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2020 SCVA Season Update

By SCVA, 04/29/20, 1:00PM PDT

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Friday, April 29th

To All Club Directors, Parents, Families, and Members of SCVA:

The challenges we face today and in the near future are unlike anything we’ve ever seen, or could have ever even imagined. We’d like to first thank all of our SCVA family members who are also first responders, doctors, hospital employees, delivery drivers, grocery workers, and various other civil servants. You’re true heroes and our communities’ rocks in these confusing and uncertain times.

While the COVID-19 pandemic reshapes our lives on a seemingly daily basis, the SCVA isn’t any different. We’re constantly evolving and striving, in myriad ways, to provide as much continued activity and support for our athletes and families as possible. Thank you for the encouragement, positivity, patience, and understanding during this extremely fluid phenomenon. As you know by now, the novel coronavirus forces us to respond to new information, rather than predict, making some questions difficult or even impossible to answer at the moment. However, one thing we can promise, is that we will always respond. We will never stop finding ways for SCVA members to enjoy the game that they love, safely.

We’ve received a number of questions from families regarding club fees and club refunds. While all SCVA clubs are encouraged to operate with the utmost transparency, it must be understood that the structure, management, and operations of each club can vary as they’re all run independently. We encourage you to reach out to your specific club’s leadership team with any questions regarding your independent player contract. But please be patient. Club Directors and staff are dealing with a lot right now. As we all are.

While it’s best to contact your club with most questions, we wanted to answer some of the more frequently asked questions in the meantime. Here’s a few:

 1. Will the SCVA cancel the season?

At this point, cancellation decisions are premature. We are assessing new information daily and working diligently with our vendors and facilities to create multi-scenario plans and responses to the ever-evolving situation. We will take all health and safety recommendations by USA Volleyball and any pertinent government agencies into significant account. No decision will be made lightly. At this time, the SCVA has postponed all SCVA regional events. This could change, but right now, the SCVA is not cancelling.  Unfortunately, the SCVA did have to cancel the Red Rock Raves, and is currently processing refunds.

2. Will there be some form of a refund given back to families by clubs?

It is possible that some form of a refund will come to families from clubs, but every club is built differently and we cannot comment on your club specifically. We encourage you to communicate with your club leadership, if they have not yet proactively communicated with you already. What we can say is that refund distribution, if applicable, and the size of the refund, depends on the specific club you play for, not to mention a number of other factors—many of which, do not have clear answers yet. More clarity will emerge with time. Please note that any refunds administered to you by your club are independent of any monthly billing/charges (see next question for more info).

3. Why are clubs still charging/billing monthly amounts?

Please refer to your specific club’s player agreement/contract. The majority of families playing club volleyball have already finalized their payments and paid in full for the 2019-2020 season. As a courtesy, many clubs offer extended payment plans. These are not monthly service charges. These are payment plans for dollars committed to be paid at the start of the club season, much like a purchasing agreement for a smartphone or car. Most, if not all, of these payment plans were put in place to help make club volleyball more accessible. Clubs are within their right to continue charging monthly amounts for extended payment plans while you are also within your right to contact your club about adjusting your payment plan schedule. If you have a genuine need to adjust your current plan as a result of COVID-19, we are confident clubs will be understanding and work with you accordingly. As previously mentioned, it will be a case-by-case scenario, as all clubs and situations are different. Please note that while any and all refunds are independent of monthly billing, most clubs are likely or willing to apply credit toward future payments/billing. In the rare case of an overage charge, actual monies should be refunded to families.
 

4. Will there be some form of a refund given back to clubs by the SCVA?

At this time, the SCVA has not officially cancelled any of our events so there are no refunds to be given. It’s still too early to cancel any regional (Mandatories, SoCal Champs) or inter-regional events (West Coast Classic, Summer Soiree) outright. Any and all event refunds to clubs will be issued on a prorated basis once all SCVA unrecoverable out-of-pocket expenditures for the cancelled or interrupted events have been settled. What does that mean? In layman’s terms, if there are mandated cancelations and clubs are refunded, the truth is, it won’t be for the full amount. To be transparent, the SCVA incurs more costs for inter-regional tournaments than regional ones.

Registration fees are non-refundable as the SCVA has submitted all fees to USA Volleyball for the 2019-2020 season. All registered members are members for the entire season during which USA Volleyball offers insurance coverage for all sanctioned events; including but not limited to tryouts, practices, and tournaments.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work together through the coronavirus pandemic. While it’s been confusing, challenging, difficult, shocking, and downright depressing, it’s also been inspiring and encouraging. We’ve seen people from all over the volleyball community come together and support each other in unprecedented ways. We are wounded, no doubt. But the wounds will heal, and we’ll be back on the court someday soon. The only real difference will be that we’re a little stronger, and a lot more together.

We look forward to building a better volleyball future in Southern California with you!

-The SCVA