skip navigation

Referees Pre-Season Reminders

By OVA, 09/17/19, 10:15AM EDT

Share

As another season of volleyball approaches, we wanted to send out some information for the upcoming season.  Please take some time to go through the below information as all of it is important for you in your role as an OVA referee.  

Please take a few minutes to complete this referee’s feedback survey on this past year: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07egi86t06jysz1iu8/start It provides valuable information for us to help improve our referee program.   

The OVA referees will be using The Rules R again for the 2019-20 season to brush up on rules and game knowledge. Again, all referees will now be required to do a minimum of 10 quizzes before being assigned.  Now is a good time to start doing quizzes to prepare for the upcoming season! In addition, be sure to read the What’s New 2019-2020 for changes to rules, formats and competition structure!

OVA registration for the 2019-20 season will begin September 1, 2019.  For any difficulties with membership, please contact Chery Bennett 416 426 7132.   Please also remember to renew your annual membership in NRS to ensure that your certification level is maintained.  All referees need a current membership to be assigned and to be covered by the OVA’s insurance policy while working OVA sanctioned events.

New for this year, all referees must complete the referee registration package that includes the following:

1)    OVA Individual Registration Form
2)    Release of Liability, Waiver of Claims and Indemnity Agreement
3)    OVA Terms & Conditions
4)    OVA Screening Disclosure Form – must be completed annually
5)    Concussion Code of Conduct and Review of Concussion Awareness Resource Acknowledgement Form

  1. Rowan’s Law came into effect on July 1, 2019. 

i .Under Rowan’s Law (Concussion Safety), every sport organization is mandated by the Ministry to ask you to confirm that you reviewed one of the Concussion Awareness Resources from this website (Ontario.ca/concussions) before you can register/participate in a sport.

ii. You must review one of the resources every time you register with a sport organization. Sport organizations must also establish a Concussion Code of Conduct and individuals must confirm that they have reviewed the sport organization's applicable Concussion Code of Conduct prior to registration/participation in a sport.

Completed registration packages can be sent to kcheng@ontariovolleyball.org

As per the OVA screening policy, all OVA referees 18 years old or older are required to submit a police check from within the last 3 years.  Referees can apply for the faster and less expensive myBackCheck online; please note that if you’re a coach as well, you will need to submit a Police Vulnerable Sector Check and the myBackCheck will not suffice.   Also part of our screening policy, all referees must submit the OVA Screening Declaration Form annually; this form in included in the previously mentioned registration package.  Completed forms can be scanned and emailed to kcheng@ontariovolleyball.org

Anyone looking to purchase a uniform again can do so on Volleyball Canada’s e-store.  Please note that if you’re not working an OVA-sanctioned event, you should not be wearing your uniform.  For a list of OVA events, please refer to the handbook or confirm with your assignors. 

While you’re in NRS, please verify and update any changes to your email and/or home address to ensure that it is accurate.  This is the primary system we use to contact our referees and is important for staying current within the OVA referees’ community.  If your home address has changed, please also ensure that this is changed in Arbiter as it is how mileage is calculated for all events worked.

Also new for this year, we will be implementing direct deposit for all of our referees and cheques will no longer be mailed.  For those referees that haven’t signed up for direct deposit already, please do so hereas soon as possible to avoid any delay in payments during the year.   

For information about receiving assignments throughout the year or if you're interested in an referees certification upgrade, please contact your Regional Referees Chair:
         Region 1 – Tony Curciarello (East) & Al Tkachuk (West) (
region1rrc@ontariovolleyball.org)
         Region 2 – Brian Rancourt (
region2rrc@ontariovolleyball.org)
         Region 3 – Samara Sevor (
region3rrc@ontariovolleyball.org)
         Region 4 – Lynn Watkins (
region4rrc@ontariovolleyball.org)
         Region 5 Interim – Jennifer Adams (
region5rrc@ontariovolleyball.org)
         Region 6 Interim – Erica Menchetti (
region6rrc@ontariovolleyball.org)

Congratulations to Andrew Robb (orrc@ontariovolleyball.org) for becoming the new Ontario Regional Referees Chair.  We thank Andrew Cameron for his previous work in that position and look forward to continuing to work with him as the Operations Chair on the referees committee. 

The 2019-20 Referees Handbook will be available online in September here: 
https://www.ontariovolleyball.org/referees  It will be posted under the Resources section on the right hand side. Please read it over as it contains important information about the referees program. This section will also be updated with OUA, OCAA, and VC regulations as they become available. 

Thank you,

Ontario Volleyball Association