Hello, CBVA!
It’s my pleasure, along with the rest of the new board, to announce the new 2025-2026 CBVA season. The opening day of the indoor season will be Saturday, September 13th (with our CBVA Opening Day Party to follow from 3-6pm at 730 Tavern nearby), but the schedule is likely to be a bit different on that day to accommodate a temporary net setup—more on that below.
Here are the headline changes and updates everyone should know about, with more detail below:
- We will cap our initial sale of 2025-2026 memberships at 300, open initially only to those with Early Access, to allow us to open and target subsequent new memberships by rating, among other factors, based on session data from the first few weeks of indoor play, all to avoid overselling memberships. Precise dates and times will be communicated soon.
- Early Access for session sign-up will continue for the 2025-2026. We think this made a huge improvement in our ability to support and focus on CBVA’s LGBTQ mission last season in its trial run.
- We’ve added a fifth session to Sundays! This should give more play opportunity to the largest skill level groups, B and C, with other sessions shifted as a result:
- A/AA: 10:30 am
- B: 12:30 pm
- B/C: 2:30 pm
- C: 4:30 pm
- D: 6:30 pm
- Due to changes in storage needs at the MLK school—closet space was unfortunately never part of our rental agreement, and the school raised a new need for all the space we’d been using—we recently had to remove our portable net systems from the building.
- We have an interim solution planned to tide us over until we (hopefully!) work with the school on new, in-ground net systems for both gyms.
- Following the lead of the NCAA and USAV, as well as leagues more comparable to CBVA like the Colorado Gay Volleyball Association, the CBVA board has formally voted to adopt new rules allowing double contacts made in one fluid motion, though only if the next touch is by a teammate.
- We’re excited to announce the return of the CBVA Friday night league this fall, starting Friday, September 19th! Stay tuned for updates on sign-ups and how to secure one of the eight slots for your team.
- Player development and skills clinics will now be run during Saturday #3 sessions (2:25-4:25pm)
Keep your eyes peeled in your TeamArrange email inboxes and on the CBVA Facebook Group for the precise dates and times of new membership sales!
See you all soon!
The CBVA Board
Membership Sales
What’s new: we’re capping the first tranche of new memberships at 300, and limiting memberships to folks with Early Access for the first 1-2 weeks.
Our reasoning: Early Access ensures that opportunities to play go first and foremost to the LGBTQ-identifying community, and next to those who are consistent and long-standing CBVA community members. When sessions consistently sell out before folks without Early Access even have a chance, it becomes unfair for us to sell memberships to those folks. (For context, we ended last season with 483 paid members.)
This isn’t to say that we’ll cap at 300 members for long; it’ll depend on how fast we get to 300, whether or how quickly sessions sell out, how many unique members are able to play on weekends, and finally, how session sign-up and play experience differs by rating. Once we have more information, and we feel confident that additional memberships could be sold to people who could actually use them, we’ll communicate and open up additional batches of new memberships.
The New, 5th Sunday Session
What’s new: we were fortunately able to secure an expanded permit for Sunday play, giving us two more hours each Sunday, now from 10am to 9pm (up from 12pm). This new, fifth session will be for players in the B/C ratings range.
Our reasoning: B and C are by far the most populous rating groups at CBVA. Dedicating this new Sunday session makes weekend play opportunities more proportionate for B and C players compared with A/AA and D/Rec players.
The New (Temporary) Net System
What’s new: we’ll have an interim net solution for the first few months of indoor this year, and hopefully a new, in-ground net system thereafter.
Our reasoning: unfortunately, Cambridge Public Schools (CPS) needed to reclaim all of the closet space that our big, portable net systems have been occupying since the school opened. Thus, we needed to move our previous system out of the school and into storage. CPS has nevertheless continued to be a really helpful and willing partner for us, both when it comes to an interim solution—“mobile” poles, the ones on wheels with round, blue bases, paired with wall-anchored nets—as well as a long-term solution.
We’ve had long-term plans to work with CPS to install in-floor net systems ever since the school opened, and this appears to be a great opportunity to accelerate that. With any luck, we’ll have a new, more permanent and more convenient net system soon!
New Rule on Doubles
What’s new: Starting this season, we will follow the lead of prominent national and regional volleyball organizations and leagues and adopt new rules allowing double contacts as single, fluid movements, provided the next contact is by a teammate.
Our reasoning: The writing appears to be on the wall; NCAA, USAV, and NAGVA have all adopted this rule. The CBVA board voted to adopt it as well with the hope that it will simplify reffing by eliminating a frequently contentious and subjective call, as well as extend rallies.
Clinics During Saturday #3
What’s new: for the Fall season, we’re going to initially try holding clinics during Saturday Session 3 (2:25-4:25pm), which we previously held concurrently with A/AA from 12:25-2:25pm on Sundays.
Our reasoning: historically, Saturday #3 has generally never sold out. In an effort to maximize our gym permit utilization and provide as many opportunities for members to play as possible, and given that demand for clinics has consistently outstripped capacity, we wanted to try shifting the clinic time to Saturday #3.
Additionally, since clinics have usually been oriented toward C-level players, this should help to avoid an awkward gap that would happen on Sundays between when folks attend clinics and when they can actually play in a session.
Recent Comments