See you tomorrow! Important updates.

We are so, so excited to welcome you all to the PVI tomorrow! A few important pieces of info:

  1. All teams must check in at the tournament central tent before their first round, optimally 30-45 minutes before their first game is set to be played.
  2. At check in, both chaperones need to be present and you must show us that you have medical authorization forms.
  3. Captains meetings are running at 7:30, 9, and 10:30. You must attend the captains meeting that is happening 30 minutes before your first game, or the one before that!
  4. There is a chance a few of our fields won’t be lined. A small but very important piece of our amazing line painting robot failed yesterday morning, but we got it up and running earlier today. It’s painting away, but there is a chance 2-4 of our fields won’t be lined.
  5. There is a chance a few of the games on/around field 11 may be moved to different fields. Last night, someone in a vehicle did some donuts on our fields in that area, and we are currently in the process of fixing the damage. While we are confident we can fix the damage — thanks to the AMAZING help of the Oxbow — there is a chance a couple game locations (not times) may be moved. If that happens, we will let you all know immediately.

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

See you soon!

Lightning, Clearance

Since our fields drain so well, the only thing that has a realistic chance of pushing us off the fields is lightning. There is a chance for lightning on Saturday.

If there is a lighting strike within 10 miles of the field site, we will text everyone to clear the fields. We will also use a horn, but since the fields are so large, horns can’t cover the whole space. Please make sure you have at least one person with their cell phone at all times that has joined the tournament Remind group. (Text @pvi2025 to 81010 to join.) If you see a message saying to clear the fields but it’s clear another team hasn’t, please tell them. Immediately.

We will be off the fields for at least 30 minutes. All game start times and end (hard cap) times will be incremented by the time lost. For example, if play stops at 1:00 on Saturday and resumes at 1:50, for a loss of 50 minutes…

a) the new cap for the 12:30 game is 2:35 (1:45 + 50 minutes)
b) the new start time for the next round is 2:50 (2:00 + 50 minutes)
c) the new cap for the next round is 4:05 (3:15 + 50 minutes)

The round after that would be incremented in the same way.

Here are the teams that are currently not cleared to play. As always, you can check the status of your team’s items on the team status sheet.

Here are the current chaperone issues.

Program, Chaperones, Clearance

Merch preview!

Good morning everyone! First pull in less than 72 hours! Wild!

The program is now online. Please look it over and let us know if you have any questions.

Here are the remaining chaperone issues as of this morning at 9am. This is also the list of teams that are currently not cleared to play. As always, any team can check the status of all of their items right here.

(Click to enlarge)

Remind, Weather, Sidelines, Not Cleared to Play, Chaperones, and Rosters

Good morning everyone!

All team chaperones need to join the event Remind group by texting @pvi2025 to the number 81010. We will be using this group to send out important updates during the event. Only Josh can post to the group. Note that you don’t need the remind app to join. (You can leave the channel any time by texting @leave @pvi2025 to the number 81010.)

We are keeping a close eye on the weather. While there is some chance of rain, it’s looking like it won’t be too hot and we could get some clouds, which is awesome. If we need to clear the fields due to weather, horn blasts and texts/emails will be used. Go back to cars. Stay there until you get a followup message.

Nothing that would be unsafe for a person to fall onto may be within 7 yards of any sideline. Yes, this means that there may not be space on some sidelines for items like tents, chairs, and coolers. All tents MUST be staked down.

These teams are currently not cleared to play along with the reason(s) why. If your team is NOT on this list, then it means you are cleared to play. As always, any team can check the status of their tasks/items on the team status spreadsheet. (Click to enlarge the image.)

These teams still have chaperone issues, along with the remaining issues. Please get them sorted immediately. What needs to be done is online here. (Click the image to enlarge.)

These teams have yet to send in their roster. Please send your roster in today using the roster submission form.

TeamDivision
BardFemale-Matching
LexingtonFemale-Matching
BeaconOpen
MontpelierOpen
ScarsdaleOpen

Recycling and Free Gatorade!

Greetings!

We are excited to see you at the Pioneer Valley Invitational (PVI) this weekend!

Every year we work to minimize our environmental impact at PVI. Each person can help by taking a few simple steps (below). Please share this message with your team and their supporters. 

DRINKS:  Please bring refillable water bottles and refrain from the use of single use bottles and cases of Gatorade or water. We will have plenty of water in coolers at the fields, and free cold Gatorade available continuously at tourney central. We will also have reusable PVI water bottles for sale at the merch tent.  We hope to cut down on single use plastic bottles at the tournament. 

FOOD:  Please bring as little individually packaged food as possible.  Beyond what we are offering at the main tent for free, please bring big bags and boxes to share, (especially without plastic packaging if possible). Please empty your pizza boxes in the compost bins and recycle the cardboard, etc.

COMPOST:  Please put food waste (banana peels, watermelon rinds, any uneaten food) in the green compost bags we will be distributing, or in the compost bins at tourney central (not in the trash). This will save our volunteers from having to sort trash at the end of the tournament.

TRASH/RECYCLING: Please do a trash sweep of your sideline each time you switch fields during the day.  At the end of each day, please bring trash/recycling and green compost bags to the dumpsters next to the main tent.  Please do not leave anything on the fields, including windblown tents. Most plastic and metal containers can be recycled.

CARPOOLING:  If you can drive together, please do. The fewer cars and fuel, the better.

We will be sending around environmental ambassadors during the tournament to meet with your captains, coaches, and chaperones to support these efforts.  Together we can make PVI an example of how large youth sporting events can minimize waste and protect our environment for the benefit of our community and all living things. Thanks for your support and efforts towards this goal.

Sonia Bouvier
PVI Recycling and Compost Volunteer Coordinator
413.695.7247

Schedule finalized, chaperones, and teams cleared to play

The event schedule has been finalized. Please look it over and make sure it makes sense. Let me know ASAP if you have any questions. Please note that all teams must check in before their assigned captains meeting on Saturday morning with both of their chaperones.

Current chaperone issues are listed below. Everything each of your two chaperones needs to do to be cleared is listed on the Paperwork page.

The teams listed below are cleared to play. If your team is not listed below, please immediately check the Team Status spreadsheet to determine what your team is missing.

Chaperone issues as of May 12th @ 10am (Click to enlarge):

Female-Matching teams cleared to play as of May 12th @ 10am:

Open teams cleared to play as of May 12th @ 10am:

PVI2025 DRAFT Schedule #1

The first draft of the schedule is online here.

Feedback on the schedule will be accepted until Saturday, May 10th at Noon.

Notes:

  • This year’s schedule is effectively the same as what we ran last year, with a slight tweak to the Open C division which needed to be adjusted to a different number of teams.
  • Pools were created with geographic diversity in mind.
  • I have set things up to, as far as I can tell, absolutely minimize the chance that any team plays the same team more than once. That being said, please let me know if I missed something!
  • Unless your initial ranking seems WAY off, you probably won’t be moved.
  • PLEASE look over how your game schedule could play out and make sure it makes sense.
  • I have gone over this draft many times, but with a total of 188 scheduled games spanning 12 rounds and 20 fields, I am bound to have made at least a couple mistakes. PLEASE let me know if something looks off or you catch an error even if you’re not sure it’s an error.
  • 8 teams will play 5 games. 56 teams will play 6 games.

I am aiming to lock in a final draft of the schedule by Sunday morning, May 11th.

My happy place 🙂

Showers and Parking

Showers will be available from 4-6pm on Saturday at Northampton High School and JFK Middle School.

Every team has an assigned location to shower:

  • If you play your last game on Saturday somewhere on fields 1 through 8 you shower at Northampton HS.
  • If you play your last game on Saturday somewhere on fields 9 through 19 you shower at JFK Middle School.

A word on parking…

For an event this size, parking needs to be efficient, and it’s not possible for everyone (or even anyone) to park right next to their team’s field. We all need to cooperate on this. Please recognize the goodwill and the efforts of the volunteers who are working hard to make parking for PVI run smoothly, and please follow their requests and directions. We know you might be running a little late and you just want to get to the field to watch your player. We get it. In the spirit of ultimate, please be respectful of the parking coordinators and your fellow parkers, arrive early, and set a good example for your players.

THE LOT

The feature documentary THE LOT will be filming at PVI2025 following several teams to learn about the values of our sport. THE LOT is made by ultimate players and you can find out more at WelcomeToTheLot.com and follow @UltiArchives on Instagram. For more information contact director Tony Leonardo at tony@welcometothelot.com.