Monday, October 20, 2008

Introspection: OUR BIGGEST WEAKNESS

This is our final post on the area of INTROSPECTION and I think it has proved very successful and helpful. Seems there are a lot of different opinions and viewpoints out there--and its always fun to share our thoughts with each other. Guess that's the nature of a blog...

As I sifted through the emails and comments about our Texas Section it seemed that our weaknesses basically fell into two distinct categories and here they are:

OFFICIALS' ATTITUDES.

This was by far the greatest weakness mentioned--and the sad thing it is something that is easily corrected. We all get tired of the endless criticisms, gossip, inuendo, lies, manipulations, and much much more--so its time to work on our attitudes!

The basic way to fix bad attitudes is to do the following:

1. Treat others like you would like to be treated.
2. Be nice.
3. Tell the truth.

Hopefully we can all start with at least these three little steps and I think we would all see a huge improvement in the attitudes in Texas...

COMMUNICATION AMONG OFFICIALS.

Sadly, this was mentioned much too frequently as our weakness because its very simple to remedy. It was pointed out that new officials need to hear as much as they can possibly hear from older officials (in the right manner of course) and they need to know what is going on around the state of Texas.

Here are some basic recommendations in this area:

1. Update the Texas Section website. As of today, the officials homepage is blank and the officials newsletter was last posted in 2006. That needs to be fixed soon!

2. Thank you local coordinator for their efforts. In reality in Texas the only one in leadership who is communicating is the local coordinator--and they are doing a fine job. Their job is long, hard, and often thankless so let's all take a moment and praise them for their efforts.

3. A blog written by the Sectional Chairman or someone in authority in Austin would be a good step. After all, we do live in the 21st century and people communicate via the internet. A blog won't bite you...

I was happy to receive numerous emails saying that our blog has been their major mode (if not the only mode) of communication in Texas. While I do appreciate the compliments it tells us that we need to do more in Texas to communicate with each other.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just read the Texas Section official site and the officials section is a joke. Why isn't someone doing their job?

Anonymous said...

Have you looked at the Officials section on the USTA website lately? There are apparently multiple jokes going on simultaneously....

It's not much better. It would appear the September 2008 newsletter took almost 4 minutes to create.

Anonymous said...

I emphatically disagree with “Telling the Truth” especially to some of the officials in Texas. If you do so, believe me, they will get their panties in a bind and back stab you for the remainder of your officiating career.