Sixteen PSAL girls volleyball teams were forced to forfeit Monday, the season’s opening day, after coaches and athletic directors did not post their roster in time, The Post has learned. Six of those teams were involved in double forfeits.
The league rule is that a roster must be posted on PSAL.org one week prior to a team’s first match and “no PSAL team is permitted to compete unless an approved team roster is posted on the website,” the sport’s rules and regulations read, or else that team faces a loss on its record.
“The PSAL tried to reach out to all coaches during volleyball clinics to find out if anyone had issues with their rosters,” Department of Education spokesperson Margie Feinberg said. “The PSAL spoke to the majority of the coaches [Monday].”
Secondary School of Law, Journalism and Research coach Mike Salak didn’t know his match was ruled a forfeit until his team arrived for its road contest against Lincoln. He said he had posted his roster late in the past without any retribution and didn’t want the roster to appear online until every player had been declared eligible – a tenuous process in a building with three different schools.
“I had to tell my girls about this forfeit at the last minute when they were all excited to play,” Salak said. “It was not cool.”
Matches were ruled as forfeits Monday morning and listed as such on the PSAL website. Baruch College Campus coach Jessenia Marrero saw her team and opponent A.P. Randolph both receive one before making the trek up to Frederick Douglass Academy, the would-be site of the match. Baruch’s roster didn’t make it to PSAL.org until Monday due to an oversight.
“I can honestly say it was our fault,” Marrero said.
Both she and Salak were not sure why the rules are so strict for not having a roster up ahead of time. The first match of the season, they said, was far too close to the first day of school, when many teams begin cut tryouts and practice. Salak said he skipped both coaches clinics this week so he could hold practice with his players. PSAL girls volleyball rules state that a player is not eligible to play in a match until she has participated in six practices.
Coaches were able to start practice on Aug. 22, but many times it’s hard to find gym time and get players to show up during their summer vacation, especially for the lower level programs. Marrero, whose team competes in the ‘B’ league, said getting the school’s gym in August was a nightmare because voting booths were set up in there.
“We started practice on Sept. 9,” Marrero said.
Soccer coaches actually have it more difficult – their season starts before the school year. Yet the PSAL boys soccer league had just three forfeits Sept. 6 and the girls had two Sept. 8.
The greater problem, coaches are saying, is the lack of a commissioner, a rarity in the PSAL. Freddie Rodriguez, who was in the job since the sport’s inception in the PSAL almost three decades ago, resigned last winter citing health reasons after suffering a stroke.
The league has not found a replacement and Feinberg said that girls volleyball is being administered by PSAL sports coordinator Brenda Morgan, who oversees girls and boys volleyball, girls basketball, among other sports like girls swimming and girls gymnastics.
Referees were sent out to forfeited games Monday, assignor Lynne Withers said, because no one informed her of the rulings. Typically, she said, that would be the commissioner’s job.
“As an assignor, my contact is the commissioner and the commissioner is the contact for the coaches, too,” Withers said. “A commissioner is very important.”
SSLJR, which has been to the playoffs two of Salak’s first three years and owned a share of the PSAL Brooklyn A3 division title in 2008, will start the season with a forfeit. But the Spirits did get to play Lincoln in a scrimmage.
“I think it sucks, but the kids are pretty resilient,” Salak said. “They like to play and they got to play.”