Even though the background checks have been completed by most and ignored by some, at least people are doing more to protect our children. I do however believe that if people do not take the background check or fail it, then they should not be working in tennis. Sadly, that is not the case here in Texas...
Here's a great article by Eric Longabardi that you will enjoy:
9 comments:
I agree. I know in fact there is an official acting as Referee for some of the Texas A&M matches that is no longer certified because he either didn't bother to fill out his background check or either knew he would fail. I found out about it the moment I turned up to work a match a couple of weeks ago and realized he was the Referee. If I had known that, I wouldn't have worked the match. The sad thing is his wife is the coordinator of officials for the university and knows he is no longer certified, but continues to use him.
How blatant is that? That is in direct conflict with the Officials' Code of Conduct, Item 16 "Conduct himself or herself in a professional, ethical manner." In my opinion, she is just as culpable as her husband for letting him work and should be either banned from working tennis events or put on probation.
I also wonder what the university would do if they found out about this, provided of course they don't already know.
I support background checks. However, in the cases of officials who don't pass background checks, and their failure has nothing to do with children or sex at any age, I believe they should be considered for a waiver. As it now stands one has no opportunity for an appeal or a right to be heard on the issue.
Why am I NOT surprised to hear what is happening down in Texas with my most favorite coordinator in the whole wide world. If my favorite coordinator was named Pooh Bear, which Thank God she isn't, she would remind me of one of my favorite jokes:
Q. How many Pooh Bears does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. One. Pooh inserts the light bulb, then waits for the rest of the story to revolve around her.
Background checks are for more than just the deviant child molester. A person with a violent criminal history should give us a pause as well. In most cases, these individuals are abusive and have short tempers. Those with violent criminal records or serious criminal records, if they commit acts of violence while working tournaments, leave the tournament staff open to liability concerns as well as public embarrassment and the knowledge that someone was injured while working a tournament.
So who is responsible for the actions of this ITA officials that still officiates - is it a problem for the USTA to enforce on an ITA official or is it an ITA situation? Before you say your Chair person should handle it - maybe the USTA/ITA should of thought through this situation - before launching the program... we have a lot of Chiefs and no Indians in a money-hungry lawyer infested America!!!
Say it is not so.....Officials needs to follow the rules if they are to enforce rules.
Where is the USTA enforcement???
Then again the rules state that only 2 certified officials are required in order for the match to count toward ranking. Therefore if more than 2 officials are being used, do the others have to be certified?
I think the rule means that you must have at least two certified officials for each match. It also takes for granted that ALL officials should be certified. It is not an open ended invitation to have two certified officials and four non-certified officials.
The national USTA already made a public statement that they are not responsible for who other entities hire. Their lawyer also supported this position.
That is, universities can hire whomever they want, certified or uncertified, and it would be up to the ITA to determine if they should be ranked if using uncertified offcials.
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