So You Want To Be An ITA Chair Official...

One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is "how do I become an ITA chair official?" Seems that lots of people go to college matches and get caught up in the excitement and immediately think all they have to do is call someone and they can start doing chairs at the next dual match. Well, you are looking through ROSE COLORED GLASSES if you think this is true.

Becoming a credible ITA chair official is a difficult (and sometimes long) process. Just so there are no illusions of how it is done, here are some of the things you will need to know:

1. You must have a strong grasp of the rules and especially the ITA rules. If you don't, you won't last long in the chair.

2. Make friends with the ITA coordinators. The bottom line is that no coordinator is going to hire someone they don't like. Please don't tell the coordinator in your first conversation that you played tennis (or your kid played tennis) and know all the rules. That's the quickest way not to get hired.

3. Be sure you play well with others. If you are always the root of the problem among officials you probably won't be the root that stays...

4. Do not commit to matches and then cancel to do another ITA match or call lines at a pro tournament in Africa. This is the quickest way to go back to doing ZAT's.

5. Commit yourself to doing the TRAINING. No coordinator is going to put you in the chair without training. Many times you are going to have to go through chair training without being paid but then we've all done that.

6. Find the training and let them know you are interested. Chair training opportunities are indeed difficult to find and only a few of the coordinators will let you in a chair to learn what you need to do.

7. Don't whine and complain if you don't get a bunch of matches the first year you are qualified to do chairs. Just because you pass the ITA test does not mean you are ready to do chairs.

These are just a few guidelines that hopefully will help you in your quest to chair an ITA match. Its great fun and exciting but also requires a lot of work and training.

If you are interested in pursuing this further, give me a shout and I'll point you in the right direction. My email is rmtennis@yahoo.com and my number is 214 796 7402.

Good luck!