A Great Word From On High...

One of the things I have learned over the years of having a blog is that everyone has an opinion about everything--but very few are willing to share them publicly with their names attached. There are pros and cons to that issue but let me say clearly and unapologetically, you will get far more done if you sign your name than if you don't...

I have ALWAYS found the people who work and serve in our Texas Section office to be hard-working and more than willing to help with anything that needs to be done. I have also found that if I am upfront and honest, they are always willing to discuss any pertinent issue. Folks, that's the way it should be done...

The staff person at the Texas Section office who is our liasion is Chad Loup (pictured above) and he is fantastic. I have never met anyone in leadership who is more capable and more concerned about fairness and doing what is right. Chad and I talk frequently (and disagree from time to time) but he's always there and available. (Not to mention his greatest attribute--he is a Texas Longhorn!) Chad responded to one of our recent posts and I thought his response was well worth highlighting, so here it is:

"Some strong opinions out there. Please, if someone has something that they would like to be put on the website, email me anytime. As the staff liaison of the Officials Committee, I can honestly say that the Competitive Department of USTA Texas spends a great deal of resources on our Texas Officials(read: time, money) As for problems with volunteers and chairpersons, the president of the section is a great person to contact regarding issues with Committee members. I encourage everyone to contact me with specific issues. If the needs of Texas officials are not being met, then I will correct that. Please elaborate on specific examples of the impotence and lack of leadership in the Section and I can take the issues to the Executive Director and the appropriate folks here at the office. Unless the claims of impotence and lack of leadership refer to me, in which case, call my boss. I do not think either Rubel or McAllister read this blog regularly, so unless you notify them, or ask me too personally, your opinions are going to be taken for what they are worth...an anonymous rant on a blog. Good luck making a difference with that. I will say that in 18 months in this position not a single person has called me (other than Randy) to discuss problems with our Officials programming. I challenge you to make a difference...maybe identifying yourself would be a good start. I can help you all enjoy your officiating experience, but you have to allow me to help. I will not be reading the anonymous comments after this post. However, please bring your concerns to me personally. If I dont have one voicemail or email from you folks, I will be forced to do what you are claiming is being done all ready.....nothing. Thanks for your support of this great game that we love so much. Our number one goal is to grow the game and we need the support of our officials to do just that."

I appreciate having a young man like Chad helping us out. Perhaps you should all take a moment to write him a note of appreciation...

Retirement Is Finally Here!

Well, that grand and glorious day of RETIREMENT has finally come into my life. After 44 years of being a pastor/preacher I am formally retiring--and its a great feeling.

I have had a wonderful life as a pastor and learned more than I ever thought I could, but all good things must eventually come to an end. I have truly seen and experienced most of what life affords and it has all been good. The Lord has truly blessed me beyond measure.

Now that I am "retired" I can devote more time to tennis officiating. (It also helps pay the bills!) It also means I can devote more time to blogging so be sure to hold on... It should be great fun in the days to come!

Retirement is lots of fun but I'm already bored. You can only go to Home Depot so many times during a day. Its off to find something to do...

Shouldn't We Be Able To Expect More?

In the world of tennis officiating most of know the importance of COMMUNICATION AND ENLISTMENT. Without these two ingredients ours will soon be a dying breed--but with them we will grow and prosper for years to come. There are many local coordinators and other officials who spend countless hours (unpaid) in training and enlistment--but we need more help and communication from the top...

I checked out the Texas Section website today and then went to the "Officials" section to peruse the happenings around the state--and much to my surprise, there has been next to nothing done since 2008! On the positive side, at least the officials schools are accurately listed for the rest of this year.

If you check under "Home News" you will find that the last newsletter was posted in December of 2008. Then when you check under "Newsletters" you will find that the last newsletter was from the summer of 2008. We have numerous qualified individuals around the state who can and would do a monthly newsletter. All it takes is the fortitude to ask them...

If we are going to expand our officials base and recruit new officials, then there needs to be some up to date COMMUNICATION in our ranks!

Surely we have the right to expect more...

2010 Officials Schools

The final round of Officials Schools for 2010, will be taught during the month of June. Officials must attend a school annually so this is a great chance to complete your certification. Here are the schools, their dates, and their contact person:

June 12th Houston (Nancy Vivero: nancymv@aol.com)

June 18th Metroplex (Nancy Ebersole: ncebersole@yahoo.com)

June 26th Waco (Jane Hammond: evelynjane1020@hotrr.com)

2010 ITA National Champions

2010 Men's National Champions

University of Southern California

2010 Women's National Champions

Stanford University

And Then There Were None...

A whole bunch of Texas schools (and I guess we should include Oklahoma since they are in the Big 12) made it to the NCAA tournament--but today there are none left...

Baylor men and women and Oklahoma made it the furtherest advancing to the quarterfinal round but the Baylor women lost to Stanford, the Baylor men lost to Tennessee, and Oklahoma lost to Georgia.

Oh well, there's always next year...

Jesus Made It To The NJCAA Tournament--And Got Coded!

Jesus made it to the NJCAA tournament but got coded when His name was mentioned...

In a doubles match, one of the players said "JESUS" after he lost a point. The chair official immediately coded him for "unsportsmanlike conduct--language."

The code brought up some of the paradoxes that we have as officials:

* Table 15 of the FAC (Page 126) says to always penalize "references to deities when associated with curses." In our schools we teach that "if Jesus has a last name such as Christ, then code it; otherwise leave it alone." Sorry to disappoint you but Christ is not Jesus' last name...

* Table 15 also says to always penalize "words and gestures that are considered patently offensive to court personnel, players, or spectators." I guarantee you that many people (myself included) were offended when the player said "Jesus" in the manner in which he said it.

* God doesn't have a last name unless it is Yahweh. It sure isn't "dang" or "damn". We teach to code God-damn but not God-dang. And we wonder why our new officials get confused.

Personally, I would not have issued a code but would have given a strong caution that I didn't want to hear that again; however, some of the statements above seem to say that the chair official was justified in issuing the code.

BTW, one of the coaches said that he expected his players to be coded if they said "Jesus" in a derogatory manner...

Look below for a little more food for thought in today's DIVERSE OFFICIATING WORLD...

BUDDHA

(No last name to be found anywhere)

MUHAMMED

(No last name and no real life pictures to be found anywhere)

Now what do you do when a player shouts one of their names????

NJCAA Tri National Champions 2010

Tri National Champions Laredo College

6th Consecutive National Championship

Jaime Donjuan

Laredo Head Coach

Tri National Champions Tyler Junior College

John Peterson

Tyler Head Coach

Tri National Champions Collin College

Marty Berryman

Collin College Head Coach

Interesting Sights at the NJCAA Tournament

Cheering Squad of Collin College men

Collin coach, Marty Berryman, in action

Rex Parcells & Doug Helton of Collin College

Chair Academy 2010

Sue Trautmann (instructor) & Chad Loup (Tx. Section office) led out in our 2010 Chair Academy this past week in Plano, Texas. Pictured below are some of our participants.

Gary Tolbert (DeSoto) & Darrell Bryan (Tyler)

Bryan Rainwater (Ft. Stockton) & Ron Whitson (Metroplex)

Roger Mills (Austin) & Mary Lynn Satur (Metroplex)

Rick Gabel (Austin)

Lisa McDermott (Texarkana)

John Garza (San Antonio)

Gayle Land (Metroplex), Lynne Wiggins (Austin) & April Hadley (Houston)

Gary Rayburn (Metroplex)

Dean Richardville (Tulsa)

Bert Rainwater (Ft. Stockton)

Cathy Kennan (Metroplex) & Cheryl Jones (San Antonio)

Hector The Hot Dog Appears At The NJCAA Tournament

The famous Hector the Hot Dog

Smuggler Lee Ann Bain (L) and Ron Ferguson (R)

In the keeping of all good officials, our own Lee Ann Bain (pictured above with Ron Ferguson) came to the rescue of Myron Krueger during the NJCAA national tournament in Plano.

Seems that Myron had been on court for quite some time and was experiencing ravaging hunger pains--so Lee Ann leapt to the the rescue!

Pictured above is the infamous Hector the Hot Dog as he was smuggled on to the court in a tennis ball can to satisfy the raging hunger pangs of our undernourished Myron Kruger...

Men's National Junior College Tournament Update

What a great start we had to our tournament today as we operated out of "Randy's Tent" at the tournament site.

Sausages and hot dogs were prepared for all of our officials by Chef Tom Wright.

Of course Tom needed a break and the illustrious Myron Krueger was always around.

We were honored to have Chad Loup from the Texas Section Office in our midst. (Please note that he is also a Longhorn!)

The infamous Cathy Kennan (Metroplex) had a little trouble seeing with her repaired glasses but she made it through just fine.

The great trio of Lee Ann Bain (Austin), Ron Ferguson (Norman, Oklahoma) & Chad Loup.

We were also honored to have Joe Buys as one of our instructors--and of course, Lee Ann Bain is always there to get a hug...

Tyler Junior College Women--2010 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

Special congratulations to the Tyler Junior College women's tennis team for being crowned the 2010 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.

The Lady Apaches won 9 of 10 flights in the national tournament held this week in Arizona.

Their coach is the most honorable John Peterson (who will also be bringing his men's team to nationals in Plano next week and is one of the favorites.

Men's Junior College Nationals: May 10-14, 2010

One of the most exciting ITA tournaments in the nation begins on Monday in Plano with the start of the Men's Junior College National Tournament. The tournament features over 30 different colleges and well over 100 players from all around the world.

This year's favorites are Laredo College (defending champion), Tyler Junior College, and Collin College in Plano.

One of the most exciting aspects of the tournament is that it is also the host of the 2010 Texas Section Chair Academy on May 10 and 11. This year's academy is the largest ever and will be taught by national and state instructors.

Here are the officials who will be working this year's tournament:

Tom & Vickie Wright (Austin)

Myron Krueger (Aledo)

Randall Edwards (Metroplex)

Cathy Kennan (Metroplex)

Seande Pulley (Metroplex)

Roz Tuerk (Commerce)

Ron Ferguson (Oklahoma)

Dean Richardville (Oklahoma)

David Fleuriet (Waco)

Herb Taylor (Austin)

Gary Tolbert (Metroplex)

Lee Ann Bain (Austin & Parts north)

Lee Thornburg (McKinney)

Bernie West (Waco)

A Referee Is King (Or Queen)--At Least In His/Her Own Mind

Serving as a REFEREE is indeed one of the most powerful, difficult, enjoyable, stressful, and scrutinized positions in a tournament--but its also one that elicits the most comments. Much ado is being made these days about referee's decisions because its not just dual match time, it is also conference tournament time...

I am good friends with many fellow referees and we have a great time getting together and sharing "war stories". Its amazing what happens to all of during the course of a year. Since I have been privileged to referee two ITA National Indoor Tournaments as well as countless conference tournaments and hundreds of dual matches, I thought I would venture out with some of my own personal guidelines that I use in tournaments (not dual matches):

* Always be aware of the personality makeup of your team of officials. You should be aware of each official's strengths and weaknesses and assign them accordingly.

* Never assign someone as referee when they graduated from or played for one of the schools involved. This creates a problem when there doesn't need to be one.

* Never assign someone as referee when they are the coordinator for one of the schools. No coach wants to see the opposing coach's coordinator serving as referee.

* Cautiously use officials on a match when they have graduated from one of the schools or are the coordinator for one of the schools. This can and is done but leaves you open for unwanted criticism.

* Listen to the coaches involved. There is no substitute for listening.

* Never let one official continually officiate a specific player's matches.

* Be very visible if you are the tournament referee but don't try to micromanage. If your officials are good enough to be there then they are good enough to do their match. Trust your officials to do the right thing. If there is ever a question, I always ask the chair official first and then trust what they tell me to be the truth. Supporting your officials is one of the prime jobs of a tournament referee.

* Don't stand and hover over matches for long periods of time. If you are standing and observing the coaches, players, and fans might want you to overrule a line call or call a footfault or something worse. I always stand a reasonable distance away so I can still see but not involve myself in a match. That's why we have chair umpires.

* Convey to your coaches and players that they can always present their case but have to do it in a civil manner. I never permit coaches, players, or fans to yell at me or my officials.

* Never correct or berate an official in front of someone else. You wouldn't want that done to you so why would you do it to them.

* Expect all officials to be clean, well dressed, and clean-shaven. You would think this would never have to be addressed--but it does. Players sometimes smell but officials never should!

* Be as friendly, courteous, efficient, and professional as you can be. You have a tremendously important job and it needs to be done well.

These are just a few of my thoughts and comments--we would welcome hearing yours...

2010 Chair Academy

Congratulations to those who have been selected to participate in this year's Chair Academy which begins on May 9th. The Academy will be held in conjunction with the Men 's Junior College National tournament and features intense training at the collegiate level. The 2010 class is the largest in the Academy's history.

Here are our instructors for this year's Academy:

Bruce Avery

Joe Buys

Cheryl Jones

Sue Trautmann

Marc Archuleta

Brookie Green

Here are the participants in this year's Academy:

Doug Bailiff (Metroplex)

Darrell Bryan (Tyler)

Chuck Emmerich (Houston)

Ron Ferguson (Oklahoma)

Rick Gabel (Austin)

John Garza (San Antonio)

Walter Gooch (Metroplex)

April Hadley (Houston)

Gayle Land (Metroplex)

Chuck McDermott (Metroplex)

Lisa McDermott (Tyler)

Roger Mills (Austin)

Ray Perme (San Antonio)

Bert Rainwater (Ft. Stockton)

Bryan Rainwater (Ft. Stockton)

Gary Rayburn (Metroplex)

Dean Richardville (Oklahoma)

Ron Salazar (Colorado)

Mary Lynn Satur (Metroplex)

Ron Whitson (Metroplex)

Lynne Wiggins (Austin)

The Fleeting Value of a Dollar

In today's world of inflation its not uncommon to hear people talk about the value of a dollar. Many of us can remember when tennis shoes were $6, Jack Kramer rackets were $14, and gut strings were $12--but those days are now long gone...

Just received a notice from the USTA about the junior's Grand Slam tournament this summer.

Entry fee: $81.13 per person.

And we just thought the dollar was diminishing...

The Importance of Appearances

Ever since the Big 12 Tournament began on Thursday my phone has been ringing and my emails mounting. Seems that people (players, fans, and coaches alike) have been seeing things they either don't understand or don't like. That brings us to today's post and that is: the importance of APPEARANCES.

In the Bible we are told to avoid even the appearance of impropriety--and I think that is a standard that should hold true in all of life--and specifically in the world of tennis officiating.

I am not going to personally comment on these points but will simply state them for your comments. AT NO POINT are we questioning an official and their integrity but these points seem to suggest some improvements need to be made in APPEARANCES.

These are the major points that I have been sent:

* In the Baylor vs Nebraska men's match, the head referee was a former Baylor coach. This referee also chaired the #1 doubles match which is a violation of Big 12 policy.

* In the Baylor vs Texas A&M men's match, the referee is the Texas A&M coordinator.

* In the Baylor vs Texas A&M men's match, one of the officials is a former A&M player and one is the parent of a former A&M player.

* In the Texas A&M vs Texas men's match, the referee is a former A&M player.

* In the Texas A&M vs Texas men's match the above mentioned three officials were assigned again to an A&M match.

* In the Baylor vs Texas women's final, the Baylor player was denied a medical timeout in the 3rd set tiebreak by the chair (who is the Texas women's coordinator.)

* In the Baylor vs Texas women's final, the Texas player was allowed to take a medical timeout when she was trailing down a set and 5-1. The chair who granted the medical timeout is the Texas men's coordinator.

My only thought would be that when there are other matches at the same time and matches where there would be no conflict of interest, then those officials should have been assigned to those matches. Its not fair to put our quality officials in questionable positions.

We would welcome your thoughts and comments...

Congratulations Are In Order

University of North Texas women

Sun Belt Conference Champions

University of Texas Men

Big 12 Conference Champions

TCU Women

Mountain West Conference Champions

Baylor University Women

Big 12 Champions

TCU Men

Mountain West Champions

What a great week for ITA tennis! A bunch of conference tournaments are over and Texas has come out the winner.

Congratulations to the champions listed above and best of luck at the NCAA's.

BE SURE to check the blog tomorrow as we will be addressing some of the issues at the Big 12 tournament. I think you will find it quite interesting to say the least.