Do We Have The Right To Have Expectations Of Others?

We all live in a world of GREAT EXPECTATIONS.

One of the most resounding questions asked through history is, "do we have the right to have expectations of others?" The obvious answer is YES. When we interact with others on either a personal or professional level, there will always be expectations and the way we succeed and find happiness is to know and understand those expectations. This process is especially true in the officiating world because many of our problem areas arise because of unfulfilled or misunderstood expectations. Here are a few expectations for your consideration:

EXPECTATIONS OF AN OFFICIAL

* That you know the rules of tennis and how to apply them fairly.

* That you get along with others in a work environment.

* That you know how to bathe and use deodorant on a regular basis.

* That you know how to coordinate your clothing. If you are going to wear a black shirt, please don't wear pink or turquoise shoes.

* That you know how to wash clothes and always show up with clean garments.

* That you know when you hat/cap is worn out. Please don't wear a hat that looks like your great grandfather wore it.

* That you are willing to listen to your referee and in some cases, the more experienced officials. There's nothing more ineffective than a bull-headed official who won't listen.

* That you understand that coaches, players, and parents are actually humans and deserve our respect. We are not called into the officials world to be Attila the Hun.

EXPECTATIONS OF A REFEREE

* That you have an experienced grasp of the rules and know how to apply them.

* That you treat those who work for you with respect and dignity.

* That you pay attention to what is happening around you.

* That you know how to have fun and enjoy being with the other officials.

* That you are protective of those who work for you.

EXPECTATIONS OF A TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR

* That you know and understand the role of a TD--and then operate within that role.

* That you don't act like the "boss" and dictate orders to everyone around you.

* That you don't keep reminding us that we work for you--we already know that.

* That you pay attention when you are doing the draws so we don't have to correct them later.

* That you hire legitimate site directors who actually know what they are doing.

* That you provide lunch/supper for your officials just like you do for your site directors--and don't complain all the time about how we are taking away your profits.

* If you don't provide meals then have the integrity to provide enough money for an official to buy his own lunch. Recommended amount is $10 per meal.

* Treat all officials with dignity and respect. In most cases they have much more training and experience than you do.

* Relax and enjoy the tournament. Not every parent is a devil out to get you and not every official is incompetent.

* Do not constantly tell the officials how little money you are making on a tournament.

* If you require officials to be a site 30 minutes before start time then pay them from the time you require them to be there. No official likes to donate 30 minutes of time just because you want them there.

* Don't ask an official to stand on a court for 6-8 hours without a break. Remember you are the one in the shade or AC at the tournament desk.

* Don't ask us to be site directors. You should hire someone else for that job.

* Don't expect sinless perfection out of your officials. We're human just like you are.

The Legend & Lore Of The Ohio State Buckeye

The logo of the university claiming the "buckeyes."

Picture of two actual buckeyes--the source of all good luck!

There are times in our lives when we encounter situations in which we learn valuable life lessons--and that happened for me this weekend at the ITA tournament in Waco...

We had a great time with the men's tournament and saw some really good tennis but I learned the most from a younger (that means not as old as I) official who shared the legend of the Ohio State Buckeye...

Since I did not actually know what a "buckeye" was, I guess I was wide open to his wisdom. Seems that the "buckeye" is actually a nut off of a tree and is the state tree of Ohio. The "eyes" on the nuts are actually supposed to be the eyes of a buck hence they arrive at the name "buckeye."

It is also symbolic of a Big 10 university called Ohio State University but I will leave that wisdom for a later post.

This younger official imparted this wisdom and he gifted me with a set of buckeyes (pictured above) and said the stories goes thusly,

"If you one wishes to have good luck, then one should rub his nuts."

I will leave all applications of this proverb to your own imagination... but thanks to the younger one for his impartation of wisdom and knowlege.

Congratulations To Lauren Longbotham Meisner

Auburn University

Lauren Longbotham Meisner

New Auburn Women's Tennis Coach

Auburn University Tennis

Our special congratulations to Lauren Longbotham Meisner as she became the head women's tennis coach at Auburn University this week. Lauren had a great tenure as tennis coach at SMU which culminated with her team making the final 16 this past year.

Best wishes to Lauren and Tod as they begin their new life in Alabama... I have a feeling that the competition in the SEC is going to be a tad tougher than in Conference USA.

Chair Training At Highland Park

Highland Park High School is host to a dynamic officials training program.

Officials are given on-court training at each HP home match.

There are times when UIL high school programs rise up to assist the USTA--and Highland Park High School in Dallas is one of those schools. Highland Park High School is the host site for the only officials on-court training program in the nation and is certainly to be commended for their generosity and vision for officiating in America.

Under the guidance of their head coach, Dan Holden, HPHS has chair officials for all of their home matches and the officials have a great opportunity for on-court training by a certified official. The program was begun two years ago and now features on-court officiating in ten home matches. In an average home match each official will get to chair 2-3 matches so it is a great opportunity for training.

Under the direction of Randy McDonald and Dan Holden, the training program has grown to a full slate of officials this year. Randy states, "The experience that an official can gain by doing at least 20-30 chairs with a supervisor is fantastic. This experience enables them to move into the collegiate officiating ranks with no difficulties. Thanks to Highland Park for giving us this opportunity to train our new officials."

The training program at Highland Park is a great springboard for officials to move up the officiating ladder. Since most ITA coordinators require an official to have "experience" before being hired, this is a great beginning for that level of experience. Each official has classroom instruction before ever taking the court and then has an experienced instructor observing each of their matches.

If you are interested in being part of this exciting program, contact Randy McDonald at 214 796 7402 or rmtennis@yahoo.com

Update on ITA Apparel

Officials shirts can be ordered with "Referee" or "Official" embroidered on them.

ITA windshirts.

Our supplier wants us to email Whitney Leasley instead of calling her. That way they have a paper trail to confirm the orders.

Here is the link to the company in Waco: http://qtipromo.com/
This can also be accessed by clicking on "ITA Apparel" on the top right of the blog.

The new site does not have a link to the ITA apparel yet and the management has asked that you EMAIL this person to place your orders for ITA apparel: (We will publish a blog post when the site has a link to our ITA apparel.)

Whitney Leasley (wleasley@qtipowers.com)

Note to all ITA officials: Remember that the black shirts are now required to do ITA matches in Texas.

Here are the items that are available:

Men's black ITA shirts ($23) w/"referee" or "official" embroidered S,M,L,XL,2XL,3XL

Ladies black ITA shirts ($23) w/"referee" or "official" embroidered S,M,L,XL

Black vests ($49) w/"official"

Black jackets ($55) w/"official" embroidered (these are from the same company as the Big 12 jackets)

S,M,L,XL,2XL,3XL

Khaki ITA caps ($9) for "Official" and black ITA caps ($9) for "Referee". The caps will have the appropriate title embroidered on them--please do not ask to have "Official" embroidered on a black cap.

Words From Baby Serena

Here are a few thoughts and musings from our hero--Serena...

* I only made $1.5 million at this year's tournament so I have the right to scream.

* That chair official hates me so I can do whatever I want.

* I didn't think Stosur was that good.

* Venus got better toys than I did.

* My butt is too big to get around the court that fast.

* All chair officials hate me because I'm black.

* My Daddy made me do it.

* I'm still mad because Venus designs better dresses than I do.

* I miss Henin.

* Too bad I couldn't have had Lynn Welch for a chair umpire. She overrules everything.

* I should have gone to college.

* Does anyone have Hussein Obama's phone number? Maybe he could help me with my anger management classes.

* A $2,000 fine? I spend that much on my nails.

* Since I'm black, I should get 3 games and choice of toss at the first of every match.

* I want a black chair official for all of my matches. Maybe then I'll get the respect I deserve.

* Am I the best female tennis player ever? YES

We Have A Ways To Go On Diversity

Even the pooches are open to diversity...

Even though the USTA seems to spend their every waking moment trying to achieve diversity, there are still places out there that seem to be untouched. If diversity is their goal at the Open, then I would say they are doing well. I'm just wondering what happened to the over 45 white male...

Here are some quotes that I thought you might find interesting while we are discussing diversity:

"You old white people. It is your duty to die."
HISPANIC LEADERS SPEAK OUT

Augustin Cebada, Brown Berets; "Go back to Boston ! Go back to Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims! Get out! We are the future. You are old and tired. Go on. We have beaten you. Leave like beaten rats. You old white people. It is your duty to die. Through love of having children, we are going to take over.

Richard Alatorre, Los Angeles City Council. "They're afraid we're going to take over the governmental institutions and other institutions. They're right. We will take them over . . . We are here to stay."

Excelsior, the national newspaper of Mexico , "The American Southwest seems to be slowly returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without firing a single shot."

Professor Jose Angel Gutierrez, University of Texas ; "We have an aging white America . They are not making babies. They are dying. The explosion is in our population . . . I love it. They are sh----g in their pants with fear. I love it."

Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party, "Remember 187--proposition to deny taxpayer funds for services to non-citizens--was the last gasp of white America in California ."

Gloria Molina, Los Angeles County Supervisor, "We are politicizing every single one of these new citizens that are becoming citizens of this country . . ... I gotta tell you that a lot of people are saying, "I'm going to go out there and vote because I want to pay them back."

Mario Obledo, California Coalition of Hispanic Organizations and California State Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Governor Jerry Brown, also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton, " California is going to be a Hispanic state. Anyone who doesn't like it should leave."

Jose Pescador Osuna, Mexican Consul General, "We are practicing 'La Reconquista' in California .."

Professor Fernando Guerra, Loyola Marymount University ; "We need to avoid a white backlash by using codes understood by Latinos . . . "

Lest We Forget

September 11, 2001

Low Pay & Lawsuits--Life In The USTA

Seems that things are heating up for the USTA in their dealings with officials from around the world. Below is an article just published about the pay at the Open and other Grand Slam tournaments.

Four United States officials recently filed a lawsuit against the USTA over their pay at the US Open. If you would like a copy of this lawsuit, email me at rmtennis@yahoo.com and I'll be glad to send you a copy.

Enjoy reading...

This weekend, the men’s and women’s singles champions at the United States Open will take home at least $1.8 million each. The total prize money is a record $23.7 million. The tournament’s revenue is expected to exceed $200 million.

At the United States Open, the highest-rated umpires in tennis make $250 a day.

Gold badge chair umpires, the highest-rated officials in professional tennis, the ones who work the most important tournaments and matches, make $250 each day at the Open. It is the lowest pay rate for any Grand Slam tournament. There are 26 such umpires. Twenty-four of them worked Wimbledon, but only 13 are here at the Open.
“We’ve been saying this for years and years,” Norm Chryst, a retired gold badge chair umpire, said Tuesday in a telephone interview. “The U.S. Open makes more and more each year, but very little of that goes to the officials. Gold badge umpires don’t want to come here. Why? A lot of the answer is money.”
For gold badge umpires, officiating tournaments is their primary job and main source of income. At most tournaments, their pay is set by the ATP World Tour, the WTA or the International Tennis Federation. But at Grand Slam events, tournament organizers dictate everything from pay rates to accommodations.
Chryst said the United States Open once paid the most among major tournaments, an assertion that was confirmed by a current gold badge umpire who requested anonymity because they are not allowed to conduct interviews without permission. Now, the Open pays the least.
The Open declined to make available the director of officials, the tournament referee or any top umpires. But Chris Widmaier, the managing director of communications for the United States Tennis Association, said: “We’re very comfortable with the quality of officials. There doesn’t seem to be any controversy except the controversy that one disgruntled official has stirred up.”
One gold badge umpire detailed complaints, including pay, to The Times, a London newspaper, earlier this week. But Chryst said the issue went beyond one official, as shown by the umpires who are not working the Open. They include some of the most respected in the sport, like Lars Graff, Mohamed Lahyani, Cedric Mourier and Steve Ullrich, the chair umpire for last year’s men’s singles final.
Widmaier said the Open generally hired 15 or 16 gold badge umpires. He said that two declined this year to spend less time on the road, and another ran into visa issues. Asked if all 26 gold badge umpires would be ideal at the Open, he said that many would not be necessary.
“We look at every aspect of this tournament every year,” he said. “If we feel improvements need to be made, we make them.”
A spreadsheet obtained by The New York Times showed that Wimbledon paid gold badge umpires £189, or about $306 daily. The French Open paid 190 euros (about $270), even for the tournament’s qualifying rounds, while the United States Open pays $185 a day for its qualifying rounds.
At the Australian Open, gold badge umpires earn about $383 for each main draw day, and they make overtime if they work more than 10 hours, a perk none of the other Grand Slam tournaments provide.
The differences extend beyond pay scale. Gold badge umpires receive their own hotel rooms at the United States and French Opens, share two-bedroom apartments in Australia and must book their own accommodations at Wimbledon, where they get about $121.50 a day for expenses.
All tournaments provide on-site meal vouchers, with none higher than the French Open (about $37). All also pay a portion of the umpires’ travel expenses, with the United States Open, at $500 for travel both domestic and international, again the lowest of the majors.
Chryst said the problems with the United States Open went beyond pay, extending to more complaints like too many hours and not enough days off. Chryst said the absences were heavier on the men’s side, with more ATP gold badge umpires absent. “They’re the ones who see the players every week,” he said.
Told that officials believed the tournament had not suffered in quality, Chryst noted that several gold badge umpires did not work the entire United States Open in 2004 because they were involved in a credential scandal at the Athens Olympics.
An umpire officiating an Open match that year between Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati made one particularly erroneous call, an instance often credited as the impetus behind the implementation of the Hawk-Eye instant replay system. The umpire, Chryst said, was rated a silver badge.
“Was Hawk-Eye ultimately fortunate for all umpires?” he asked. “I think so. It’s a good thing. But that’s what can happen when the best aren’t there.”
Players appear more aware of individual umpires than their respective ratings. Told of the lack of top-level umpires at this year’s Open, Roger Federer said: “I don’t know about that. It’s a tough job being an umpire. I wish that all the best umpires would be here, but it is who it is, and I hope that they can resolve the issue.”
Chryst said, “There’s nothing the umpires can do except not come.”

Article written by Greg Bishop.

Great Article About One Of Our Own

Lynn Welch

Lynn Welch is by no means famous. She knows this, and likes it that way. She is slightly embarrased when people call her name out on the grounds of tournaments, asking to take a picture with her or have her sign an autograph. She obliges when away from the courts, but when she is nearby, she politely declines.

But the notoriety -- however big or small -- has been dutifully earned. For the past 18 years, Welch, a Maine native, has worked the professional tennis circuit as a chair umpire, earning Gold Badge status, the highest of ratings for a working professional in her field.

I meet Lynn on Day 10 of the Open, while rain spits steadily outside of Louis Armstrong Stadium. She is underneath in a tucked-away corner, with a group of umpires, some of who are playing cards to pass time. "I'll be in white pants and a navy blue sweater," she told me earlier on the phone. "OK," I think. "But so will everyone else you're around."

I don't need to know what Welch is wearing because I've seen her before, of course, working tour matches, including the US Open final last year between Kim Clijsters and Vera Zvonareva. She has worked over 10 Grand Slam finals and various other semifinals, oftentimes the choice because of her experience, especially when no American player has reached that match (just another precaution for neutrality).

Welch is known by fans at home, as well as those at tournaments. Her voice has been a steady force -- literally -- in the chair for nearly 20 years, and she's been under contract with the WTA for the last three years since earning her Gold Badge in 2003.

"My friends will say that when they're in their kitchen they'll hear me in the living room and know that I'm on -- they'll hear me before they see me," Welch says, laughing a little. "Someone told me I should go into doing voice-over work... for some reason a lot of people will say they love my voice in the chair. They say they enjoy the clarity of it."

I enjoy it, too, and half expected Welch to great me by saying "Deuce" or "Advantage, Roddick." But she doesn't, instead saying hello with a warm smile and dutifully setting out to determine a spot where we can go and talk.

We walk through the underbelly of Louis Armstrong Stadium and make our way to an office in Grandstand, where Welch greets familiar faces along the way. She begins telling me about working her way up from being a linesperson and Bronze and Silver Badge umpire to eventually sitting where she is today.

I can't help but wonder about crazy moments on court, asking her what she's seen and experienced over the last two decades.

In 2003, Welch worked a third-round US Open match between Ai Sugiyama and Francesca Schiavone that was delayed over four days. On the fourth day, the players had only been on court for a few minutes when Welch felt a ball hit her in the side of the head -- an errant throw by a ball person.

"I went to the microphone to say the score and thwop! It hit me in the side of the head and knocked my glasses to the ground off the chair," Welch recalls. "I realized I was bleeding and noticed that the players hadn't seen what happened. I had to yell out for them to wait for me, "Wait!"

"Ai Sugiyama walked over and made me an ice pack ... but all I could think was it was day four of this match and I was another delay." Welch was able to start up again, but the rain started up again itself, stopping the match 10 minutes later.

If blood didn't stop Welch, neither would a broken ankle on another occasion, she says.

"I got down to check a ball mark and just missed one of the rungs of the ladder," she recalls. "The first thing I thought was, 'I broke my ankle' ... but I got up and kept going."

Later in the match, when Welch went to check another mark, someone yelled, "Don't get down!" The crowd laughed, she says, but the players wouldn't let her get down. Instead, they checked the marks themselves.

Welch's perseverance has seen her through a system of peer review, where umpires will be assigned to help each other along by watching one another's matches and giving feedback on how each other did.

"We may tell each other, 'You could have tried this,' or ask, 'How did you feel about this?'" she says. "Those reviews go to the ITF. We do it at all the Grand Slams. You can always learn from how you did."

Welch often watches her matches on tape afterwards, critiquing the way she handled confrontations or made certain overrules. "I have high expectations of my performance on and off the court. You have to be yourself but you don't want to do something that will get people talking. You have to present a professional demeanor on the court."

Her memory is uncanny. The bleeding match? Sugiyama and Schiavone. And when she broke her ankle in 2001? That was Jenny Hopkins and Lisa Raymond.

The meticulousness about Welch is not too surprising, it is her job to pay attention to details. She has a method to how she approaches each and every match. She always tries to be aware of the whole court's surrounding, use preventative umpiring to temper what could be contentious situations and, her advice to up and coming umpires? "Make sure your umpire bag is packed for the day," she says, "there's nothing more embarrassing than forgetting something when you're on court."

On the rainy Wednesday afternoon, Welch is waiting for the rain to subside, having been moved to the first match on instead of the second. She notes that she hasn't seen the players much during the Open ("this is one of the bigger tournaments"), but that she usually just says a passing hi -- no out to drinks or dinner with their families. And what does she love about it all? "I love my job. I love that I get to travel."

On our way under Armstrong Stadium I wonder if anyone will recognize Welch, but she stops short with a group of groundspeople, not for autographs but to get an update on when play might start.

"[It] makes me chuckle. Just because people see me on TV they think I'm famous, but I'm just a normal person," she says, throwing her small black umpire's bag over her shoulder. "But it makes me feel good, too, when they say something like, 'You're my favorite umpire.' It gives me a smile for the day."

And Baylor Takes A Stand

A loyal fan of the green and gold.

Thought you might enjoy reading this great article about today's Baylor stand against A&M going to the SEC.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/headlines/20110907-bear-trap-sec-accepts-texas-am-but-baylor-makes-a-stand.ece