North Texas Region – USA Volleyball

At the end of the season, the North Texas Region will be hosting our junior indoor championship events, the McChesney Regional Championship and the Regional Bid Championship. Here are some questions and answers we hear during this time of year.

What’s the difference between the regional championship and bid championship?

The difference between these two events is that the bid championship is how NTR chooses its regional representatives to the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships.

We don’t think our teams will earn a bid. Which event should we play in?

The best fit for teams not trying to earn a bid is the McChesney Regional Championship. The purpose of the event is to provide a season-ending championship to our region teams. Although we do have teams who advance to nationals, the number that go each year is less than 9% of the teams in our region (and aside from Lone Star, roughly 15% of teams play in bid earning divisions of national qualifiers). If teams are not playing in Open divisions of NTR ranking tournaments and bid earning divisions of national qualifiers, the McChesney Regional Championship is the more suitable event, and likely a more meaningful one for the participants.

Who is eligible to play in the regional championship?

Any club team that has participated in at least one sanctioned NTR tournament is eligible to participate, provided they meet the entry deadline. The NTR tournament can be a one-day or two-day event, with or without officials.

Who is eligible to play in the bid championship?

In order to be eligible for the bid championship, a team must participate in at least two North Texas Region ranking tournaments. It doesn’t matter if the team played in the Open or Club division (although we do hope being that teams that haven’t competed in Open divisions will consider the McChesney Regional Championship as their end-of-season event). If a team has earned an Open, National or American bid from a National Qualifier, they are not eligible to participate in the bid championship. All entries must be received by the deadline to be eligible.

How are bids determined?

Each year we are allocated a specific number of bids per age group (set by USAV and based on previous year membership). This year, we have 1 National bid and 2 American bids for each group, plus one additional American bid in 13s. What that means is from the bid championship, the first place team will earn a National bid and the second and third place teams will earn an American bid. Open bids can only be earned through the Open division of national qualifiers and through USAV’s Open At-Large process.

What if our team finishes in a position that earns a bid and we turn it down?

Per the NTR handbook, any club that turns down a bid will not be eligible to participate in the regional bid championship.

What is the format for the championship events?

As it is the case with all our tournament formats, once seeded, teams are placed in three or four team pools. We *try* to keep age groups under the same roof, but with some ages having over 60 teams, that is nearly impossible, so clubs should be prepared to have teams play at different sites. When that occurs, we’ll do our best to keep those sites near one another. From pool play, the top half of each pool will advance to a gold bracket. The bottom half will participate in silver or bronze divisions (and are out of contention for any bids in the bid championship). Once in the gold bracket, winning teams will advance.

What if we have a conflict?

Prior to scheduling the event, an email will be sent to club directors, asking for any requests. They will be provided a date to send these requests. Although we will do our best to accommodate as a courtesy, 1) requests are not guaranteed and 2) we likely can’t accommodate them all. Once this window passes, we will not permit any additional requests. Please keep in mind that academic requests will have a higher priority over social events (i.e. SAT over prom).