AES Registration for GW  Girls 18s League Bid Weekend event is scheduled to open on  October 1, 2025, before the December, 2024 opening of registration for USAV 18s GJNC AES Online Registration.  Gateway's 18s League Bid Weekend Event division is embedded within the AES Event: 25 Dennis Lafata Boys Bid Classic.  The Deadline for AES Registration for the 2023 Girls 18s Bid event is December 31, 2024.  There is a $100 late fee after December 31st.  The late Registration Deadline is January 15, 2025. 

Acceptance into the event will require that a team is fully registered in AES for the 2025 USAV Girls 18s Junior National Championships.  For Seeding purposes, teams must have also played in one (1) Gateway Region sanctioned events of their own age group prior to the event (or 4 matches against 18s teams within the first 4 days of GW League).  Entry Fees must also be paid online or in the Region Office by the end of the workday December 31, 2024.  A $100 late fee will be incurred for late entries from January 1 up until January 15, 2025.  No exceptions.

The Link to Register for the 2025 USAV Girls 18s Junior National Championships will open December, 2024:  https://www.advancedeventsystems.com/events/37914

The Link to Register for the 2024 Gateway Region Girls 18s Bid Event will open Oct 1, 2024 - please note the 18s Girls League Bid Weekend is a separate division  embedded within the Dennis Lafata Boys Bid Classic: https://advancedeventsystems.com/events/36753

AES Registration for GW  Girls 11-17s Bid event is scheduled to open on  October 1, 2024.  The GW Bid Event online Registration deadline is April 4, 2025.

Like the 18s division, acceptance into this event will require that a team is fully registered in AES for BOTH the Bid Event AND the USAV Girls Junior National Championships.  For seeding purposes, teams must have also played in two (2) Gateway Region Sanctioned events of their own age group before April 14, 2025.  Entry Fees must also be paid online or in the Region Office Staff hands by April 4, 2024.  There are no refunds for drops after April 4, 2025.

The Link to Register for the 2025 USAV Girls Junior National Championships 10-13s will open January, 2025: https://www.advancedeventsystems.com/events/37823

The Link to Register for the 2025 USAV Girls Junior National Championships 14-17s will open January, 2025: https://www.advancedeventsystems.com/events/37895

The Link to register for the 2025 Gateway Girls 11-17s Bid Event will open October 1, 2024: https://advancedeventsystems.com/events/38242

If a team registered for the Gateway Region Bid Event earns an Open Bid or 11's National bid, or 12's National bid at a National Qualifier prior to the Region Bid Event, they become ineligible to compete in the Region's Bid event.  Some teams may earn a bid the weekend prior to the start of our regional event.  If this occurs, an age group's field size will change, which could change the court space necessary to play down Week 1's double elimination field.  Which, in turn, may change the playing venue.  Please note venue assignments are only tentative, and staff will do everything it can to keep to original assignments.

The 18s Bid event (League Bid Weekend) is a separate division embedded within and coincides with the Dennis Lafata Boys National Qualifier AES Registration.  The League Bid Weekend for girls 18s will serve as both the conclusion of the GW League as well as the traditional Girls 18s Bid Event and will award 1 National, 1 American, and 1 Freedom Bid to the 2025 USAV 18s GJNC.

NEW 2025 11-17s Tournament Format

The 2025 Girls Bid Event will remain a double elimination tournament. There is a format change for Age Divisions with 16 or fewer teams, as they will now compete in the traditional double elimination tournament but it will take place over the course of two (2) days on the 2nd weekend of this 2 weekend event.  This format change was made to alleviate the sheet number of "in-a-row" matches played by teams moving thru the losers side of the double elimination bracket.

The bigger format change will be seen in any age Division with 17 or more teams - everyone will still compete in a double elimination tournament - however divisions with 17 or more teams will now play over two (2) weekends. Registered teams will be ranked numerically using the Region's ranking system with results turned in by April 14, 2025. Our default procedure involves taking the top 10 seeds and removing them from the first weekend of competition. The remaining seeds will play off in a traditional double elimination tournament over the 2 days of the 1st weekend down to the final 2 teams. Those final 2 teams from the 1st weekend will overtake the 11 and 12 seeds, and will join the top 10 seeds in a 12 team double elimination tournament on the 2nd weekend of competition.

In the event the field size for an age group grows larger than 20 teams, there is a slim possibility the top 12 or 14 seeds will be removed from the first day of competition, instead of 10. This decision is entirely dictated and dependent on available facilities. As above - the seeds outside of the top 12 or 14 registered teams will play down to the final 2 teams. Those final 2 teams from the first weekend will then overtake the last 2 seeds of the 2nd weekend double elimination Bracket (either a 14 or 16 team bracket).

Teams will be seeded based on Gateway Region Junior Rankings, which will be updated April 14, 2025.  (Or the week prior to the 18s bid event for Girls 18s)  Rankings are based on head to head age-group results of Gateway Sanctioned Events reported to GW Region office staff.  Gateway Region does not sanction AAU or JVA events, and those events do not add data points to USAV/Region Rankings.  Bid event Brackets will be hosted on AES. Please note first officiating assignments, as well as any other officiating assignments as teams advance - teams that win may have to ref next match.

If you choose to register for this event, please note that your team is expected to be available to play all 4 days of the event at any time.  Time (AM/PM) requests cannot be honored for this event.

Gateway Region belongs to the USAV Regional Tier Housing Lottery through Team Travel Source and will be allocated Hotel Room Blocks for the Summer GJNC. Our Region will allocated twelve (12) rooms per team to one (1) team per age division 12-17s. The room blocks this season are for 4 nights located at a hotel to be determined by the lottery, and will coincide with the age group's dates of competition.

These blocks are allocated by priority of Finish in the April Bid Event. However, these room blocks are reserved for teams that belong to clubs that are NOT already part of the GJNC Hotel Lottery, or have previously qualified at a Qualifier earlier in the season.

Clubs that belong to the 2025 GJNC Housing Lottery: HPSTL & Rockwood Thunder

If a team becomes eligible to receive a Region Lottery room block, the Region will contact the team Rep to begin the process of handing the room block over to the team. Teams may turn down the block if they choose. The next highest finisher not already a part of the GJNC Lottery will then be contacted. If all eligible teams of an age group have turned down the Region Lottery room block, then the rooms will be released to highest finisher whose club is in the housing lottery, if they are still in need of rooms. The deadline to utilze these rooms is 2 days after the conclusion of the Bid Event (Tuesday May 6, 2025)

Links, Details, and Event Prerequisites may be found above on this page.

USAV has handed down a new mandate regarding Safesport Requirments at Boys and Girls National Qualifiers and Junior National Championship Events. Click to the right for the letter sent to All Regional Associations!

GJNC Overview - Growth Plan Implemented 2022

In 2022 USAV added 2 bid divisions to the GJNC with Liberty & Freedom.

• Liberty Division– will be a Qualifier only division with 2 bids each if the threshold minimum #s are met by the Qualifier.
• Freedom Division – will be a Region only division with 1-2 bids awarded depending on Region size, similar allocation order as the current National Division.

 **Note: we will also be adding the USA division to 12s in 2022 – 24 teams, 2 bids available if threshold minimum #s are met. We will increase the 13 USA division to 36 teams so 3 bids will now be available if threshold minimum #s are met.**  In 2025 the 13 Open division will increase to 36 teams so 3 bids will be available if threshold minimums are met.

 The Division order of strength will be as follows:

• Open (13-18s) – Qualifiers only
• National (11-18s) – Regions only (11s & 12s will have 1 bid at Qualifiers)
• USA (12-18s) – Qualifiers only
• Liberty (13-18s) – Qualifiers only
• American (12-18s) – Qualifiers & Regions
• Freedom (14-18s) – Regions only
• Patriot (10-18s) – non-qualifying

With the split at 2023 and future Nationals:

11-13s: become a 4 day event, numbers of teams will increase from 320 to 428 teams

14 – 17s: become a 9 day event (4 days 14-15s, dead day, 4 days 16-17s), number of teams will increase from 1000 to 1216 teams.

*18s – will remain a stand alone 3 day event at the end of April/beginning of May, number of teams will increase from 272 to 352 teams.

2025 - April 25-27, 2025 Salt Lake City, UT

• Teams who qualify at a National Qualifier will receive specific instructions from USAV after the Qualifier to complete online registration and roster submission.  These teams will have 10 business days after qualification to complete submission of entry materials and payment. 
• Registration opens December 4, 2024 Noon EST. Teams will be accepted based on date and time stamp of entry. Teams must have their membership complete to enter. It is important to do a data import prior to the opening of registration.
• Late entries may be processed, but there are NO guarantees that the team will be eligible for the GJNCs. If a team applies for entry into the GJNC, earns a bid at a Bid Event and chooses to not take the bid, they must be prepared to forfeit their GJNC entry fee and may be subject to additional penalties by USA Volleyball. The highest ranked team not accepting a Region Bid will be responsible for the fee and possible penalties

Each Season, USAV Grants Bids to the Girls Junior National Championships for regions to allocate thru competition.  The number of bids and re-allocation order of additional bids are awarded based on region population.  In the 23-24 season, our region was re-allocated: an 18s Freedom Bid, 17s National, American & Freedom Bids, a 16s Freedom Bid, 15s National & Freedom Bids, 14s American & Freedom Bids, and 13s Open-At-Large, and National & American Bids.

For the 2025 Season, The GW Region Freedom Bids (14-17s) and all 18s bids (National, American, and Freedom) will be awarded at the Bid Weekend of Gateway League in February.  All other bids (National, American) will be awarded at the Donna Mayer 11-17s Bid event in April/May.  This 2025 Season, Gateway has been awarded with:

Girls 11 & Under - 1 National Bid - Reallocation Rank 14

Girls 12 & Under - 1 National Bid - Reallocation Rank 14
Girls 12 & Under - 2 American Bids - Reallocation Rank 29

Girls 13 & Under - 1 National Bid - Reallocation Rank 18
Girls 13 & Under - 1 American Bid - Reallocation Rank 13

Girls 14s-17s - 1 National Bid - Reallocation Rank 18
Girls 14s-17s - 1 American Bid - Reallocation Rank 10
Girls 14s-17s - 1 Freedom Bid - Reallocation Rank 18

Girls 18 & Under - 1 National Bid - Reallocation Rank 18
Girls 18 & Under - 1 American Bid - Reallocation Rank 18
Girls 18 & Under - 1 Freedom Bid - Reallocation Rank 18 (Received additional Freedom Bid 4-5-25)

June 21-24, 2025 -Kansas City, MO G11-13
June 25-July 3, 2025 - Dallas, TX G14-G17

All Divisions U11-U13, AES Registration opens January 14, 2025 12pm EST.  All Divisions U14-U17, AES Registration opens January 22, 202 12pm EST.

• Teams who qualify at a National Qualifier will receive specific instructions from USAV after the Qualifier to complete online registration and roster submission.  These teams will have 10 business days after qualification to complete submission of entry materials and payment. 
• Open At Large applicants that DO NOT WANT to participate in the Gateway Bid Event – USAV deadline for registration entry on AES is April 24, 2025.
• All National, USA, Liberty, American and Open at Large applicants that WANT to participate in the Gateway Bid Event – Region deadline for event registration entry on AES is April 5, 2024
• Late entries may be processed, but there are no guarantees that the team will be eligible for the GJNCs. If a team registers for the GJNC, and earns a bid at the Bid Event and chooses to not take the bid, the team, staff, club, and club officers must be prepared to forfeit their GJNC entry fee and may be subject to additional penalties by USA Volleyball, in addition to being ineligible for any Gateway allocated bids for the remainder of their current season, as well as the following season. The highest ranked team not accepting a Region Bid will be responsible for the fee and possible penalties.