Are recent actions due to "pinching pennies" or...
Just trying to get "more bang for your buck."
A few years ago we had (and might still have) a tournament director who would pay officials in 15 minute increments. That means that someone had to be following everyone around with a timer... Maybe their efforts would have been put to better use if they had been timing warm-ups and changeovers.
Recently one of our DFW tournament directors came up with a new twist. Even though officials are required to be at the courts at 7:30 a.m. for an 8:00 a.m. start, they would only pay them beginning at 8:00 a.m. That means they think they should get 30 minutes free from every official. This is in direct violation of MTOA policies and ethics. If you are required to be there at 7:30 a.m. then you should be paid from the time you are required to report. Since this is happening, there are three courses of action:
1. As an official, don't show up until 8:00 a.m. or just show up for the start of your pay. This will probably get the quickest action since a tournament can't begin until the site is prepared and the nets are ready for play.
2. As a referee, if the TD is going to pay until 8:00 a.m. don't ask them to show up or at least have the integrity to tell them they won't be paid for the first 30 minutes. If you are in cahoots with your TD then at least tell your officials what you are doing to them--don't make them wait until they get their pay check.
3. As a tournament director, quit pinching pennies and pay for what you are getting in work product.
Since the state-wide average is one official per 11 courts (and most times worse than that), its time to quit pinching pennies and learn to affirm your officials for doing a good job.
NOTE: Before you start telling me how inept and untrained our officials are--just don't. The vast majority of our officials are well trained and do a great job. Try standing on court for hours at a time in freezing weather or unbearable heat and then see what you think.
32 comments:
Few questions… about BETTER PAY…
What if one or two or more of the Officials you assign to my tournament are substandard? Do I pay them the same as the ones that aren’t sleeping, talking on their phone, leaning against the fence or sitting on the bench “waiting for a problem” to happen. Don’t tell me YOU don’t have them out there – I see them ALL THE TIME! Maybe time for a new Referee!?!
Included in the job referees are hired for – you are to find competent Officials… Are you telling me - you hire people that are worth $18 per hour every time? If not – maybe you are not worth $20 per hour?
As a tournament director – I have NEVER told a referee to only hire X number of Officials – it is your job to hire the right Officials and the right number of Officials. If you work for a TD in the metroplex that tells you to cover “11+ courts” and you feel like that is pushing your Officials – why not, as the referee, stand up for your fellow Officials and not work the event!? If you have “committee approved” rules on pay and even meals – why not rules on numbers of Officials per court? Are all Referees on the same page when it comes to number of official’s vs courts, pay and meals or are you Referees bidding against each other – at the expense of your fellow Officials?
It seems like the theme of your blog is that TD’s are the horrible capitalist and we should “share the wealth.” And the more interesting part is that you know how much we should “make” from the tournaments we MUST hiring you to work!
You know better pay for better Officials is appreciated by the Players, Parents, Coaches and even the TD’s – but ONLY when you have better Officials! You see, entry fees go up in a market that is seeing overall entries going down – that is a fact – check with the Texas section competitive department. YOU can say that WE are ALL greedy – the sad part is you may be right – at the expense of Tennis!
Something has to give – how about your Committee start with –BETTER Officials?
You may "see them all the time" but if that's actually true, then we need to work to fix it. If you see them doing that--then don't hire them the next time.
EVERY TD I know of and hear about tells the referee how many officials to hire per number of courts. As I said, the average in Texas is one official per eleven courts and there are a whole lot of tournaments that the ratio is even higher.
I would love to set a standard ratio of officials per court but I can just hear the howling that would go on. It would cost more than any TD I know would be willing to pay.
I only have a vague idea of how much tournament directors make and the range is from nothing to over $40,000 so guess you aren't all "horrible capitalists." We do our best to be the best officials we can be--and we expect the same from tournament directors.
If you stand up to some of the TD's then you will find yourself out of a job.
If you are a tournament director and feel so abused on the blog then go start your own blog. Then you can complain all you want to your fellow tournaments directors about how little money you make and how mean the officials are to you.
Do you ever stop to think that an official on the phone might be talking to the tournament referee or even the tournament director. Neither of which are ever on the court.
I only know of one official in Austin who got caught sleeping and subsequently got fired. I have however heard of this grievous sin being committed in Waco and the Metroplex. Surely the wrath of God will descend upon these offending and sleep-deprived officials.
Officials' pay is public knowledge but you sure can't find out how much a tournament director makes. They are masters of creative bookkeeping and are in it for the money. They wouldn't keep having tournaments if they weren't making money.
The main problem is too many of our local DFW Referees are in bed with too many of the Tournament Directors and will bend over for any and everything the TDs request.
Is there someone policing how the Referee assignments are being made. It would behoove the MTOA as an organization to start acting above-board when assignments are made. The alternate could be a vile lawsuit filed against a disgruntled official. Based on the tournaments I've worked in the DFW area, a lawsuit is ripe for the asking.
If there are incompetent officials being hired, that is a direct reflection on the Referee. The problem is that there are more incompetent Referees in the Metroplex and unfortunately, they all have a stronghold on the local tournaments. From what I understand, the current President of the MTOA is one of the suspects which means nothing will change.
I've witnessed officials in action here in the Metroplex and in Waco. I can tell you the Metroplex officials are far better than those 90 miles to the south. I haven't seen that one old guy around for a while now, but there are two other older gentlemen that are taking up his slack by playing games on their phones, taking siestas and smoke breaks instead of working.
Maybe if the tourament directors provided high energy lunches and those special 5-hour energy drinks, the officials wouldn't be falling asleep. Just a thought.
There are basically four referees who do all the USTA tournaments in the Metroplex. They are Lee Thornburg, Susan Wertenberger, Nancy Ebersole, and Seande Pulley. And yes, they have a stranglehold on the tournaments.
I know Seande shows up as Referee on paper, but my experience indicates he's never there on-site when tournaments are in progress. That's true at least at the 6 tournaments were I worked and he was the ghost Ref. I know cause I saw him cavorting on TV at pro events. Is that ethical?
Of course its not ethical. He was also the referee in the phone throwing incident but was nowhere to be found when things hit the fan.
I do know all these referees and I think they all do an admirable job of hiring good officials and new officials. Its not always an easy task when you have numerous sites for conflicting tournaments on the same days. You can thank the Texas Section for allowing this multiple tournament fiasco.
Let's give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their scheduling of officials and the quality of the ones they do hire.
So what your saying is you can raise the hourly pay by vote - and the TD's have to pay. But you cant (as a good referee) set the standard for number of courts per Official. HUMMM - something isn't right here. Why not make a rule (like a wage) and stand up for it?
Maybe the first Anonymous person is right... maybe its a greedy ref kneeling down to a TD?
The problem you have there is that the Texas Section sets the requirement for number of officials per site--and that is ONE. Very few tournament directors can afford to put more than one official per site thus is the state average of one official per eleven courts.
And then they expect complete coverage on every court.
Ain't gonna happen.
Rumor has it that a certain female board member from Grapevine has opposed every rate increase and was responsible for allowing tournament directors to delete lunches. Why is she still on the board?
She didn't oppose the latest pay increase but then it is a year away. That's what happens when a referee is in the pocket of the tournament director.
I would be more asking why DTA and Sectional Offices need to take a 5-10% portion of the entry fee for doing nothing but sitting in an office saying yes/no on a tournament. Feel bad for the TD's in some respects since these additional fees extorted by TTA/USTA etc.. come out of their profit.
As for officials there are good and bad ones just like TD's hence if a TD is bad then boycott the tournament and let them deal with the fallout, as a TD if you see poor performance then file complaints on the officials to TTA.
You forgot about the $250 sanction fee the Texas Section charges each tournament.
How many officials are needed on a site depends upon the configuration of the courts. If the courts are all in a block, one official usually can cover them. If the courts are spread out, it can take more officials to cover fewer courts because of distance.
If a TD has a problem with an official, they need to complain to the Ref. and the Grievance committee for the local association. The local association does not want poor officials representing them either. Let them try to retrain/fix the problem. But they have to know about it.
I don't think I want to take on scheduling a year's worth of tournaments, keeping ranking points and age eligibility for all juniors, and rating adults, not to mention dealing with all the calls and complaints. I think they earn those fees in Austin.
I'll schedule tournaments all year for you if I get $250 per tournament. Remember they also get $3 per player for "player development" and then I'm sure they get a kick-back on the fee charged to register online.
Not a bad job if you can get it.
If you want an officiating nightmare, just trying officiating a junior tournament at Allen High School with their 12 courts. Next to impossible to do with one official since it is 1/2 mile from court one to court 12--and the courts are done in pairs of two!
In the end - it comes down to personal responsibility.
Referees - stand up for your Officials. If all the referees stand up for their Officials - then nobody cries about roving too many courts - ALL DAY!
I totally agree with the first post - I think I know the person that wrote it!!!!
Bottom line - know the rules - keep it fair and keep it fun - in other words - do your job!
BACO
Interesting comments.
Fact: there are over 20 certified referees in the metroplex yet less than 6 get ALL of the tournaments, year after year the same ones. Why is that? If a TD is unhappy with the referee and/or the umpires hired, HIRE A DIFFERENT REFEREE.
Accountability. There is none. Umpires seldom get any feedback from working a tournament. Good or bad. If they get hired back the assumption is your doing ok.
Referees are accountable to who? Bruce Sampley?....Please.
MTOA board. Good ole boy board. Simply change chairs each year. No new talent. No fresh ideas.
Not getting paid until 8am? Ridiculous. If you are assigned a remote site you have no idea what to expect. I usually get there 45 mins earlier with brooms,rags,ties etc. because nowhere is the TD,high school coach to help get the courts playable.
Aren't we talking about 7.50 /9.00 for this preparation?
Sampley doesn't even follow up on new officials much less anything else. Have you ever tried getting him to answer an email? Why would you ever even think he would do anything about an inept official?
Word has it that Sampley did at least call the referee who was not on site or even in town when the player threw the official's phone and broke it. Probably won't do a bit of good but at least he knows how to use his cell phone.
You boys and girlies are taking this all too seriously.
Just for the record, I never had a problem getting Sampley to reply to e-mail or for that matter taking care of what I requested.
Just for the record I've met at least a dozen officials who have emailed him or waited to hear from him when they were certified and never heard a word. Its a pattern.
Well, I'll just add another post to this debate. I don't particularly care for the way Bruce does his job overall. However, I have to be honest and say that every time I have e-mailed him, he responds in a reasonable amount of time and gives me the information I need.
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