What Do You Do When They Cross The Line?

What do you do as an official when a player completely CROSSES THE LINE in their on-court behavior?  Suppose a player in an irate fit or rage calls the opponent a "faggot"?  Suppose a player makes screams something that has to do with race?

These are all issues that pertain to every official in nearly every tournament today.  The question for today is:

What would you do if a player screamed "faggot" or "N____" in a fit of rage?

1.  Immediately default the player.

2.  Assess a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.

3.  Warn them about being nice and then enroll them in a sensitivity class.

4.  Call their parents to the court and ask them what to do.

If  you have never encountered this issue before--you will at some point!  Be prepared.

How Would You Rule? Loss of Point or Winner?

In a boys' doubles match, player A hits an overhead that hits the rim of the racket.  The ball goes into player B's court but hits the ground with a lot of spin and then bounces back over the net and hits player A in the groin.

How would you rule?

Highland Park High School--100 And Still Counting!

Posted below is the article from today's Dallas Morning News about the Highland Park High School tennis team win streak.  Congratulations to the team and their coach, Dan Holden.

They won #100 yesterday--just imagine how long the streak will continue...

UNIVERSITY PARK — Highland Park senior Avery Schober remembers the T-shirt his brother Andrew earned to commemorate Highland Park’s 100-match team tennis winning streak in 2007.

On Tuesday, Avery and his teammates got their own T-shirts.

The four-time defending Class 4A state champion Scots won their 100 consecutive dual match over a five-year stretch with a victory over Carrollton Newman Smith.

“I was in middle school and didn’t think much about the winning streak until I saw my brother’s shirt,” said Avery, a team captain and one of seven seniors on the 24-person team. “I hadn’t ever seen one before. Not everyone has one. It’s special.”

Highland Park had won 114-consecutive dual matches until losing to New Braunfels in the 4A state final in 2007. The Scots haven’t lost since, with 214 victories in their last 215 dual matches.

Highland Park goes out of its way to schedule dual matches against perennial tennis powerhouses such as Plano West and Southlake Carroll.

“I coached in college before I started teaching here 13 years ago,” Highland Park coach Dan Holden said. “I brought down the same systems you teach in college, especially in doubles, and use it at the junior level.”

Approximately 50 players contend for the 24 varsity rosters spots each season. Holden and assistant coach Tyler Jimenez concentrate on doubles strategy and conditioning in daily practice sessions. Most Highland Park players then get individual singles practice in outside junior tennis programs four or five days per week.

“We’re fortunate to have the [community] interest in tennis,” Holden said. “That’s certainly a factor. But Tyler and I keep raising the bar, and the kids keep reaching it.”

Highland Park has won a UIL record 13 state tennis titles. This year’s regional competition begins Oct. 26-27 with the state tournament at Texas A&M on Nov. 2-3.

“Most people assume that it’s just easy for us to win,” Avery Schober said. “That’s what you think when you’re a younger player. But when you’re an older player, you have to teach the younger players what we do.”

Lois Goodman: Latest News

Here is a write-up in today's newspaper about the Lois Goodman saga:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A nationally known professional tennis referee charged in her husband's death has passed a lie detector test in which she denied bludgeoning him with a coffee cup, her lawyers said late Monday.

Lois Ann Goodman's attorneys told The Associated Press that they have emailed the results to the district attorney's office. They said they suggested that prosecutors reevaluate the case and consider dismissing charges against the 70-year-old woman.

The lead detective on the case, David Petique, had asked Goodman to take a polygraph test ''to clear herself'' when she was first under investigation in the month after her husband's death, attorneys Alison Triessl and Robert Sheahen said. But she refused that request on May 3, they said, on advice of her former counsel.

They said she has now fulfilled that request and passed with flying colors.

''I'm hopeful that they are going to reassess their case,'' Treissl said in a phone interview. ''The facts just don't support that there was a murder. The results of the polygraph prove Lois Goodman did not kill her husband. He died in a freak accident.''

A district attorney's spokeswoman said the office will not comment until the material is brought up in court.

Goodman, 70, who has refereed matches between some of tennis's greatest players, has pleaded not guilty to killing her 80-year-old husband by beating him with a coffee cup and using its broken handle to stab him. She has suggested Alan Goodman fell down the steps while holding a coffee cup, causing his fatal injuries.

Alan Goodman died in April. Authorities initially believed he fell down stairs at home while she was away but later decided it was homicide after a mortuary reported suspicious injuries on Alan Goodman's head. Lois Ann Goodman was arrested in August just before she was to referee a match at the U.S. Open in New York.

Treissl said the lie detector test was given by a well-known FBI-trained polygrapher, Jack Trimarco, who has administered more than 3,000 polygraph exams, many in high-profile cases. His report was instrumental in getting charges dismissed against a man initially charged in a Dodger Stadium assault case.

Things You Need To Do

Background Checks for 2013 Re-certification

As you may already know, all USTA officials must complete a biennial (every 2 years)  background check in order for the USTA to renew their certification. The current biennial period is set to expire on December 31, 2012. 

New officials applying for USTA certification, and those officials seeking to be re-certified by the USTA must complete the biennial background check process for the new biennial term which will be from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2014.  As of October 1, 2012 applicants will be able to start the new biennial background check process by visiting www.usta.com/backgroundcheck.  You must submit and clear the background check by December 31, 2012.

Finally, if you are a Provisional Umpire who submitted at some point this year you are still required to submit again for 2013 certification.  

2013 Re-certification We would like to remind officials who wish to be certified for next year to update your work records in the Nucula system. Once you have done so you must press the Recertification Button in the certification section of your account in order to alert your District or Sectional Chairperson of Officials your records are ready to be reviewed.  Most sections review these work records in October so please take note and enter your work records soon.   Please include upcoming events you are assigned to if it impacts your 2013 certification. Please be sure to add in the notes field that the assignment is pending.