The tournament program is now online. Only a limited number of paper copies will be available, so please make sure you have access to the digital version during the tournament.

Field will open at 7:40am on both Saturday and Sunday and the Northampton HS facilities will open at 4:15pm on Saturday. Please do not show up before those times.

If your team has a first round bye, you can check in between 9:00 and 9:30 and attend the 9:45 captain’s meeting. Please email or text me me directly if you plan on taking the later options. Please remember that all teams that are playing in the first round must check in between 7:45 and 8:15 and send at least one representative to the 8:30 captain’s meeting.

The spirit score sheet deposit of $100 or a captain’s cell phone can be made in the form of a check made out to “Ultimate Good”. Please make sure your team’s full name and division are written in the memo field of your check.

It looks like there could be some rain on Sunday. Please plan accordingly. If you see lightning or hear 5 consecutive horn blasts, you must immediately clear the fields and get back into your cars. We will return to the fields 30 minutes after the the lightning has passed. I will signal the return to the fields with a mass email.

Please do everything you can to keep sidelines clear. All tents, chairs, and other hard objects must be at least 5 yards from any sideline.

Everyone is familiar with all of the information in the FAQ and tourney program, right? 🙂

Breakmark is going to have a bunch of amazing gear for sale!

The complete tournament schedule has been finalized. Please look it over and let me know ASAP if you have any questions.

While we will have lots of water at the field site, and jugs spread around all of the fields, it would be a big help if each team could make sure to bring a large water jug to fill when needed.

All teams are currently cleared to play except for Needham B Boys.

The following teams have players on their rosters that are NOT cleared to play because they are either missing their USAU waiver or have not paid their dues: Acton-Boxborough (Boys), Andover (Boys), Andover (Girls), Hopkinton (Boys), Longmeadow JV (Girls), Needham B (Boys), PVPA (Boys), PVPA (Girls), and Scarsdale (Boys). Please clean up your rosters.

All teams must check in on Saturday morning between 7:45 and 8:15am at tournament central. The whole team does not need to be present at checkin. The person checking in your team MUST be one of the chaperones listed on your roster. Here’s what will happen and what will be checked when you arrive. Please note that all of these items are 100% required for participation.

• Introduce at least one of your NCSI background checked chaperones
• Show us the medical authorization forms you’ll be carrying with your team at all times
• You’ll clear your roster of any players not at the event
• You’ll take care of any outstanding USAU waivers and/or dues
• You’ll hand off one of your captain’s cell phones or $100 cash as a spirit score sheet deposit. (Seriously). You’ll get your deposit back when you hand in your second spirit score sheet on Sunday. Here’s the spirit scoresheet you’ll be completing each day.

A 5 minute captain’s meeting will begin at 8:30am at tournament central. All teams must send at least one representative.

And please remember: Island Road is the only entrance to the Owbow Marina fields. It is narrow and many houses are right up against the road. You must travel at VERY LOW speeds (Less than 15mph at ALL TIMES) on the road. Violation of this rule will result in your entire team being expelled, immediately, from the tournament. The road is not long. Please be VERY careful and travel SLOWLY.

Again, please let me know ASAP if you have any questions.

The entire tournament organizing team cannot wait to host all of you this weekend!

• Josh (jseamon@gmail.com)

The most up to date version of the schedule, as well as initial rankings, are online right here.

Please look them both over and let me know ASAP if you see any issues. The event schedule and rankings will be finalized on Monday, 5/16 at 6pm EST.

The 3rd Annual Pioneer Valley Invitational is almost upon us! Here’s what all teams need to know:

1) The following teams are not yet cleared to play. You can find out why on the team status spreadsheet.

• Northampton JV (Girls)
• Needham B (Boys)
• PVCICS (Boys)

Everyone else: Please make sure your rosters are 100% clean. That means you should:

• Remove players they aren’t attending.
• Make sure all USAU player fees are paid.
• Make sure all players have signed the online waiver.
• Make 100% all of your players are on your online event roster. Teams found to be playing with unrostered players will be asked to leave immediately.

2) The first version of the schedule is now online. Please look it over and let me know ASAP if you see any issues. Note that “La” means the looser of game a. The schedule will be open for public comment until this Sunday night at 6pm. I will be coming up with the initial rankings of teams by this coming Monday evening and will send it out for two days of comment. I will be locking in the tournament full tournament schedule + rankings by next Wednesday, 5/18 night. Some notes about the schedule

• All teams have the chance to win their division.
• The boys division has two power pools of 4. All teams in those two pools will automatically qualify for pre-quarters. All other teams have to win their pools to make it to the pre-quarters.
• Most teams will begin play at 9am on Saturday and Sunday. All teams will be done playing by 5:15pm on Saturday, if not sooner. All teams will be done playing by 3:30pm on Sunday, if not sooner. The Awards ceremony on Sunday will be completed by 4:30 at the latest.
• Most teams will play 6 games. Some will play 7. A few will play 5.

3) Your dinner check must arrive in Easthampton by this Friday for us to be able to serve your team dinner on Saturday night. ($12 per person, checks payable to “Ultimate Good” and sent to Josh Seamon, PVI2016 Dinner, 183 Main St. #1, Easthampton, MA 01027) Please make sure your team’s name is written in the memo field of the check. You can also send payments via PayPal to me at jseamon@gmail.com. If you do send me funds via PayPal, please email me directly afterwards so that I can confirm receipt. The following teams owe the following amounts of money based on the number of dinner tickets they ordered through the housing and dinner form:

• Worcester Boys ($144)
• Concord-Carlisle Girls ($180)
• Northampton V Girls ($180)
• Concord-Carlisle A Boys ($180)
• Concord-Carlisle B Boys ($180)
• Montreal Boys ($180)
• Mamaroneck Boys ($216)
• Northampton V Boys ($252)
• Beacon Girls ($300)
• Columbia JV Boys ($384)

4) Teams will be provided with team boxes that contain fruit, various items (apples, bananas, bread, brownie bites ,Nutella, peanut butter, plastic knives, pretzels, Twizzlers). Additionally, the following items will be available for tournament participants at tourney central: bagels, cream cheese, gatorade mix, red lemonade, Nutella, paper towels, peanut butter, and watermelons. A minimal amount of other food will be for sale at the event. Please plan your lunches accordingly.

5) Everyone is going to drive below 20mph on Island Pond Rd., right? 🙂

We are now just over two weeks away from the 3rd annual Pioneer Valley Invitational! Here’s what you need to know

First, a couple VERY important reminders:

A) Island Pond road is the only entrance to the Owbow Marina fields. It is narrow and many houses are right up against the road. You must travel at VERY LOW speeds (Less than 20mph at ALL TIMES) on the road. Violation of this rule will result in your entire team being expelled, immediately, from the tournament. The road is not long. Please be VERY careful and travel SLOWLY.

B) Except for the rule listed above, and spectacularly egregious violations, the PVI is generally a two strike event. We understand that teams sometimes make mistakes. If your team makes one (spiking, bad language, overly aggressive play etc.), you will have a conversation with me. If I have to have two conversations with you, your entire team will be asked to leave the event. Please remember, if you think a particular behavior might be inappropriate, it almost certainly is. (Yes, spiking is banned.)

Please make sure your entire team is 100% clear on points A and B.

Now, on to the rest:

1) The Montreal boys team has a few girls in their program that would like to pick up with one of the girls teams at the PVI. If anyone would like to pick up a couple girls on their team, please email Yohan at ybaril22@gmail.com.

2) We are very close to being able to send out your housing information. Your team contacts should be receiving housing information very soon from housing coordinator extraordinaire, Megan Zinn (mrzinn88@gmail.com).

3) The following teams are currently NOT CLEARED to play. You can find out the reason why by checking out the Team Status page.

• Needham B Boys
• Northampton JV Girls
• Northampton JVB Boys
• PVCICS Boys

4) Dinner checks must arrive in Easthampton by Friday, 5/13 in order for you to receive dinner tickets at the event. Dinner tickets will not be available for purchase at the event. We are only ordering dinner for you if your check arrives in Easthampton by Friday, 5/13. Teams can determine what they currently owe on the Team Status page.

• Dinner tickets cost $12 per person. Checks should be made out to “Ultimate Good” and sent to Josh Seamon, PVI2016, 183 Main St. #1, Easthampton, MA 01027.

5) All teams should check their rosters to make sure they are 100% correct and up to date. Rosters will be locked 5 days before the event begins, so make sure you get all your online waivers signed, USAU dues paid, and players who are not coming dropped from your roster.

6) All teams will be required to check in at tournament central by 8am on Saturday, 5/21. The whole team does not need to be present at checkin. The person checking in your team MUST be one of the chaperones listed on your roster and they must show me all of your medical authorization waivers if you haven’t already emailed them to me. The following are 100% required in order to begin play:

• Me (Josh) being introduced to at least one of your NCSI background checked chaperones
• Me (Josh) seeing your medical authorization forms
• You clearing your roster of any players not at the event

Please let me know ASAP if you have any questions

• Josh (jseamon@gmail.com)

All teams must fill out the dinner & housing form, regardless of their dinner or housing needs:

http://bit.ly/pvi2016-dinner-housing

Please fill out the form by Monday, 4/25 @ 3pm.

– Josh
PVInvite.org

ps. How’s your paperwork going?