Its Time To Light The Fires of Change!

Now that the USTA deadlines for officials have come and gone--and we have people everywhere wondering what just happened to them--perhaps its time to tweak the system and make some "user friendly" changes...

A wasp's nest of problems were stirred up when the deadlines basically produced mass confusion and a rush to complete tests, watch videos, and pray that God would grant them membership in Nucula.

Lest we be accused of complaining and not offering concrete solutions, here are our suggestions for improvement...

*  First and foremost:  Design a set of exams for officials that have been officiating for over 5 years so that they don't have to spend 7-8 hours taking exams in front of a computer.  A "refresher video" with the new rules would be a good start.  You might even call it "Exams For Old People."

*  Put some teeth into discipline for inept officials who flaunt the rules, make bad decisions, and create havoc in tournaments.  In grassroots tennis, we know who they are so you should learn the same and then do something credible about it.  Additional training and/or suspension might work.

*  Find some way to make Nucula work or dump it and hire someone who can design a program that works.  Might actually look at ZebraWeb because it works well!  As it is, we have to take exams, pass a background check, watch videos, and get an eye exam before we are considered--and then we find that we have to Nucula account before we can even proceed into ITA officiating.

*  Design a set of exams just for new officials.  Asking a new official to buy clothing and take 7 hours of tests is going to discourage more than we enlist.  Its already happening and the results are going to be devastating.

*  Offer some concrete solutions to our declining membership.  You are our leaders and we expect more out of you.

*  Move the deadline for certification at least to November 1st each year.  In our modern computer age, surely you can get it done.

*  Be sure to communicate clearly with your membership about all that is required each year.  Now that we have exams, videos, eye exams, and background checks we need to know what we are doing and when we have to do it.

Don't want to overwhelm you with suggestions and hopefully these will help...

*  Keep up the good work!  The exams are easy to access and aren't overly burdensome.  Requiring exams is a necessity but you've kept the requirement to a minimum.  Don't jump on the bandwagon of the USTA and start lengthening everything you do.

*  Move completely away from the USTA so we can get officials certified and functioning as soon as possible.

*  Make certification possible year round.  We have new officials join our ranks all the time and we need to get them certified and working as soon as possible.  Contrary to popular belief, we do not have an overabundance of collegiate officials.

*  Tweak the webinars a bit to make them more professional.  The ability of officials to ask questions in the webinars seem to bog it down and make it cumbersome.  Needless questions frustrate everyone.

*  You do a great job of keeping officials informed.  Stay with the practice!