How Much Is Too Much To Pay For A Dual Tennis Match?

There are those of us in this tennis officiating world who can remember officiating tennis matches for free--but thank the Lord, those days are gone.  We tennis officials get paid very well these days and its because of many years of serving, negotiating, and working with coaches and universities alike to make collegiate officiating better than ever.

However, when we hear of officials being paid in excess of  $5,000 for a dual match (for 6 chair officials and their fee, per diem, and travel expenses) it might be time to rethink some of our scheduling skills.  In the Metroplex, the most a dual match can cost is $915 so that pales in comparison to $5,000!  I wouldn't want to be the coach that had to explain to his AD how that ever happened...

Of course we all know that expenses are going to be greater for schools that are in remote locations and that's understandable but perhaps we should sharpen our scheduling and training skills and help these schools out a bit more--not try to fleece them out of every penny we can get.

The way to lower expenses in a hurry is to have a coordinator who is able and willing to recruit and train new officials.  Don't sit and wait for qualified officials to just drop out of the sky--get out and do something about it!  I do not know of a single coordinator (at least in Texas) who is not capable of training new officials so why isn't it being done on a more regular basis?  The answer to that lies with the individual schools and their coordinators.

Personally, I am blessed to be able to be the coordinator for schools (SMU, UTA, UNT, DBU, and UTD) that are willing to let me do "on the job training" for new officials.  They permit us to bring them on site to the match, let the trainees observe, and then let them actually work matches when they have progressed adequately in their training.  Highland Park High School is also the prime training ground for our new collegiate officials.  A new official can do up to 30 chaired matches at Highland Park training if they are willing to enroll, study, and then do the work.

So, you see, there is a solution because if you grow your own area officials the costs are obviously going to go down.  Coaches--work with your coordinator to develop a good training ground.  Coordinators--get busy and develop your own training program.  It can and does make a difference but it also takes a lot of time, work, and patience.  You may not always get paid for doing the training but the results are well worth the sacrifice.

Here are some hints for bringing down the costs:

*  Check out the costs of bringing in officials beforehand.  Don't get a surprise package that you can't afford to pay for.
*  Hire a coordinator who is willing to do training of new officials and let them do it.
*  Be patient with the new trainees.  They may be "diamonds in the rough" but sometimes the road to success is a tad rocky.
*  Treat your officials well.  Remember how much it costs to import officials from Michigan...
*  As a coach, work closely with your coordinator and give them constructive input about training.
*  As officials, work together to enlist and train new officials.  We always need more...