There has been much discussion about the above mentioned rule--and rightfully so. There are two basic schools of thought on this issue:
1. The rule means that you must have at least two officials for each match but that all officials must be USTA certified.
2. The rule means that two of the officials must be USTA certified but the rest of the officials do not have to be USTA certified.
What do you think?
Personally, I cannot fathom how you can possibly end up with the second conclusion. The rule is quite clear in stating that a minimum of two USTA certified officials work the match but does in no way imply that the other officials can be non-certified. I think it is an effort by the USTA to distance themselves from the ITA. There will be no non-certified officials working any matches that I assign and the same is true in Waco, Ft. Worth, Austin, and Houston.
5 comments:
Why don't you ask the ITA Coaches Rules Committee? They are the authority for interpretation of the rules they draft, not the USTA who does not write the USTA rules.
There are many schools in isolated regions that don't even have two officials at every match because they don't have two certified officials. Try looking at the U.S. instead of just Texas.
There rules clearly state only 2 certified officials required for ranking UNLESS coaches agree otherwise or they don't have any in the area that are available to work that match.
The FAC is clear on the meaning behind who can officiate an ITA match. E.1 on page 258 of the FAC states "The home coach shall have available QUALIFIED persons to serve as officials. USTA certified officials are considered QUALIFIED." The FAC defines a certified USTA official as the following: "In order for an official to be considered 'qualified,' the official must attend both an ITA and a USTA Section re-certification class, pass both the USTA Sectional and ITA tests every year, and do the required work."
Further in paragraph E.2, titled "TWO Officials Required For Division I Matches" the rule states "the host school shall provide a minimum of two USTA CERTIFIED officials for each dual meet match. The only exceptions shall be when USTA officials are not available or when the coaches shall agree in writing before the start of the match that two USTA officials are not required."
Nowhere does it state non-certified officials are permitted to work an ITA match. In my humble opinion, the meaning for this last rule is to allow the match to be played with ONE cerifified official, or played without officials, if officials cannot be located.
In Texas and College Station in particular, there are plenty of qualified USTA officials available to work ITA matches.
The ITA rules are written by Coaches and not always "crystal clear". The rule is clear that if a school wants to be considered for "ranking purposes", they shall use two (2) certified officials.
A&M is technically following the rule..they are using two certified officials at their matches.
I haven't heard of any of the other universities complaining to the ITA office or the Big XII conference office about A&M not using the required number of certified officials. Is Michael Center or Knoll going to turn in A&M to the Big XII or the ITA office?
Surely there is more than one person who did not submit to, or pass the background check in all the U.S., not just Texas. What is the USTA doing about making sure these persons are no longer working as a USTA official? I suspect it is being left up to the local coordinator or referee who makes assignments. Talk about liability! Letting someone you know who did not submit to or pass the background check, work. As for the colleges, an official must be USTA certified to be ITA certified. The college and/or coordinator can assume the liability by letting an uncerfified official work. There was a valid reason for putting the background check in place. Think about it.
To Anonymous at 8:43 AM
Good ideas to get a response from the ITA Coaches Rules Committee.
A question about your broad statement that there "are many schools in isolated regions that don't even have two official at every match because they don't have two certified officials." Can you give specific examples where this has been required or is this just an assumption?
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