2021
TASO VOLLEYBALL BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING RECAP
The TASO Volleyball Board met for their Off‑Season Board meeting in Dallas on February 5‑6, 2021,
From Sandra Welch, President:
2020 will be remembered as the year that brought about many changes and great challenges. I am grateful that were able to have a season – however altered it was! This past year caused us to think outside the box – and that is not always a bad thing.
I am thankful for UIL, TAPPS and TGCA who worked hard within their entities to make the season happen. I am thankful for our TASO staff who work hard for us. I am appreciative for each and every official who worked matches, committed to training newbies without available facilities, for seeking new ideas and making plans and for crossing over into neighboring chapters to offer help and seek help. We are forever grateful to all our schedulers across the State of Texas who scheduled, re‑scheduled and then re‑scheduled even more. I am appreciative to our Rules Interpreter, Gloria Cox, for answering a million rules questions during the season. I appreciate each of you for all you do to make us successful and for your contribution to volleyball!
Meeting Report:
The Board was pleased to have the opportunity to speak with Dr. Susan Elza and Brandy Belk from the University Interscholastic League via ZOOM. We were also pleased that Sam Tipton from Texas Girls Coaches Association was able to attend the meeting. Although TAPPS representatives were not able to attend, Bryan Bunselmeyer (Executive Director), expressed his appreciation to TASO‑Volleyball in an earlier communication. These organizations spoke highly of the relationship that is shared with TASO and how thankful they are for the knowledge that our officials provide. The Board extended sincere appreciation to the members of these associations for their continual guidance with respect to not only our sport, but during the unprecedented COVID‑19 year as well.
Don Whitaker provided the TASO Financial and insurance report.
New District: Brazos Valley Chapter has previously been part of District 4 along with Heart of Texas, Central Texas and Hill Area. They have met the criteria to become a single district chapter and are now District 14. Karen Mitchell will serve as their District Director.
State Meeting – July 9‑10, 2021: In the hope of being able to provide an in‑person State Meeting, plans were made and a site selected. The site will be The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel.
- July 9th The Board of Directors will meet Friday, July 9 followed by an afternoon meeting with presidents/secretaries/trainers. Each chapter is required to have a representative at the President/Secretary’s meeting as well as for the Train the Trainer’s Roundtable.
- President/Secretary – General information to include top crew forms and expectations from chapters, how to run a meeting, headsets, new chapter officer orientation, uniform policy to include potential new shirt color and TASO Calendar of Events.
- Train the Trainer will run concurrently with the President/Secretary Workshop and will provide a round‑table discussion with training ideas being shared…. How to be a trainer, the BOX availability and head‑set information.
- July 10th will be our General Session, Rules Presentation, Award Presentations and Breakout sessions. Thoughts for breakout sessions include, New Member session, Veteran session, R2 Basics, Tax Prep Info, Handling Stress: Focus and Recover, and Scoring with a Twist.
Elections:
- District Director Elections: odd numbered districts (1,3,5,7,9,11,13) will have their District Director elections. You may declare your intent to run as early as August 1. The deadline to declare is October 1, 2021. Please review requirements to hold office in the TASO‑Volleyball Operating Procedures, Section 6.2.
- President and Vice‑President elections: You may declare your intent to run as early as August 1. The deadline to declare is October 1, 2021. Please review requirements to hold office for these positions in the TASO‑Volleyball Operating Procedures, Section 6.1.
- A Candidate Profile form is available on the TASO website in the Member’s Portal for those interested in running for office.
Finances: The Finance Committee presented the TASO Volleyball Financial Report to the Board. The Financial Report is unaudited at this time of the year, however, TASO Volleyball is solvent and the membership renewal/application combined with the Continuing Education Fee has been a very positive change for the Volleyball Division.
Policies and Procedures: A few items in the current TASO Volleyball Operating Procedures and Addendums were discussed and those are being adjusted and placed on the TASO Volleyball Website under the Members Portal. The TASO Volleyball Calendar is being revised to include new dates/information.
Awards Committee: Because of the pandemic and the late completion of the volleyball season, the Awards Committee extended the due date of submission of names for Special Awards from January 15 to February 15. The Committee will prepare a PowerPoint/Video for use at this year’s state meeting to honor our 20+ years of service recipients and Special Award winners. We will continue with our traditional ‘gift baskets’ as in the past with a grand prize $250 gift card from TASO‑Volleyball.
Years of service information is due April 1. Instructions will be sent.
Rules Committee:
The Rules Committee discussed the format for the State Meeting. We will have morning break‑outs sessions to include both a group session for new officials and a group session for veteran officials as well as other informative sessions. The afternoon will be filled with NFHS new rule interpretations, awards, TASO report and other points of interest.
2021‑2022 Volleyball Rule Changes have been released and are available on the website. Gloria Cox will present those changes at the Volleyball State meeting. Make sure you look over them prior to attendance at the meeting or the Regional Clinics.
Regional Clinics: Hopefully, we will be able to conduct Regional Clinics. They will span two weekends. There will be seven clinics. The times and locations will be announced later. Look for them on the website. Sites are:
- Dallas
- Lubbock
- McAllen
- San Antonio
- Overton
- Corpus Christi
- Abilene
On‑Line Clinic: We expect the On‑Line Clinic to be available on July 12. The On‑Line Clinic will close on September 21.
Test: The test will be available on Monday following the State Meeting (July 12). The test will close on September 21.
Please keep in mind that you may not officiate at any level until you have completed the following criteria:
- Attend the State Meeting, or a Regional Clinic or utilize the On‑Line Clinic
- Take the test and pass the test with at least a 70. Inclusion in the top crew list requires a score of 90 or above.
TASO‑Volleyball will once again provide brand new officials with the “NFHS Simplified and Illustrated Rule Book” at no charge to the official or chapter.
Headsets: Chapters across the state currently utilize headsets as a method of communicating with officials during their trainings. Headsets are currently used by various other officiating organizations. There was a recommendation to allow officials the option of using headsets during season. TASO‑Volleyball is currently developing a policy/protocol to address how they will be used by officials. Following creation of policy, we will work closely with UIL, TAPPS and TGCA to get their input and for them to be able to notify coaches of the expectation of officials utilizing headsets. More information will follow.
Shirt Color: NFHS included in their Volleyball Rules Changes 2021‑22 the following: 5.3.1 Allow state associations to approve of gray and/or bright blue (cyan) in addition to the white short or long‑sleeved polo‑style shirts while maintaining that officials must dress in like colors. The Rationale: Provides state associations with additional officials’ uniform options while aligning with trends in the game.
Given the opportunity to add to our color of shirts, TASO‑Volleyball will check with our TASO vendors to obtain color samples that might be available. The Board will make a decision at our July meeting. There will not be a change of color this season as we are obligated to our TASO vendors to provide advanced notice of change/addition. Shirts must still have the TASO logo. Logos are either embroidered or sublimated – we do not utilize TASO patches/badges.
It was a good meeting for the Board of Directors. As you can see, we accomplished many things to prepare for our service to our members and the upcoming volleyball season. Thank you for allowing us to serve you! Please let me know if you have questions or concerns.
TASO‑Volleyball Board of Directors
Sandra Welch, President
