced officials. It will help if clubs don't attach prestige to the league. It's primarily an opportunity to play games between well matched teams from different clubs and unite our volleyball community.

The notes indicated by a letter in brackets (*x*) were discussed at the online meeting on 14 August and agreed for this season.

Format

Fixtures will normally be triangulars involving three teams with the off court team officiating
The net will be at or near men's height (*a*)
All dates and venues will be arranged by SVA at the start of the season. Once fixtures are published, clubs will have 2 weeks to indicate whether any of the dates given are impossible. After that the venues will be booked and fixtures will not change, ie. no cancellations allowed (obviously if a venue becomes unexpectedly unavailable the match will be rearranged if possible)
Venues may be any of those used regularly by SVA clubs having first aid staff on site. Host clubs will make the booking and be reimbursed by SVA. (*b*)
All matches will be at weekends (*c*)
Entry fee to be paid at the start of the season, will cover the cost of ALL court bookings in advance and is not refundable (except due to venue becoming unavailable)
Court bookings will be for 3 hours, each game will be 2 sets up to 25 points (*d*)
The number of matches will depend on the number of teams who enter. The aim is to have at least 8 matches per team (ie. 4 triangulars)
Clubs can enter as many teams as they like, all clubs must be affiliated to Volleyball England (*e*)
Clubs from outside Suffolk may also enter (*f*)

Player Registration

All players must be registered to their associated league team. Late registrations will be accepted.
Players will be registered as either STANDARD or QUOTA players. A QUOTA player is any of these: (*g*)
- female who does not play regularly in NVL or comparable local league
- junior male under 16 at the start of the season
- male over 50 at the start of the season
- male playing in his first season
Men who play regularly in higher level competitions (e.g. NVL, Eastern Region, Essex or Cambridgeshire League) are not eligible
N.B. clubs should expect to register at least 8-10 players for each team, to allow for illness/holidays/injury

Rules of Play

During play, all teams must have at least 2 (*h*) Quota players on court at all times
If a team is unable to raise 6 players including the minimum number of Quota players, it may borrow Quota players from another team or club, PREFERABLY from a team not included in the fixture
Standard players may NOT be borrowed from other teams or clubs
It is expected that if a team doesn't have 6 players to fulfil a match, the off court team will lend them a Quota player/s
If they wish, team captains on the day can mutually agree to waive the above requirements in the best interest of their game
Ideally all players should wear shirts with unique numbers on the front and back. If this isn't possible please make sure every player wears something distinctive to enable identification on the scoresheet and rotation slips (e.g. green socks = GS, blue kneepads = BK, etc)
If using a libero player, make sure their shirt is a VERY distinguishable colour from the rest of the team. It needs to stand out for the benefit of the officials and opponents.

Officiating

Prior to their first fixture players should be familiar with sections 1-3 of the SVA Guide to the Rules.

The host team for each fixture must provide printed SVA scoresheets and line-up sheets

Where possible:-

Teams should use the SVA scoresheet, novice scorers can prepare by watching this 30-minute video
All players' names must be clearly recorded to enable checking against registrations
Members of the non-playing team should take the following roles:
1. 1st ref
2. Scorer
3. 2nd ref
4. Assistant scorer
5. 2 x line-judges

Communications

Communications during the season will be via a WhatsApp group
Each team should have a prime contact on the group and a backup to cover for holidays etc
Any team needing to withdraw from a fixture should give as much notice as possible, and ideally try to arrange a scratch team to replace them and play friendlies
Results to be reported in the WhatsApp group by the host team

End of season

League positions will be decided only on the number of games won and drawn. Teams who have won equal games finish in equal positions. (*i*)

QUESTIONS and ANSWERS:

Q. Who is the league aimed at ?

A. Players who are basically competent and can keep a rally going, but are below the standard of the advanced competitions such as Suffolk League+Cups, Essex League, Eastern Region, and equivalent level.

Q. Is the league a series of tournaments similar to Mavis ?

A. No. It's a set of matches similar to NVL lower divisions. Most of the matches will be triangulars. See the example below

Q. How many matches would my team play ?

A. It depends on the number of teams who enter. Hopefully about 6.

Q. How much will it cost ?

A. Again it depends on the number of teams who enter. Currently estimate £40-45 per match, so for 6 matches the cost would be approx £240-270. N.B. this is to be paid in full on entry to the league, it will cover all of the court bookings.

Note added 19th July: This costing assumes all games will be played on a full size court in a whole sports hall. There is an alternative option to play on half hall courts instead (similar to the hall setup used at Mavis), these courts are shorter than full length, but will reduce costs by about 50%. We need to discuss at the August online meeting whether the general preference is to pay more for a proper match experience on a full size court, or save money by playing on a smaller court (*j*). See the example below

Q. How would I enter a team ?

A. There will be an online meeting on Monday 14th August for all clubs to declare their intentions to enter a team. It will then start to become clearer how things will shape up.

Q. Can my club enter more than one team ?

A. Yes

Q. Will all the teams come from within Suffolk ?

A. No, we are advertising for interest from Cambs, Norfolk and Essex

Q. Where will matches be played ?

A. All matches will be played in Suffolk - hopefully some at each of Ipswich, Stowmarket and Bury.

Q. What if we can't raise a team for a match, can we postpone it ?

A. No. Instead:-

You should seek to borrow QUOTA players (see main section) from other clubs - ideally from clubs not participating in the match. Use the WhatsApp group.
If you still can't raise a full team, warn the other teams in your match that you will need to borrow QUOTA players from the off-court team in the triangular.
If they are unable or unwilling, find any other player/s you can. Remember you will already have paid for the court time, so get the best use out of it you can.

Q. What if we can raise a team but it has too many STANDARD players and not enough QUOTA players.

A. Either find more Quota players, as per the previous question, or go along as a friendly team and forfeit the league match.

FIXTURE LIST - if 5 teams enter

Each team plays a total of 6 fixtures, all triangular

This results in all teams playing each other 3 times

FIXTURE LIST - if 6 teams enter

Each team plays a total of 6 fixtures (4 triangular and 2 single games)

This results in all teams playing each other twice

Fixtures 5 and 10 (single games) to be played at Stowmarket to equalise the travel overhead

FIXTURE LIST - if 7 teams enter