"In my humble opinion (whatever that is worth to anybody) the officials in ______ could use a little more stringent training. I was playing in the _____________ tournament there today.
Since the tournament got rained out Friday p.m. (and delayed without my being aware of it - not to blame the director. He posted it on the website, I just didn't have access to it while I was driving) I had a chance to hang out & watch some matches. Footfaults were rampant. But I didn't observe or hear one footfault called. In fact, I went to one court & sat under the cabana. An official was about 10 feet away from me and about 15 feet from the court he was observing. The server was chronically footfaulting. No footfault called.
During my match, two courts away, a player dropped an "f' bomb loud enough for me (who at my age am aware that I am losing some of my hearing) to hear & probably audible enough to be heard by the other two courts on the other side of him and one or two courts behind us, not to mention all of the spectators. That I could see there was an official one court away from him facing him who just stood there. May have been others, just didn't notice them.
After my match, I remarked about my disappointment to my opponent. His reply was, the ______ officials have the attitude that they are going to stay off of the court. Only go on court when they are requested. In my opinion, the players and whomever is paying these officials is getting ripped off. (Forgive my being blunt)."
It does provide food for thought doesn't it?
12 comments:
I have to agree with this player. I was involved in a match in which our opponents threw their racquets, dropped "F" bombs, and last but not least hit the net so hard that it popped the net strap. We waited for ten minutes for it to be replaced...at the time we were up 6-4, 2-0, 40-30. IF the official does what is correct, a code is given and we go up 3-0 (serving). Mind you this is THE FINALS!!! He instead just issues a WARNING!!! This shows a complete imcompetence and a lack of backbone. As a result of what this official failed to do, we were the bad guys, we pleaded for a code, and argued that there are no warnings (esp. since we have played 4 rds!!). Long story short, they recovered, and we were angry. They won in the third set. 3 hrs and 27 minutes of play marred by an incompetent official.
Sounds like the same tournament I was at this weekend. I really need to figure out how to get an officials gig in ____. I'd love to be able to earn my pay by sitting in the stands and talking to other people instead of actually working...
After almost 15 years officiating, the last two blog subjects aptly describe why I'm considering quitting this silliness. On one blog an official is castigated for making a call, on the other an official is castigated for not making the call. And, in typical "anonymous" blog fashion, an official is attacked by some members of the fraternity/sorority whose "Code of Ethics" tells them not to criticize other officials. What a petty, poorly trained, back biting, insecure, arrogant, group of "misinterpreting the rules" humans some of us are. May each of you always get the "choice" assignments and the number 1 courts you so covet. You deserve each other. And yes, I'll sign it "anonymous".
Such is life. You shouldn't hyperventilate over it. Just learn from it.
I had my name attached to my comment but it did not show up...do not be quick to judge...15 years of officiating make you a veteran and should know better. My discription of the match was right on the money... and all I was asking was for the rules to be enforced. If, as an official, you are afraid to be involved in the match (which our official clearly was), then you should not be doing this. I am a HS coach, and to see my two Srs. robbed was totally unacceptable. There was no misinterpretation of the rules (as you claim). Make sure you have facts straight before you sling some of the adjectives you used.
As a former college player, national ranked junior, I never had a positive experience with an umpire, but I never let them cause me to lose a match, but just played on.
Things were much better when players volunteered to umpire.
We just ignore the umpires and play on because most umpires are really bad and don't even know the rules.
Ouch!! and how old are you 9:13. I have never heard of players volunteeing to officiate. But I have only been doing this 8 or 9 years. Can't tell you the number of basic rules of tennis I have had to explain to players, parents, coaches. and teaching pros. Besides, there are rule changes every year. Sadly, every job has those who don't know or do their jobs well.
I couldn't tell from the letter if the official was on or off the court. I have worked some National Jr events where the instructions to the officials is to stay off the courts (more is less is the strategy). Personally, I dont' get it. Can't call foot faults from off the court. If they were off the court, they should have gone on the court if they observbed a problem. Swearing is a no brainer. To bad these simple issues were not dealt with appropriately.
Unfortunately, roving officials are not always the strongest ambassadors/representatives for our group.
was it a roving official or a USTA court monitor?
When you are assigned to work a 12-hour shift officiating a junior tournament in the middle of summer in the Texas heat, you do everything you can to stay off court. It's not easy walking around 12-14 courts all day long and staying focused on tasks at hand. Especially when the tournament doesn't provide lunch and doesn't hire enough officials to adequately staff the tournament.
Give us a break!
Here is what I have learned. When a Referee tells me not to go on court, I ignore them. I will be on court, perhaps not as much as I would like, but maybe that is why I don’t have to issue very many Codes. Be visible. It stops creative line calls, gamesmanship, incorrect rulings and code violations, if they know you are there. I have always been amused when a player almost throws the racket or says something they shouldn’t, but does not, when they look straight at me and know I am watching them.
Second, know your physical limits. If you are roving, take a break every hour to hour and a half. Drink water, put your feet up. Five to ten minutes will do wonders. Always let either the ref or desk person know where you are.
Re-read the rules for the type of match you will be supervising. There are so many variations for scoring, medical time outs, over-rules, rest periods, etc. You don’t want to be trying to figure out if you should be playing no-ad or does the consolation bracket play a 10 point tie break for third and thank goodness they did away with the 18 year olds not getting the 10 minute break. What a confidence builder (both player and official) to be able to answer with certainty a question from a player, parent or coach, and be able if necessary to show them in the book, because you just reviewed it. Makes the Ref happy because he/she does not have to get involved.
In response to Slave Driver, if the tournament doesn't hire enough officials or the officials that are hired are not trained, don't work for that ref or tournament again, until something changes. Eventually something will change.
We have an issue coming up locally, Regional National 14's, 16 courts and they only want 3 officials for the entire tournament, should be entertaining, assuming officials decide to work as slaves, for the State Association that is running the tournament.
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