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At Sovicos, we’ve divided technical matters into Adult and Youth Technical Committees. You can read the Technical Committee policies below, and how they impact the team compositions.

In name of the General Board, the Technical Committee manages all senior teams. The president of the Technical Committee also joins General Board meetings, to provide information on the choices the TC has made. This person also presides over all TC meetings.

(See https://sovicos.nl/huishoudelijk-reglement-en-statuten/ Article 53, 54 and 55)

The Technical Committee presents a new policy plan every two years, thus ensuring that the policy remains relevant in relation to the club and to the practice of the sport in general.

As of the 2021-2022 season, the National Volleyball Association Nevobo allows clubs to register their teams for free and without restrictions in Classes 4 up to 1. The Nevobo has thus made the promotion of 2nd, 3rd and 4th division teams and relegation of 1st, 2nd and 3rd class teams obsolete. All affiliated clubs are allowed to register their teams at the desired level, so long as this free registration policy is in force.

As the vast majority of our competition players play in the abovementioned range of classes, this new development has a direct impact on the technical policies and choices made by the Technical Committee.

As the Technical Committee, we register the teams based on the estimate we make regarding the level of the (intended) players who are expected to play in these teams. The total number of teams and the level at which they will play, will be registered by the Technical Committee in May.

In practice, new member registrations for the coming season are received between May and the start of the new season. This results in a certain challenge, as we might accidentally register a team for a “wrong” division, as a team’s level can be completely different in August or September compared to the players who played in May.

For an explanation on why this registration is needed in May, please check the Nevobo article: https://www.nevobo.nl/wedstrijdsport/competitiedeelname/teamopgave/

TC Policy Plan – (updated until 2023)

General

This plan provides the Technical Committee with guidelines for the interpretation and implementation of their technical policy. In some cases further assessment is necessary, in which case the interests of the club, all teams and members will be carefully considered, whereby we follow the following principle:

Club interests over Team interests, and Team interests over Individual interests

Club Ambitions

Anyone who wants to play volleyball is welcome at Sovicos, regardless of age, ethnicity, religion or background. Sovicos has a team structure that allows members to train and play at their own achievable, but challenging level. Further ambitions are:

• The highest men’s and women’s teams play Promotion Class, and can play up until 3rd Division.
  • We as a club cannot currently facilitate playing a higher level such as 2nd Division, because of the Nevobo requirements. This includes home games on Saturday and required referees.
• To ensure the connection between the high-performance teams (teams in 1st Class and above), the difference between both teams can be no more than one level.
• The difference between the other teams can be no more than two levels.
• In the coming years, Sovicos wants to further strengthen the youth branch and offer them the opportunity to grow into the senior teams.
• Sovicos wants to stimulate sufficient new intake and retention of existing members.
• Sovicos wants at least one women’s team and one men’s team in the 1st Class. This is due to the free registration policy by the Nevobo.

Technical Committee tasks (indoor and beach volleyball)

• Managing the division of players and composition of teams based on level.
  • In the case of high-performance teams, the trainers are involved to discuss their wishes regarding the classification.
  • The team progress and player development are evaluated several times a year with the trainers of the high-performance teams.
  • At the end of the season and during the training sessions, the trainer indicates his preferences for the next season.
  • As club interests come before the interest of the team, the TC determines to what extent everyone’s wishes are feasible and will ultimately make a choice regarding the composition for all teams and groups that are active at Sovicos.
• Finding and appointing structural trainers and coaches.
• Monitoring the policy, and keeping an eye on all teams during the season based on their performance and composition.
• Monitoring and promoting the quality of training.
• Determining the competition levels in which the different teams will play up to 1st Class, according to the free registration policy.

According to which policy

• Club interests over Team interests, and Team interests over Individual interests
• Striving for 12 senior competition teams to maintain the right to exist as an association, with a balanced alignment of women’s and men’s teams.
• Striving for a broad base of youth to be able to make a good composition at age and level with the aim of ultimately getting an intake at senior level and thus retaining it within the association.
• Teams from 1st class and higher are sent on performance.
• The priority within the technical committee during the making of the classification is top down. (This means that as a technical committee we will start in the summer with the composition of the first teams, then the second teams, etc.)
• The vitality of the association is important, we focus on rejuvenation.

We do this by

• Organizing two team meetings per year, with timing around the start and three quarters of the season. In the first meeting, goals and the associated obligations (such as counting, bar services and referee duties) will be discussed. During the second interview, the emphasis is more on evaluation.
• Conducting two trainer interviews per year.
• Develop and coordinate actions in order to create an additional influx of new players.
• Find training rooms that are also attractive to young people and the arrival of additional members.
• To offer the youth the opportunity to train within selection teams, provided they match the level.
• To offer the oldest youth members (last year) the opportunity to train (and possibly play) with senior teams.
• Providing facilities for trainers to develop.
• To conduct a survey among the playing members in March.
  • With this survey, each member has the opportunity to provide feedback on the past season and their wishes for the next season to the technical committee on an individual basis. These wishes are taken into account for the next season. There is a possibility that they cannot be honored because the interest of the association takes precedence over the individual interest or the team interest.
• To conduct a survey in March among the structural trainers and coaches.
  • In this survey, every trainer/coach has the opportunity to pass on feedback about the past season and the wishes for the next season to the TC on an individual basis. There is a possibility that they cannot be honored because the interest of the association takes precedence over the individual interest or the team interest.
• E-mail a provisional classification to the members at the beginning of May. The classification is made based on levels (High, Middle and Low) and NOT based on teams. (see: Example 1)

What happens from the end of the season?

• The indoor training sessions will stop from mid-May. As of June 1, all teams from last season will stop and there will only be groups based on the High, Middle and Low levels.
• In August, the technical committee will pass on a preliminary classification based on training groups to the members
• The training groups will then follow the start-up training sessions and the technical committee will make further adjustments to the composition of the groups on the basis of these start-up training courses.
• In September, the technical committee will present the classification based on teams.
  • This classification is not binding as the technical committee will continue to monitor the teams during the first matches and will make any changes to the team classification.

Starting points here are

• Keep space within teams for as long as possible during the final layout to meet the minimum number of teams and level and to create sufficient space for new recruits. The aim is to have a sufficient occupancy at the earliest possible moment.
• In the event of conflicts, the technical committee determines whether players can/may train with another team.
• Youthful seniors are given preference and extra attention within Sovicos.
• We always offer new members a chance to play at Sovicos, teams are open to this.
• For performance teams (1st class and higher) we use the following line: Selecting the best players (including potential growth) in consultation with the trainers, whereby performance is a guideline and is given priority in relation to training work, playing minutes and tasks.
  • For choices between players within the same level (as indicated in the provisional classification as “high”), ‘being able/willing to train twice’ has the priority around consideration in the selection that the technical committee makes.
• For the highest women’s and men’s team, the association makes an effort to train twice a week, so that the players in these teams are expected to train twice a week.
• Register at least 1 team at each level and/or not leave the difference in level between teams too big.

What does this mean and what are the consequences

• Working with a potentially tight schedule at the start of the season, meaning flexibility is expected from players.
• In performance teams, the social character is subordinate to the performance.
• During the entire season there may be a shift or addition due to the arrival of new members.
• The maximum number of active playing league members is 12 players per team.

Beach volleyball

The starting point for beach volleyball is the same as for indoor volleyball: everyone is welcome and an attempt is made to divide the training groups according to level as much as possible. Currently, this means that players are only classified by level and not by gender. If there is sufficient interest, it could also become possible to divide the training groups according to gender. This will require additional space and framework.

Example 1 (provisional composition in May)

Calendar Technical Committee

Youth Technical Committee

The organization of the youth teams is delegated by the board to the Youth TC. The Youth TC reports the progress to the Youth Affairs board member who is present during the board meetings to explain the choices made by the Youth TC.