What the Bayou Region Does & Doesn’t Control

The Bayou Region is a region of USA Volleyball (USAV) covering the state of Louisiana. USAV is our governing body – part of the United States Olympic Committee. USAV is broken down into 40 geographic regions throughout the United States. Each region operates differently, has distinct policies and rules, and different event structures. Just as each club within our region is a separate, independent business, each region also operates as an independent business. There are certain national standard guidelines we must follow (such as age definitions, membership requirements, etc.). USAV’s main office is in Colorado Springs, CO.

Remember – each club is an independent business.

There are certain things that Bayou Region has control over when it comes to club volleyball in this region. There are also many things we don’t have control over, but there’s a perception that many of these things are controlled by our office or our Board. This page is meant to provide some clarity to players, coaches, and families about some of those items.

What the Bayou Region Controls

  • The cost of a Bayou Region Membership
  • Cost of Bayou Region Hosted Tournaments – we do not control the cost of club-hosted tournaments, nor do we “force” clubs to participate in any events.  We provide opportunities – individual clubs choose to utilize them.
  • The posting of results and rankings on our AES
  • The look and feel of our website – we are always trying to find better, simpler ways to convey information.
  • Bayou Region social media channels – we always are looking for new, relevant content to post on our social media
  • Our customer service to you – we work very hard to provide timely and accurate responses to legitimate e-mails, phone calls, social media messages, etc.
  • Schedule of our tournaments, to an extent – we have to balance our desired schedule against conflicting events (such as national qualifiers), available facilities, holidays, conflicting sports, etc.  It’s not always possible to have a certain event on a certain day. 

What the Bayou Region Doesn’t (or Can’t) Control

  • SportsEngine registration process – we have very limited control of the look/feel of this site.
  • Playing time for an individual player – solely determined by your coach and club director.
  • Who clubs hire as a coach – all coaches must be certified through USA Volleyball with a baseline coaching education curriculum, a background screen, and Safesport certification.  We do not control who individual clubs hire, what teams coaches are assigned to, their philosophies, training methods, practice plans, etc.
  • What coaches must do to get certified to coach – this is largely dictated by USAV.  USAV mandates IMPACT training, a background screen, and Safesport.
  • The cost of an adult background screen – this is a passthrough cost for us and the cost is set by the company actually running the background screens.  The Bayou Region garners $0 profit on each screen.
  • Club-specific policies regarding officiating & scoring certifications – If a club mandates that each player on a roster be certified or indicates a reduction of playing time for a player that isn’t certified, that is a club policy, not a Bayou Region policy. 
  • Your individual player’s improvement or skill development – we do not run or oversee practices.
  • How many teams your club creates in each age division – strictly a club decision based on number of players and coaches.  Remember, quality coaches are not always available, and you can’t have a team without a coach.
  • How many clubs operate in a specific geographic area – we are actively trying to expand our reach, but we cannot create clubs in underserved areas, nor can we prevent a club from starting in an already popular market.
  • What team your individual player is placed on – we do not create teams for clubs, nor do we have any input on selecting players for those teams, or the selection process of those teams.
  • What team your players’ friends are placed on – see above.
  • What tournaments your teams participate in – we offer programming, but individual clubs choose to participate in it.  We don’t mandate clubs to participate in our Events. 
  • Your club dues – the only money you pay directly to the Bayou Region is for membership.  You don’t pay the Bayou Region for uniforms, travel costs, etc.  We also do not control how much additional money you pay to clubs for other fees, nor do we mandate a certain profit margin for a club.  Each club is a separate business.
  • Refund policies within clubs – if you stop participating, it’s not our decision if you get your club dues back.
  • Facility–specific rules regarding food, chairs, camping, tailgating, etc. – this is up to each facility.  Remember, facilities have to clean up after our events, and many of them implement these policies because their facilities have been left in bad shape after events in the past. 
  • Ref/Score testing interface – we do not control how the content is presented, nor the length of the modules.  These are decisions made by USAV.  We also don’t control the reliability of the technology these modules are housed on – if a server crashes, we don’t have the ability to fix it – that’s on USAV.
  • The look and feel of AES – we’re not software developers and we didn’t develop those programs.  We utilize them to the best of our ability.
  • Logistics of club-hosted tournaments, like facility, teams competing, entry fees, etc. – this is purely up to the host club and remember that it’s your club’s choice to participate in these events.
  • How or where clubs conduct tryouts – we don’t oversee the selection process nor the methods by which each club picks teams.  We don’t mandate a specific start time (how would we enforce it?) nor a specific length of time.  We only mandate the day which clubs may legally begin tryouts in each age division.
  • Availability of specific facilities on specific dates or in specific locations – we don’t own any facilities, so we rely on schools, clubs, and other private facilities to host our events. 
  • Insurance claims for injuries – we submit all incident reports to our insurance company for processing on a weekly basis, but we do not control if a claim is granted, the amount of the claim, or the process by which a claim is granted or denied.
  • What tournaments your club registers for, or if they register at all for events – it’s up to each club to pick what events they participate in, to register on time, and to submit payment in a timely manner.  Clubs who do not submit timely payments can be pulled from events by the Bayou Region.