Welcome to the Maine Association of Volleyball Officials
Everything you need to know and do to become a certified high school volleyball official in Maine can be found on this website.
🏐 NEW! MAVO'S CLOSET
Looking for a good deal on some slightly used equipment or uniform items? Check out MAVO's CLOSET. Members can buy or sell items.
If you have something related to volleyball officiating to sell, send us an email and we'll help you list your item(s). You deal directly with the b uyer. Set your own terms.
🏐 STEP BY STEP: WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO BECOME CERTIFIED.
There's no doubt about it, it can be a daunting task trying to navigate through the steps required to become a certified volleyball official, and member of the Maine Association of Volleyball Officials.
Here it is: Every step along the way.
Follow these steps and you'll become a certified high school volleyball official by September!
🏐 NEW FOR 2025!
Find the information you'll need to officiate this season with all the new rules added to this year's official NFHS rule book. Also, you'll find any new information for high school, college, and club volleyball officials on this page.
🏐 2025 TRAINING SCHEDULE
High School Officials NFHS Rules Review #1 - Wednesday, July 30, 2025 (6:30 pm to 8:00 pm) - Gorham Middle School
NFHS Rules Review #2 – Wednesday August 6, 2025 (6:30 pm to 8:00 pm) - Gorham Middle School
NFHS Rules Review #3 - Wednesday August 13, 2025 (6:30 pm to 8:00 pm) - Gorham Middle School
MAVO Mandatory OTP - Sunday August 10th, 2025 (8:30 am to 4 pm) -Colby College in Waterville
This is a mandatory training event for all MAVO officials, high school and college. (College officials note: this WILL NOT count as PAVO OTP attendance required for post-season assignment eligibility.)
NFHS Rules Review (Coaches) - Thursday August 21, 2025 (6:30 pm to 8:00 pm) - Gorham Middle School (Note: Officials can attend if excused from the mandatory NFHS Rules Review for officials on August 28)
NFHS Mandatory Rules Review (Officials) - Thursday August 28, 2025 (6:30 pm to 8:00 pm) - Gorham Middle School
NFHS Group Exam Session - Date not set yet - usually on a Sunday in mid-August. - Gorham Middle School
High School Practical Training Sessions have been scheduled, but the start and end times have not been set. The Greely Play Date, in Cumberland (4 courts) and the Henry Noonan Jamboree in Ellsworth will be on Saturday August 23rd. The RamSlam tournament at Deering HS (2 courts) will be on Saturday August 30th. The Falmouth HS Play for a Cause tourney (1 court) will be on Saturday, September 6th. We will confirm the times as the dates get closer. playdates will not be mandatory as practicals this year, because we are implementing our own mandatory MAVO OTP on August 10 at Colby College. However, these playdates may serve as a mandatory practical for those excused from the MAVO OTP.College Officials (PAVO)R1/R2:
MAVO members interested in college R1/R2 assignments will need to complete all PAVO-required training, complete any required on-line modules, register as full PAVO members, and pass the PAVO on-line exam.
Attendance at the PAVO OTP is highly encouraged by MAVO, and is mandatory for NCAA tournament assignment eligibility.
For those new to officiating college, the PAVO OTP is held on Sunday August 16th in Beverley, MA (Endicott College). Please see PAVO.org for all details.
Scorekeeping: MAVO Members interested in college SK assignments will need to complete all PAVO-required training, register as associate PAVO members, and pass the PAVO SK test to be eligible for assignments. MAVO will provide its own SK training materials and hold a PAVO Associate SK Training - Tueesday August 26, 2025 (6:30 pm to 8:00 pm) -Gorham Middle School
Line Judging: - MAVO members interested in college LJ assignments will need to complete all PAVO-required training, register as an associate PAVO member, and pass the PAVO LJ test to be eligible for college LJ assignments. MAVO will provide its own LJ training materials and hold a PAVO Associate LJ Training - Wednesday August 20, 2025 (6:30 pm to 8:00 pm) -Gorham Middle School
One other note: We are in the midst of providing practice and feedback at the Maine Juniors Summer League at the Maine Sports Arena in Saco (15 Lund Rd). This is primarily aimed at newer officials, but if you feel the need to shake off some rust, please feel free to join us. The following dates remain:
Monday 7/7 – 6PM-9PM
Monday 7/14 – 6PM-9PM
Monday 7/21 – 6PM-9PM
Monday 7/28 – 6PM-9PM
🏐 REGISTRATION and DUES
Get ready early and give yourself the opportunity to be prepared to work this coming high school girls season in Maine. It all starts with registering and paying your association dues. Our MAVO dues remain at $60 per year. REGISTRATION is now open, and you can pay your dues online with your credit/debit card.
🏐 REGISTRATION and DUES
Get ready early and give yourself the opportunity to be prepared to work this coming high school girls season in Maine. It all starts with registering and paying your association dues. Our MAVO dues remain at $60 per year. REGISTRATION is now open, and you can pay your dues online with your credit/debit card.
🏐 PAVO REGISTRATION and DUES
If you plan on working both high school AND college-level OR college-level only volleyball matches you must register through PAVO.ORG. Your MAVO dues are included automatically in your PAVO registration.
🏐 RANDOM STUFF
There are hundreds, if not thousands of little things that go into making a great volleyball official, and the sad part is, until something happens during a match, usually at the worst possible time, you can't be prepared because you just haven't been told. Until now!
Here is our short list of over 75 different things everybody needs to know but nobody ever tells you . . . until NOW!
🏐 HOW DID YOU DO? A post-match self-assessment
As sports officials, we can often be our own worst critics, especially when assessing our performance during our initial matches. To help new officials understand their roles better, here is a self-assessment form. Completing this form can identify areas for improvement. After your first few matches, review this list to ensure you remember all your responsibilities
Maine Principals Association 2025 Girls High School Volleyball Calendar
◉ June 30, 2025 – Schedules Due to Assignor
◉ August 4-August 17, 2025 – “Hands-off” Period (Sport Season Policy)
◉ August 18, 2025 – First Practice
◉ August 21, 2025 – Mandatory Rules Clinic - Online
◉ August 22, 2025 – First Exhibition Date
◉ August 28, 2025 – Rules Clinic Make-up
◉ August 30, 2025 – Schedules Due on MPA Website
◉ September 4, 2025 – First Countable Match (After 3:00 p.m.)
◉ October 17, 2025 – Officials’ No Votes Due
◉ October 20-24, 2025 – Online Voting for Sportsmanship Banner (One week to vote)
◉ October 20, 2025 – Last Countable Match (No make-up date)
◉ October 21, 2025 – Finalize Heal Points
◉ October 23, 2025 – State Prelims at Higher Seed
◉ October 25, 2025 – State Quarterfinals at Higher Seed
◉ October 29, 2025 – State Divisional Championship (State Semifinals) at Higher Seed
◉ November 1, 2025 – Class C State Championship – Brewer High School 1:00 p.m.
◉ November 1, 2025 – Class B State Championship – TBA 4:00
◉ November 1, 2025 – Class A State Championship – TBA 7:00
(Posted March 19, 2025)
NEW! PowerPoint presentation of High School gyms
MAVO/Maine Principals Association Liaison Mike Roux, has created an informative Power Point Presentation for all of the potential obstacles found in gyms where high school volleyball is being played in Maine.
The obstacle paragraph will inform you how to handle each school's obstacles so we should NOT have different interpretations of how to handle them. The second paragraph is labeled 'Comments' and states: Review Obstacles At The Prematch Meeting. What you should do is review with your officiating team (before prematch if possible) and then review with the participants in the prematch meeting.
(Posted July 30, 2024)
IMPORTANT LINKS
Quick access to stuff you're going to need.
tutorials for scorers, libero trackers, timers
SCOREKEEPERS
You've been tasked with being your school's official volleyball scorekeeper. Now what?
MAVO SCORE KEEPING TUTORIAL
MAVO has created a slide show that can be a big help to schools trying to train new scorekeepers
ASSISTANT SCOREKEEPERS (LIBERO TRACKERS)
Here's how to become an integral part of the officiating team as an assistant scorekeeper.
LINE JUDGES
So you want to be a high school volleyball line judge? Are you ready?
Check out this instructional video from our friends at the Nebraska School Activities Association (disregard the uniform information at the beginning of this video).
essential video training for MAVO officials
HIGH SCHOOL REFEREE TRAINING
A collection of over 50 high school referee training videos for R1 and R2 covering a variety of common situations.
SHOWING PLAYER NUMBERS
An excellent video showing how to properly display player uniform numbers following a fault or sanction card. We ALL need to be doing it the same way.
OVERLAPPING AND ALIGNMENT
A detailed explanation of what officials look for in overlapping and out-of-alignment situations
MORE OVERLAPPING AND ALIGNMENT
Here is another perspective on how to best recognize overlapping and out-of-alignment situations
CONDUCTING A GOOD PRE-MATCH COACHES AND CAPTAINS MEETINGS
We should all be conducting our pre-match coaches and captains meetings the exact same way, including all the same details and information. This is an excellent video showing how a proper pre-match meeting is conducted.
LINE JUDGE VIDEO
Extremely well-produced and detailed video for line judges. The information in this video will be valuable to all high school volleyball officials who must train non-certified officials on the job of line judge.
IDENTIFYING BACK ROW ATTACKS
Here is a good video with detailed descriptions and examples of legal and illegal contacts by a back row player.
resources and tools
BLANK SCORE SHEETS (NFHS)
Print off a couple copies to use for practice, or have a link to share with a scorekeeper who is in need of a score sheet.
© 2020-2025 Maine Association of Volleyball Officials
PAVO REGISTRATION
MAVO OFFICIALS desiring to work NCAA-sanctioned matches as R1, R2, LJ, or SK MUST register through the PAVO website. Your MAVO dues will be collected with your PAVO dues for one payment.