Officials Training Houston Style

From time to time we like to post blogs about effective training methods--and I think Houston and Dallas have the best there is to offer.

Here is a description of the Houston training from their President, Ginny James:

We try to get our new officials to a roving training clinic as soon as possible. This is where we go through roving process and then send them out to the courts to shadow experienced officials for a while, then bring them back in to discuss different situations that occurred. Then we require them to shadow at least two junior tournaments and two adult tournaments of at least four hours each. They have to complete these requirements before they are a paid official. During our school we gave them a schedule of upcoming tournaments (one was the HTA ZAT) in which a training clinic would be held. Then we specified certain tournaments they could shadow. We don't want them shadowing just any official! We really no longer have a "mentor" assigned to each new official. That never seemed to work out. Mostly these new officials contact Nancy Vivero, Gloria Dial, John Mullins, or me, depending on the area they live. John is in South Houston, and he recruits high school players to work. He is a retired tennis coach. They also have what they call a "Shadowing Data Card" where the new official tracks their training progress then at the end turns it in so they can start getting paid for officiating.

The Houston officials organization is to be commended on their fine work.