How to decipher USAV team codes
Contributed by: Walter Patterson
February 11, 2020 - Have you ever prepared to play against a club's "Red" team or their "Molten" team and wondered which level team that is? Or even, where are they from? The answer is: check their USAV team code, which can be found on the AES website or other tournament websites alongside the team's name.
The image (click to enlarge) shows an example from the 18's division at the First Lady's Challenge tournament. The circled team, Q-Cobra VBC 18's, has as their USAV team code:
FJ8QCOBR1LS
Let's break this down.
F - female athletes
J - junior division (USAV also sanctions adult leagues)
8 - single digit showing the age of this team ('0' means 10's, 1 means 11's, etc)
QCOBR - 5 letters abbreviating the name of the club (Q-Cobra Volleyball Club)
1 - the level of this team - this is their highest team or their "1" team
LS - two-letter region code. "Lone Star" region means Southeast Texas.
Our own A5 12-Donna team's code is FJ2AFIVE3SO. Again, the '2' shows that the team are 12-year-olds, the second numeric digit '3' shows that this is the 3rd level team at that age group. We play in the SOuthern region.
If you really want to get geeky, below is a map of all the two-letter USAV region codes. Some are obvious (OK = Oklahoma) but some really are not: GW = Gateway region near St. Louis; LK = Lakeshore region in the midwest; PM = Palmetto region / South Carolina; PS = Puget Sound area around Seattle; and IE in upstate New York is the "Iroquois Empire" Region.
Now you can be an the smartest parents in the room when it comes to deciphering opponents based on their team codes!
| AK | Alaska Region |
| AH | Aloha Region |
| AZ | Arizona Region |
| BG | Badger Region |
| BY | Bayou Region |
| CR | Carolina Region |
| CH | Chesapeake Region |
| CE | Columbia Empire Region |
| DE | Delta Region |
| EV | Evergreen Region |
| FL | Florida Region |
| GE | Garden Empire Region |
| GW | Gateway Region |
| GL | Great Lakes Region |
| GP | Great Plains Region |
| GC | Gulf Coast Region |
| HA | Heart of America Region |
| HO | Hoosier Region |
| IM | Intermountain Region |
| IA | Iowa Region |
| IE | Iroquois Empire Region |
| KE | Keystone Region |
| LK | Lakeshore Region |
| LS | Lone Star Region |
| MK | Moku O Keawe Region |
| NE | New England Region |
| NO | North Country Region |
| NT | North Texas Region |
| NC | Northern California Region |
| OV | Ohio Valley Region |
| OK | Oklahoma Region |
| OD | Old Dominion Region |
| PM | Palmetto Region |
| PR | Pioneer Region |
| PS | Puget Sound Region |
| RM | Rocky Mountain Region |
| SO | Southern Region |
| SC | Southern California Region |
| SU | Sun Country Region |
| WE | Western Empire Region |