Everyone has heard their horror stories about inept officials but the bad part is that many times it is a valid criticism. We undertrain our officials in my areas and then unleash them on an unsuspecting public. No wonder they howl...
USTA Texas Section Playoffs Scenarios
Here are a couple of events from last weekend's sectional playoffs in Dallas. These are accounts from a tennis person and not an official and in their own words...
SCENARIO ONE: "A new official, working her first event, overrules a call on match point that the opposing team agreed with--nobody questioned the call. They were all walking up to shake hands. Then, the "winning team" proceeded to lose. Then she walked out on another court that she had not been on the entire match and called a footfault at 8-8 in the 3rd set tiebreak. The site referee had to go out and replace her before the players killed her. She ran off the court four shades whiter and may never officiate again (and probably shouldn't.)
SCENARIO TWO: Not the official's fault but really funny. I am watching at women's 5.0 match and a lady questions a call that puts the score at 8-9 in the 3rd set breaker and then proceeds to go ballistic. The official gives her three warnings and a caution and then she fires a ball into the fence and finally gets a point penalty to lose the deciding point for her team. What an idiot."
Guess its time for more training....
No comments:
Post a Comment