Recommendation to Colorado High School Activities Association ("CHSAA") regarding Girls and Boys Volleyball Seasons

We the undersigned hereby recommend that CHSAA switch the girls and boys volleyball seasons as announced on August 4, 2020 relating to the 2020-2021 interscholastic athletics and activities calendar.

Currently, the calendar calls for the girls volleyball season to run from March 1 – May 1. At the high school level, a large number of athletes play both high school and club volleyball. In addition, there are a large number of high school coaches who also coach club volleyball. For some schools, their entire staff may be club coaches.

Club volleyball season typically runs from November (after the State Championships have concluded), through the beginning of May; although some teams will continue practicing as they prepare to attend a summer national championship event in June or July. The most important part of the club season is the “national qualifier” portion of the season which runs at nearly the same exact time as the proposed girls high school season for next year – February 26- May 2. Most clubs send teams to these qualifiers which run every weekend in March and April.

The reality is that if forced to choose between club volleyball national qualifiers and the high school season, most coaches and players would probably opt to play club volleyball. But that certainly isn’t what would be best for the coaches and players.

We propose that CHSAA switch the girls and boys volleyball seasons. This proposal is the simplest and most straightforward. The boys would playing in essentially the same timeframe in which their season was originally scheduled. The boys qualifiers end in February (with one exception which takes place over Memorial Day weekend), so clubs suspend their boys practices for the months of March, April and the first half of May while the boys play with their high school teams.

On the girls’ side, starting at the beginning of May would allow most club coaches and players to have their high school season when the most critical part of the club season has concluded. There is a window between the beginning of May and late June/early July in which there are no local Power tournaments or national qualifiers. For teams participating in the USAV National Championships, the end of the high school season will be very close to the start of the national championships, but hopefully the clubs and high schools can work together to ensure that athletes are not forced to choose. Even so, the percentage of athletes participating in both the State Championships and the USA Volleyball National Championships is small compared to those impacted by the current proposed season.

For all of these reasons, we the undersigned support switching the girls and boys high school volleyball seasons on the 2020-2021 interscholastic athletics and activities calendar.

Respectfully submitted,

High school coaches, club directors, and other concerned parties in Colorado