About
Team Check-in
We will not have any team check in on Friday this year. All teams will check in at the tournament desk (inside Dempsey Indoor at the UW or at the Academy Sports Center) up to 1 hour before the wave starts at your location.
All coaches must check their team in prior to play commences. Items needed for check in are copies of your medical release forms, and verification of team rosters that must be accurate through the AES website.
We will not accept any rosters other than the official AES roster that we will be printing for you. We will print all check in rosters on Thursday, May 26th. Make sure your team's rosters are accurate to avoid delays at check in.
Facility Rules
All outside food is limited to outdoor areas at the Academy Sports Center or the concourse at the Hec Edmundson Pavilion at the University of Washington. NO OUTSIDE FOOD WHATSOEVER ALLOWED IN THE ACADEMY SPORTS CENTER, THE IMA OR DEMPSEY INDOOR FACILITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON.
All venues have plenty of seating provided. Leave your personal chairs at home or in your car. There are no player bags allowed inside the Dempsey Indoor facility or the IMA at the University of Washington. We will provide a secure bag check area for all bags at the entrance to both facilities.
There is no cooking of food allowed at any of the facilities, please leave your tailgate supplies in the RV or at home.
Food Options at both locations
We have the famous Doug's Rockin' BBQ at the University of Washington as well as a handful of great food vendors. We have the Academy Grill at the Academy Sports Center offering breakfast items, sub sandwiches, soup, healthy snacks, drinks, espresso drinks, etc.
Admission Cost
There will be an admission charge for all spectators at the Academy Sports Center. Adults will be charged $5 for a day-long pass and children 12 and younger will be free. All players and their coaches will also be free. All participants will receive a special wristband. You must have this wristband to be around the bench areas. Spectators will also receive a wristband to allow you to leave and return the same day without being charged.
Avoid the Line to purchase admission!
We have a special advance-purchase 3-day pass available for $10. Please click here to order your 3-day pass now and you can pick up at will call in the Academy Pro Shop. Deadline for the advance purchase wristbands is Thursday, May 26th.
Parking
Parking will cost $10/day (cash only) at the University of Washington. We are sorry for this, but it is out of our hands.
We will buy your parking at the Academy Sports Center. We have two lots, one is on our property and the overflow parking is across the street where we are renting parking from our gracious neighbor. Please follow all instructions of all parking attendants. There are player drop off areas at both locations, just follow the signs and be patient. There is no RV parking at the Academy Sports Center.
There is no overnight parking available at either location. RVs must leave the campus of the UW every night or be subject to UW Police parking enforcement.
Dave Weitl
Letter from the Tournament Director...
We would like to welcome you to the 30th Emerald City Classic Invitational. This year’s tournament represents our fifteenth year at the University of Washington. When we plan this event we always start with the premise that we’re throwing a party and then decide to put up a few volleyball courts.
Every year we quickly fill and exceed our capacity for teams wishing to enter the tournament. For 2017 we will open registration in mid-November, 2016 and close registration on January 15, 2017. Many teams will not be accepted based on the criteria of: Strength of Field, Geographic Diversity, No. of Teams/club, and Years of Attendance. We will be hosting the 12s-14s-15s-16s-18s age divisions at the university of Washington and the 13s-14s age divisions at the Academy Sports Center in Lynnwood.
This tournament could not have happened without the support and assistance from the U of W Event Management staff and the incredible sacrifices of time, contribution of ideas, energy and the commitment of countless devoted volunteers. The ECC is virtually a 100% volunteer effort with the parents of WVBA players contributing enormous amounts of time and personal resources to pull it off. In particular please make a point to thank Tournament Czar Jim Clavadetscher. Jim must work on the tournament 24/7/365 in order to organize volunteers and allocate the nearly 5,000 volunteer hours.
This year we are proud to host teams from across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, British Columbia. Each year our tournament continues to attract teams to Seattle for what we hope will continue to earn the reputation as one of the finest tournaments in the country. Thanks to all of you for supporting the Emerald City Classic Invitational.
Seattle is a great city with many attractions worthy of your attention. For assistance finding things to do, and places to eat and visit, check in with our ECC Information Center which is located in the main courtyard (outside Dempsey Facility). The Mariners are in town playing the Twins and Padres and the Northwest Folklife Festival is going on at Seattle Center.
We would like to thank all 2016 ECC participants and their families and fans and hope everyone has an enjoyable and memorable experience.
If you have comments or ideas to help us to make our tournament better, please let us know. Mark your calendars now for May 27-29, 2017!
Dave Weitl, Tournament Director
Locations
Playing Sites
All U18, U16, 15 Open, 14 Open and U12 divisions will be playing at the University of Washington. 14 Club and 13 Open divisions will be playing at the Academy Sports Center, 2810 Lincoln Way, Lynnwood, WA 98087. There is a $5/day admission charge at the Academy Sports Center. Players and coaches and kids under 12 are free. Avoid the lines and order a 3-day pass in advance to pick up at will call if you click here.
Waves
18 Open, 16 Open, 15 Open, and 13 Open Division teams play in the AM wave, 14 Open plus all Club Division teams play in the PM wave. 12 Open plays a very unique schedule through both waves on Saturday and Sunday only. 12 Open may play 2 pools Saturday.
18 Open, 16 Open, and 15 Open will play at the University of Washington starting at 8:00am Saturday and Sunday.
13 Open will play at the Academy Sports Center in Lynnwood starting at 8:00am.
12 Open will play at the University of Washington with Pool 1 starting at 8:00am Saturday, Pool 2 starting at 11:00am Saturday, and Pool 3 starting at 2:00pm Saturday. 3rd place finishers in Round 1 will play again Sat night.
18 Club, 16 Club and 14 Open will play at the University of Washington starting at 3:00pm Saturday and Sunday.
14 Club will play at the Academy Sports Center in Lynnwood starting at 3:30pm.
All teams (other than 12s) will play in single elimination bracket play on Monday. Matches will move along as fast as we can start them on Monday in order to get teams home as early as possible.
Academy Sports Center
2810 Lincoln Way, Lynnwood, WA 98087
University of Washington - Alaska Airlines Arena
3870 Montlake Blvd NE, Seattle, WA 98105
Playing Rules - tie breakers, etc.
We are following all playing rules of USA Volleyball with liberos allowed to serve. All matches will be 2/3 to 25/15. There are no caps on any of the sets. There are no tie breaking games played. 2-way ties are settled by the team that won the head to head match in that pool. 3-way ties are settled by 1) match percentage, 2) set percentage, 3) point percentage, and if necessary 4) coin toss.
We use a different schedule for our 4-team pools. 1st and 2nd seeds will only ref once and the #1 seed plays in the first round and leaves early. Please consult the schedule to ensure you are at your court for your match or officiating responsibility. Teams will be required to provide an R2, scorekeeper, libero tracker, score flipper, and two line judges.
If we have some teams drop that result in a 3-team pool, we will schedule crossover matches if there are more than one 3-team pools in your division. If there is just one 3-team pool in your division, you will play a mandatory 3 sets to 25. Standings for your pool will be based on match play.
In the 13 Open and 14 Club divisions you may play the same team more than once, perhaps even more than twice over three days. We will have 16 teams to play in each division over three days.
Awards
We will be providing the following awards at this year's Emerald City Classic Invitational:
All Tournament Team for the top six players in Open/Club for 18s, 16s, 15s and 14 Open divisions
Candis Carter Inspiration Award for the top defensive player in 18s, 16s, 15s, 14s
Team Trophies for the 1st and 2nd place teams in Gold for 18s, 16s, 15s, 14s, 13s
Individual Medals for 1st and 2nd place in Gold and 1st in Silver, Bronze and Emerald in 18s, 16s, 15s, 14s, and 13s
Tournament Champion T-shirts for 1st place in the 12s division.