Below are recent emails sent to all of CVOA (statewide), most recent first. Click on a title to expand.
- 2025-10-20 - 2025 CHSAA Girls State Volleyball Tournament, Call for Volunteers
Hello All,
This is a call for volunteers to work at the Girls Volleyball State Tournament, November 13-15, 2025. If you are not anticipating a State Tournament selection, CHSAA and CVOA would appreciate your consideration to volunteer to serve as a Court Liaison or Court Runner and support your fellow officials.
Court Liaisons and Court Runners are integral to the smooth operation of the tournament, getting the teams to the courts on time for their matches and advising the team coaches and captains of the ground rules for play. The Liaisons also make notes of the officials’ on-court performance to help their development, sitting in with the match officials’ post-match debrief to facilitate a productive conversation.
Volunteer’s shifts will be for each day, 7:00am to 2:00pm and 2:00pm to end of days play. You will be provided a shirt and/or jacket, a parking pass and access to the referee lounge.
If you are interested in serving in one of these vital roles, please reply to me by EMAIL ONLY by November 9, 2025 with your AVAILABILITY, SHIRT/JACKET SIZE AND PREFERRED MOBILE PHONE NUMBER. I will be making out a schedule and notify you by Wednesday of that week. A guide of procedures will accompany the schedule.
Thanks again for your consideration and I hope to hear from you soon.
Rob Livingston
CVOA Director of Training and Development - 2025-10-06 - Electronic communication (headsets)
The use of wireless headsets for R1 – R2 communication is becoming more popular. Just a reminder that it is legal to use this means of better communication between yourself and your partner. If you bring headsets to your match, please do not pressure your partner to use them; some are not comfortable with them. If you’re one of those who are hesitant, we encourage you to give them a try — you may find that you like using them.
We’ve set up a page on the CVOA Documents subpage of the website with various headset resources (NFHSLearn video, lists of devices, reviews, suggestions for use). We (the CVOA Executive Committee) have not verified device information (cost, etc.), so before spending a lot of money, please do your own research. Again, to emphasize, you are not required to purchase or use headsets.
The video linked from the website provides more detailed information, but some basic suggestions for headset use are:
– Be sure to verify communication, including volume level, before the start of the match.
– Less is more. This means speaking only when you have something important to say. The main reason is that, in a noisy gym, it’s often difficult for your partner to hear everything you say. So, if you say something unimportant and your partner doesn’t catch it, he or she may think they’re missing something important. In aviation, this is known as the “sterile cockpit” rule, which prohibits non-essential communication during critical phases of flight. For us, it’s a sterile cockpit during play. (During timeouts or between sets, it’s fine to chat more freely, always keeping it professional.)
– During a rally, the R2 should help by repeating a single word, such as “down”, “good”, “touch”, “four”, a few times (since, again, it’s hard to catch every word clearly), while still showing the informal help signals (4-hits, ball down, touch).
– Good uses while not in a rally include verifying captains, timeout counts, set point, shoe being tied, injured player, problems at the benches, and requests for sanctions.
We still don’t have a decision about whether headsets will be allowed during the State Championship tournament.
Best wishes for the rest of your season,
Larry Ruane
(CVOA Vice President, on behalf of the Executive Committee) - 2025-09-28 - Volleywrite computerized scoring system
A few schools have begun using electronic scoring on laptops or tablets, such as VolleyWrite. A few important points:
* First and foremost, please note that the use of electronic scoring systems is legal. Do not insist that the scorers use paper scoresheets.
* However, you should recommend that blank paper scoresheets be at the table, in case of technical difficulties.
* It is not necessary to also score the match on paper (as a backup), although that is certainly an option, and recommended if the use of electronic scoring is new to the site (but please do not require it).
* It’s also a good idea to suggest that the device (iPad or laptop) be plugged into a power source the entire time so that the battery doesn’t run out in the middle of the match.
* If the scoring device goes down, ask the scorer to try to continue on paper as best as possible. It won’t be perfect, but scoring device failure is extremely rare.
* You don’t need to know how to use VolleyWrite; one of its nice features is that it can display a standard scoresheet as it would be written on paper (except much neater), which all of us already understand. If you need to figure out a scoring problem or answer a coach’s question, you can ask to see this version of the scoresheet to help you resolve the problem.
* VolleyWrite also tracks libero replacements, so there is no need for a separate person to do that task; one scorer is enough.
* However, VolleyWrite doesn’t integrate with the scoreboard, so another person should be at the table to operate the scoreboard.
* To learn more about VolleyWrite, visit the website linked above, which offers many educational resources, including videos.
VolleyWrite has been used in the Colorado State Girls’ Championship tournament since 2018, which is strong evidence that it is a reliable and useful tool.
* It is much faster and more accurate than scoring on paper. Most importantly, it catches all possible errors (such as a player attempting to enter the match in two different positions).
* There are other forms of electronic scoring systems, such as VS Score (by VolleyStation). Although these haven’t been seen in Colorado high schools, they are also legal. You may want to ask the scorer to explain the basics of the system to you if you’re unfamiliar with them.
If you’re curious about what the Rule book says, here is part of Rule 3-3-1 (Game Equipment, page 17):
A scoresheet shall be supplied by the host team and kept at the officials’ table from at least 20 minutes before the match and throughout the match.
Note that it does not require a paper scoresheet; an electronic scoresheet is still a scoresheet.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Best regards,
Larry Ruane
CVOA vice president - 2025-09-28 - Post season line judge eligibility training update
Here is an update to the post season line judge training requirement to be eligible as a referee for post season.
Everyone must complete one item from list #1 and one item from list #2 as detailed below. Your local area director is responsible for tracking your progress. Please follow up with your area director to ensure you receive proper credit for any items below that you have completed.
1) All post season officials must do one of the following:
a. Complete the NFHS line judge course
b. Attend a study session that reviews the NFHS line judge course
c. Attend on court line judge training as provided by a CVOA area director
d. Work as a line judge during a high school match, the more the better
e. Have a current PAVO line judge certification
f. Work as a line judge for college matches
2. Attend one of the two CHSAA sponsored line judge online training courses
a. Have a current PAVO line judge certification
b. Monday, October 6 at 7 pm MST
(US) +1 564-217-2000
Passcode: 267815
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://chsaanow.zoom.us/j/87253120483?pwd=9SHA1WZuqJ1rUk1bxwaXRnQTaAy68U.1&jst=2
c. Sunday, October 12 at 7 pm MST
(US) +1 719-359-4580
Passcode: 365175
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://chsaanow.zoom.us/j/89790435577?pwd=QidHuSC3KbdKwFfOzVsev4o7pU4BKx.1&jst=2
Thank you for your dedication.
Cordially,
Bruce Bird
CVOA President - 2025-09-22 - CVOA post season requirements and changes - IMPORTANT PLEASE REVIEW!!
We have two new criteria this year to be eligible as a postseason referee for the 2025 CHSAA Girls’ Regional and State Volleyball Tournament.
Your area director(s) have been tasked to help their local members prepare as a line judge for the postseason by providing classroom and on-court training.
In order to be eligible this year, one must complete the following requirements:
NEW!!! – Complete on-court line judging as a training session and or working as a line judge on a regular season game(s) verified by your area director by October 9, 2025.
NEW!!! – Attend the online PAVO line judge training course on October 6, 2025 or October 12, 2025, (more details to follow). If you have already completed the PAVO line judge training for NCAA or USAV, you do not need to attend again.
– Returning members shall pay dues and complete the registration by the first competition date as set by the CHSAA; August 20, 2025
– Attend one (1) CVOA regional clinic; by Friday October 9, 2025
– Attend two (2) study sessions, one of which shall be during the competitive volleyball season; by Friday October 9, 2025
– Complete the CVOAE pre-season test by the first contest date for the competitive volleyball season and pass with an 90% or greater; by August 20, 2025
– Shall be a certified member with CVOA to be assigned post-season games: one-year certified membership for District referee game assignments, two consecutive years of certified membership for Regional referee game assignments and three consecutive years of certified membership for State referee game assignments; Any current year an official is working counts as one of the qualifying years;
– Actively participate in the CHSAA sportsmanship pre-game procedure;
– Apply for post-season eligibility by October 9, 2025 (more details to follow)
– Update a post-season availability calendar in your Arbiter account 104524 by the CHSAA deadline by October 9, 2025
– Officiate eight (8) girls’ varsity contests during the regular competitive volleyball season; by November 1, 2025
– Officiate two (2) girls’ sub-varsity contests or twenty percent (20%) of a Member’s regular season schedule; by November 1, 2025
– State-selected Members shall be available on all designated days of the state tournament, including any CHSAA clinic and any CVOA banquet.
– Complete the NFHS line judge training course verified by your area director – NEW!!!! by October 9, 2025
If you have any questions on postseason eligibility requirements, please contact your area director.
Cordially,
Bruce Bird
CVOA President - 2025-09-14 - Referee headsets approved Yes or No?
CVOA membership,
As the sport of volleyball evolves, so does the equipment we use.
In the last few years, I have been asked, “Can volleyball officials use headsets to communicate with each other during the course of a match?”
Yes, during regular season matches it is approved, if you and your partner wish to use them.
Yes, during regional post-season matches, it is approved if you and your partner wish to use them.
Undetermined at this time is whether, during state post-season matches, they will be approved. The CHSAA postseason committee will have an answer before November 13, 2025.
Referee headsets add value to the overall communication for us to do our job effectively. If you have the opportunity to use them, we encourage you to do so.
Referee headsets are not part of the required equipment for us to do our job, as it can be a hefty price tag to invest in them.
I would suggest trying them out with someone who has them before investing in them for your equipment.
Have a great week on the courts.
Cordially,
Bruce Bird
CVOA President - 2025-09-11 - Alignment missed calls - #1 coaches' concern
In the first few weeks of the season, the #1 concern from coaches is that we are not tracking alignments and missing critical potential points that may affect a match.
This year, NFHS changed the wording on the use of a lineup card. It is not required but optional as long as a referee has competent skills to track alignments with proficiency. If one does not have those skills mastered yet, then the use of a card is required.
We all at times will miss an alignment violation, but it should not be a regularly missed call.
Currently, it looks like some referees are using this new optional directive as a way to do less by not using a lineup card.
At the high school level, it is not the responsibility of the scorekeeper to let you know a team is out of alignment unless it is the server.
Please invest in your own success and work on your skills to track alignments without a lineup card, but in the meantime, please use the lineup card to identify alignment issues and not miss the violation.
Cordially,
Bruce Bird
CVOA President - 2025-09-08 - CVOA Hall Of Fame 2025-26 Election Results
Dear CVOA Members:
On behalf of the CVOA Executive Board, it’s my great pleasure to announce that Monica Hinds has been inducted into the Colorado Volleyball Officials’ Association Hall of Fame!
Please join us in congratulating Monica for this well-deserved accomplishment!
If you’d like to nominate someone for the Hall of Fame, please send me an email with a brief supporting write-up, and I’ll post the nomination on the website for next year.
Best regards,
Larry Ruane
CVOA Vice-President - 2025-09-07 - Prematch team protocol reminder
CVOA membership,
It has come to our attention that we, as officials, are a little confused on how to enforce and or identify a violation of the sportsmanship rule concerning teams entering the court prior to the start of the match.
And some teams have forgotten about this new pre-match ritual protocol since its enforcement last season, 2024-25.
The purpose of this rule is to address any pre-match ritual by a team that intentionally or unintentionally disrupts, taunts, or intimidates the opposing team in their warmup area.
All teams (home or away) must adjust their run-around protocols by running directly from their gym entrance, i.e., locker room, using only one side of the court, and proceeding directly to their side of the net for warm-up. The team should pick the side with the least amount of traffic. That is usually the court side opposite the team benches. No penalty is assessed if they manage it this way.
However, if a team uses both sides of the court, or uses the side of the court with the most amount of traffic where they encircle the opposing team’s entire side of the court or run through any opposing players warming up, that would be a conduct violation, and the head coach is assessed a yellow conduct card.
If an official witnesses any egregious violation of this rule, a red conduct card may be warranted.
As officials, we do not get to tell schools or teams where they are allowed to enter the gym. Please do not over officiate this, but be watchful, as some teams are still violating this clarification for Rule 12-2-1.
We are asking CHSAA to send this reminder to the schools as a reminder for the season.
If you have a violation of the rule, please complete a game report, and we will get CHSAA involved to speak with the school.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Cordially,
Bruce Bird
CVOA President - 2025-09-07 - Photo in Arbiter
CVOA Officials:
If you have not uploaded a professional photo to Arbiter yet, please make it a priority to do so as soon as possible. This request has been made in years past, but is being required this season. It helps us at CVOA, assigners, coaches, and CHSAA to identify officials when working with us in any capacity.
Make sure it is a photo that is business appropriate, with only you in the photo, and without a busy background. It needs to be an upper torso photo that shows your face clearly and professionally.
If you have a photo uploaded, please make sure it meets these requirements. If it does not, please upload a photo that is compliant with these details.
Thank you,
Nici Akey - 2025-09-07 - Authenticating mark on all NFHS competition volleyballs
CHSAA has sent out a notification to all schools stating that the “NOVA” by Wilson is the new official CHSAA volleyball, replacing the “K1” Wilson ball in the 2025-26 season.
Rule 3.2.3 states that the volleyball shall include the NFHS Authenticating Mark. The mark can be displayed in any of the 3 formats shown on page 17 of the NFHS 2025-26 rules book.
The NOVA ball is both NFHS and CHSAA approved. The problem is that the NFHS authenticating mark does not show up on all of these volleyballs yet. I have received a couple of reports of schools wanting to use these volleyballs for recent competitions, and the officials were concerned that the authenticating mark was absent. I contacted Bethany Brookens at The CHSAA. She reached out to NFHS and was told that there was an issue with the timing of the approval, manufacturing, and release of the Nova regarding the authenticating mark. Bethany reassured me that CHSAA has approved this ball, and teams may use the NOVA ball for competition even though the NFHS Authenticating mark is not present.
Please do not stop the schools from using the NOVA ball. It will be used at the Girls’ State Tournament this year, and they may play with this ball throughout the season. - 2025-08-25 - Permanent Jewelry is NOT legal
CVOA Officials:
We have already had an issue with permanent jewelry. Players may not tape over jewelry to make it legal. In this case, it was a permanent bracelet. Another issue we saw at Girls State last year was a hoop earring, which was permanent. CHSAA stood behind the rule and required the player to remove the earring before she played in their next match.
I know several people who sell and apply permanent jewelry. They have each shared that a link can easily be cut and the jewelry re-applied at a later date. There are two forms of application. The first is with a jump ring that connects the two ends of the jewelry together, and the second is that the two ends are welded together. If they cannot or will not remove the jewelry, they do not play. They cannot tape over illegal jewelry in order to make it legal.
Rule 4.1.7 addresses this issue on page 18 of your Rule book. There is more detail in the penalties section on pages 20 and 21 as well. Please read and familiarize yourselves with this, as I am sure we will see it again. Permanent jewelry has become very popular over the last few years.
In the Case book, page 15, 4.1.7 Situation B and Situation D allow for a bracelet that cannot be removed for religious reasons to be taped to the wrist.
Please continue to report any uniform violations to your Area Director and me. I do pass these along to CHSAA each tim
For those of you officiating in Ft Lupton, it seems their attack line is not solid. I have communicated this with Bethany and she will reach out to the school. They may tape the line or make it solid before play. Please be alert to this. If there are any other concerns with other playing areas, please communicate those as soon as possible as well.
Nici Akey
Rules Interpreter, CVOA - 2025-08-13 - CVOA Training Newsletter
Are you ready for the season? Pay your dues? Have you looked over your uniforms and equipment and replaced any that need replacing? Remember, the cyan blue shirt with piping is the default starting this year.
Confirmed your assignments? Attended training meetings? Professional officials take care of business before it takes care of them.
By popular demand, there is now a Line Judge training module on the CVOA School. It’s not yet required, but highly recommended. Use the link below to log on to CVOA School:
https://sso.teachable.com/secure/1653994/identity/login/otp
If you haven’t yet taken the online Regional Clinic, it’s also there when you log on.
Have a great season!
Rob Livingston
CVOA Director of Training - 2025-08-11 - CHSAA Pre-Event Huddle Statement - Please review & share!
ATTN: CHSAA ADs, Athletic Trainers, Site Administrators, and Officials,
Please review the attached document, which includes an official statement from the CHSAA office outlining expectations for pre-event communication at events held statewide.
[Please note: this document is also linked from our CHSAA Documents page for future reference –website editors]
For the safety of all participants and spectators, it is essential that Athletic Trainers, Medical Professionals, and Site Administrators:
– Review the Pre-Event Huddle Checklist
– Familiarize themselves with any relevant details from the Venue-Specific Emergency Plan (VEAP)
Note: Coaches should be informed and prepared by conducting their preseason VEAP meetings with their Athletic Director.
If you have any questions or need further clarification, please contact Jenn at the CHSAA office.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Jenn Roberts-Uhlig
Audra Peterson Cathy
