2024 Yearly Timeline

Here is a timeline for what to look out for throughout the season.

Preseason - June 1-July 31
  • Coaches may work with their players from June 1-July 31, as long as the coach has completed the Summer Waiver form on the MSHSL Coaches Clipboard (see your athletic director for login information). Player participation during this time of year may NOT be considered mandatory by High School League rules. The MSHSL also has instated a summer "No Contact Period", where coaches may not work with their players. The 2024 No Contact Period is June 29-July.
  • MNVBCA Coaches Clinic - July 24-25, 2024 @ Mounds View H.S., Arden Hills.
  • MNVBCA All-Star Match - July 24 @ Mounds View H.S.. All-State players will have the opportunity to showcase their skills in the annual All-Star Match. 
  • Become a member of the Coaches Association
  • Meet with your athletic director to get your schedule, rule book, and login information for the MSHSL (Minnesota State High School League) website.
  • Familiarize yourself with new rules and MSHSL (Minnesota State High School League) bylaws
  • If not already done, scheduling scrimmages prior to your first match can be helpful. Emailing coaches in your area to schedule scrimmages is a good place to start. You can find some coach email addresses on the MSHSL website. Teams are allowed three scrimmages per season. You may be able to find teams looking for scrimmages on the Games Wanted page of the MNVBCA website.

Week 1 - August 12-18
  • August 12 - Official start of practices
  • Complete all required educational programs on the Coaches Dashboard section of the MSHSL website. This will require you to create a login that will have to be approved by your athletic director. The instructional videos will include presentations on rules, concussion protocol, first aid, and general coaching philosophy. Not all courses are required every year.
  • You should receive an email from your section representative. This person will be a good resource for you throughout the season, as they will be sending you emails over the course of the year with reminders and other information. You can find a list of section representatives on the Board of Control page of this website.
  • It is recommended that you get new game balls every season. The official game ball of the MSHSL is the Baden Perfection 15-0 (VX5EC-220) in blue/white/grey.

Week 2 - August 19-25
  • This Thursday is the first day that teams are allowed to begin playing regular season matches. 
  • Prior to the first regular season match, you must complete all of the continuing education requirements on the Coaches Dashboard (as mentioned above), and also be sure that your athletic director has received a roster for each of the teams in your program. The rosters are needed for your AD to complete the required Eligibility Verification Form on the MSHSL website.
  • Do you have a player that you think might have a great season and be one of the top 18 players in your class? Submit your player to the All-State Watch List. MNVBCA representatives will be sure to keep tabs on that player throughout the season in the event that you decide to submit stats via the All-State process. 
  • Have a plan for keeping stats. Whether statistics will be kept by a manager, players, assistant coaches, or the head coach, whoever will be keeping stats should be very familiar with the Statistical Definitions. It is very important to keep accurate statistics for later in the season when players will be discussed in All-Conference and All-State meetings.

Week 3 - August 26-September 1
  • By the end of this week, you have probably played your first match. Be sure that you are submitting your results to MN Volleyball Hub and Minnesota-Scores.net. 
  • September 1 is the first awards deadline of the year, when submissions for the All-State Watch List need to be made. More information about the All-State process is available on the All-State page. If you are not sure if you have All-State caliber players on your team, contact your Section Representative.

Weeks 4-5 - September 2-15
  • In addition to awards that your players can receive for their play on the court, they can also win awards for their work in the classroom. Team Academic Awards are available, as are Academic All-State Awards for individuals. You can find more information on the Academic Awards page. Since cumulative GPA's are used for the awards process, the grades used for calculations only go through the end of the previous school year. This being the case, even though the deadline for academic award submissions isn't until later in the season, coaches are strongly encouraged to submit their player(s) and team early. 

Weeks 6-8 - September 16-October 6
  • This is the middle portion of your season when hopefully you're in the swing of things. There's nothing to else to worry about this time of year other than coaching your squad!

Week 9 - October 7-13
  • By the end of this week, you may receive an email or two from your athletic director or section coordinator regarding the seeding process for section playoffs. Every section is different, and your section coordinator will give you all the details you need, but you should make sure that all of your results are up-to-date on the MSHSL website.

Week 10 - October 14-20
  • Every conference handles All-Conference awards differently, but you may have a meeting around this time or later to discuss the All-Conference selections. You can find some of last year's All-Conference award winners from around the state on the All-Conference page.
  • This is MEA week, so most schools don't have classes in session on Thursday or Friday. Not many schools schedule athletic events over the long weekend, so this is a good opportunity to start adding up statistical totals for various end-of-season awards.

Week 11 - October 21-27
  • Monday of this week is a big deadline day for the major season awards. This serves as the deadline to submit statistics on the All-State page for any of your players you may feel are deserving of All-State or Ms. Baden accolades. This is also the deadline for both the Team Academic Award and the Academic All-State individual award. These submissions can be made on the Academic Awards page.
  • Section playoffs start this week, so it's win-or-go-home this time of year.

Week 12 - October 28-November 3
  • On Monday of Week 12, coaches that submitted player stats for All-State awards will find out if their players were named to the All-State team.
  • Section semifinals and finals are also this week, so there is some very competitive volleyball being played for the right to go to the State Tournament!

Week 13 - November 4-9
  • State Tournament week. It starts on Tuesday with the State Tournament Banquet, where teams that have qualified are honored, as well as the season's All-State players and Hall of Fame inductees. The tournament itself runs Wednesday through Saturday. To see the schedule of matches for the weekend, check out the MSHSL volleyball page.

​Off-Season - End of Previous Season-May 31
  • During this portion of the year, coaches are not permitted to work with players from their program in any way if those players participated at the varsity, JV, B-squad, or 10th grade level. Many players continue playing club volleyball through the off-season. See the USA Volleyball - North Country Region website (www.ncrusav.org) or NorthStar Volleyball United (this region's branch of Junior Volleyball Association - www.northstarvolleyballunited.com) for more information. 
  • Every two years, the Minnesota State High School League collects data from its member schools regarding school enrollments. With enrollment fluctuations, competitive section lines are re-drawn and section assignments are released in late-March or early-April of odd years. 
  • One of the great ways that volleyball is promoted in Minnesota is through the Breakdown Volleyball publication. In order to make this season preview book as good as it can be, it is important to fill out the preview capsule on the Breakdown Sports website. Be sure to head to www.BreakdownSportsUSA.com in February or March to fill out the information about your team so they can be featured in the book!
  • If you are interested in being a section representative, terms are four years long, and elections are on a rotating basis. Every year, the section representative position is opened for two sections from each class. If an election is necessary (multiple people want to be a section rep), it takes place over the first two weeks of April. See the Board of Control pages of this website for each class for which sections are up for re-election.
  • You may want to check in with your coaching staff from last season to determine if you need to bring any new coaches to your staff. You can submit an opening to the Employment Opportunities page of this website.