Hello Everyone,
We know the season has started and the 2012 USTA shirt policy at non-USTA events will be a challenge for you and your officials.
We have discussed this transition for a number of years at our fall meetings and now the USTA would like for us to enforce the policy. Please relay to your officials and other interested parties that the USTA shirt and gear (including USTA Sectional Shirts and gear) are not to be worn at non-USTA events; like ITA, High School, ATP and WTA events.
David Benjamin, the head of the ITA is looking into having a National ITA shirt. He understands that some regions/conferences have already decided or are currently working with the officials to have their own shirt. The ITA has not and will not discourage schools from doing this. If no shirt is offered by the teams/conferences in a region, then a generic ITA Officials shirt would be available through the ITA. We are currently working with the ITA and our vender to offer an ITA shirt and every effort will be made to keep the cost down. Stand by for further information on this.
In the meantime, if no shirt is offered to the officials by non-USTA events, decide upon a solid color polo to be used at these non-USTA events. This can be determined by your section with input from the college/school or any other organizers of non-USTA events.
Just covering the logo on the current USTA national shirt does not suffice since our USTA shirt is highly recognizable with or without a logo. In time we may also offer a non-logo generic Tennis Officials Shirt (slightly different from our current USTA shirt) for use at non- USTA events other than ITA. We can look into having a shirt that can handle patches to be attached to the sleeve of such a generic shirt that would accommodate other non-USTA events.
We appreciate your cooperation and patience throughout this transition. Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.
Thanks
Donna
Feel free to draw your own conclusions about this fiasco. As for those ITA OFFICIALS WHO WORK IN TEXAS--we will continue to use the black ITA apparel. The letter clearly states that if we already have an ITA uniform in a region, then we can continue to use it.
For those who work UIL events, we are working with the UIL and trying to come up with a suitable shirt to be worn with the UIL logo. We will let you know when the details have been finalized.
15 comments:
Looks like Richie wants to still keep his hands-on-control of the new ITA uniform by "working with our vendor". That's just code for 'protecting my kickback'.
The USTA suits should have had a phase-in period for this announcement. We're almost in the middle of the college season. And it's get new gear time, immediately. WOW!!
I want to comment on 2 problems, even though there are many more.
1. There is still no discussion, or comment on non-authorized persons wearing the USTA shirt at USTA events, and even representing themselves as USTA officials. That must be OK.
2. USTA has no way to enforce or even check on this. The suits will demand the change, expect everyone to buy new shirts, keep the commission coming into the USTA coffers and then ignore any issues that develop from this statement.
This sounds good to me - I cannot stand the USTA shirt designs anyway. Makes me look Phatter than I already am....
BACO
I can't wait to be rid of that tri-colored joke of a shirt. I'm donating mine to Goodwill this afternoon.
The USTA wants to abandon any responsilability for a good portion of their members, but yet keep collecting those dues for those members. NICE!!
This just goes one step further showing what a bunch of idiots the USTA employs. It would be different to say we will ease into changing of the shirts, but to come up with an immediate "stop use" order in the middle of the ITA season is quite laughable.
As Texas officials, I say screw the USTA and their annointed leadership. Texas should just come up with our own standard shirt and use it for all events. The current USTA shirt (AND LOGO) sucks any way.
If the USTA is all about promoting tennis. In what way does this promote tennis? I can somewhat understand ITA because they have circumvented the rules, but why UIL? They play pretty much by the USTA Code. (Well except for that playback thing.) Not too worried about ATP or WTA they provide shirts anyway.
What is the real reason for this anyway?
The USTA's position on shirts should also equate to training. Based on their position that we can't wear the USTA shirt to non-USTA events, then why are we required to attend schools for non-USTA events, i.e., ITA?
Since I don't work USTA-sanctioned events, I shouldn't be required to get recertified each year by the USTA.
Does anybody know a good black lawyer? I think another class-action lawsuit againt the USTA will nip this in the bud.
We all know the USTA will cower away and hide, especially if blacks are complaining.
Lets see what the officials are wearing at the Dallas Challenger this week. I'm sure they will be allowed to wear the crappy USTA shirt.
Time is ripe to create our own ITA Officials Association, totally separate from the USTA. We need to contact David Benjamin and get his input.
The new organization would be more effective than the current USTA and we could conduct our own training. We wouldn't have to pay useless USTA dues nor put up with USTA red tape. This will weed out some of those coordinators, especially from the West Coast, that sacrifice ITA assignments for ATP and WTA events.
Is anybody up for such a move. If so, please comment? RM, this could be a separate topic for discussion on your blog. I can draft a constitution and bylaws to go by. Let me know.
If the USTA wants to distance themselves from non-USTA events, then I say lets go for it. Do away with USTA-directed certification for Referees, Officials, and Umpires from non-USTA events; which means no more USTA-directed schools.
Watch out USTA - SOUNDS LIKE you may get what your asking for... NON-ASSOCIATION!!!!
Sounds like something I heard this morning:
From to WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN - MUCH IS REQUIRED!!!
The Challenger of Dallas IS a USTA Pro Circuit Event!
I was looking for some way to cut back, and the way has just been made clear. I will be giving my 2 USTA official shirts to the homeless today. I'll work UIL or ITA, but I never will work USTA again. I'll also keep looking for a way to drop my membership and some way to stop attending the certification schools. I am looking for another route. I'm interested in another organization.
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