COVID-19 has changed the way most of us work, live and recreate. This is particularly evident in youth sports. We are fortunate in that DYS Volleyball has already been successfully navigating this new environment since late summer. We have hosted dozens of skills clinics and open gyms, and are in the middle of our Club Volleyball season with six teams ranging in age from U-13 to U-18. We have published strict COVID-19 Protocols that all players and coaches must comply with, and have partnered with our Facility Provider, Hoops Plus, to ensure that our training environment is as safe as we can make it. Our Current DYS VB COVID-19 Protocol can be found here: http://www.leagueathletics.com/Page.asp?n=159790&org=dullesyouth.com

Based upon the success of our COVID-19 Protocols to date, we will be revising our House-League format this year to more closely resemble our club training programs. This will look much different than our previous House seasons:

• Practices will be held at Hoops Plus in Sterling, in lieu of the local area Middle Schools (45496 Ruritan Circle, Sterling, VA 20164).
• Practices will still be held once a week for 1-½ hours.
• Practices will be structured to provide accelerated learning for the players.
• Volunteer coaches will assist with training sessions led by seasoned DYS Club Coaches and Coaches from local area high schools. Bios for DYS Club Coaches can be found here: https://www.leagueathletics.com/Page.asp?n=148225&org=dullesyouth.com 
• In lieu of formal teams, the players from the individual Training Group (grade specific- grade 5/6 or 7/8) will be divided into individual teams for competitions- whether between the Training Group players, or with other, local, recreational league programs. This will allow us to maximize the court time for the players, maintain parity for competitions, and allow the players to play with new players throughout the season.
• Players will be provided with practice/game shirts for use during competitions.
• Each Age Group (5/6 or 7/8) will be restricted to 30 players total. 
• The HEAT program is cancelled for this year.
• Each weekly Training Group session will be restricted to 15 players total.
• Communications for the season will occur through the TeamSnap platform, to allow tracking of player availability and contact tracing.
• Weekly Training Groups will be scheduled for Monday and Wednesday evenings. 5/6 Training Groups will practice 5:30-7:00 PM, and 7/8 Training Groups will practice 7:00-8:30. When assigning players to training nights (Monday or Wednesday), all efforts will be made to support carpool requests.
• Competition schedule (games) will be published once the season schedule is finalized. We anticipate most competitions to occur on weeknights (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) in lieu of Saturday matches as per previous seasons.
• Competitions will be streamed for viewing by family and friends. We will consider streaming training sessions, depending upon availability of resources and assistant volunteer coaches.

We are grateful for the opportunity to get the players back on the court, and are excited about the new format for this season. This accelerated format should serve to build a strong class of volleyball players for future house, club and high school seasons to come. 

We recognize that this revised format is a departure from past seasons. However, in this COVID-19 environment, this allows us to provide a safer alternative and get players back on the court. If you are already registered, and this new format does not work for your family, please contact us directly at volleyball@dullesyouth.com to discuss options.