Any time you are sitting around with a group of humans, someone or everyone will have an opinion about most anything--and that really holds true in officiating...
If you are with a group of parents or spectators, they are quick to chime in with their horror stories about some official who greatly wronged their pure and innocent child or how they witnessed perhaps the most ignorant official in the universe in action.
If you are with a group of players, they open to expose the many wrongs they have suffered at the hands of inept officials.
If you are with a group of coaches, they just raise their eyebrows and sigh and then say, "Most officials are pretty good except the ones that do my matches--and they are awful!" Too bad we don't get to evaluate these same coaches...
Finally, if you are with a group of officials, they love to tell about any mistake another official has made and how pure and spotless they are in their officiating skills. However, when asked about to "make officiating better" they usually spout forth a bunch of horror stories and then offer few, if any, recommendations that would actually make a difference.
IF you are serious about tennis officiating then you should also be SERIOUS about making it the very best it can be--and continually strive to MAKE IT BETTER! Self-examination and constructive criticisms have their place but you will make very little progress if you aren't focused on MAKING OFFICIATING BETTER...
I am OFFICIALLY CHALLENGING all of our readers to take a moment and write a comment about your suggestions for making officiating better. You can always post anonymously or you can sign your name if you would like, but the main thing is to share some thoughts that will make a difference.
Let me prime the pump with these simple suggestions (and this is by no means an exhaustive list):
* First and foremost, make it easier for a new official to know what to do to get certified and then by all means, find a way for them to get a Nucula account in less than 6 weeks. In today's computer age, it shouldn't take more than a day or two after they have passed their background check and all the exams.
* Have Sectional Chairmen who are highly committed to the task at hand and are willing to quickly answer emails and texts. Be sure they are bright enough to develop and maintain training programs for their area and above all else, actually know how to enlist new officials.
* Do more person-to-person training of new officials. It doesn't take days but it does take time--but its worth the effort. We're suffering from a lack of good training programs and its sure showing in our product.
* Develop a means where officials can ask legitimate questions and actually get a prompt and personal answer. Some housewife on the internet in India doing a chat line isn't cutting it...
* Try to make the pay scale at least close to being the same all over the state. The bottom line is that 14 hours on the court in 105 degree heat is the same amount of work in Abilene as it is in Houston.
That's my two cents for the day--now let's hear some good suggestions.... I actually think it can and will make a difference since we are averaging over 300 hits a day on the blog and that means a lot of people will read your suggestions.
Whether or not they follow your suggestions is an answer that only God in Heaven knows...
8 comments:
Suggest more YouTube video of specific instances that show how to make the correct calls, verbiage and handle different situations.
I would like to have formal in-person training. YouTube videos are good for some things, but to answer a question that you have in particular, could be answered in that in-person training. It would be nice to have scenario after scenario brought up and asked, "what would you do?" That would be better than having a scenario pop up while you are officiating in the chair and you handle it the best way you can, only to be told by a veteran official that that was not the way to handle it. I know that you can't account for every single scenario, but the most common ones. I feel the lack of personal training is going to lose a lot of potentially good officials because they are put in situations they have not been trained for and get frustrated and quit.
On the job training in role playing scenarios are a fabulous way to learn anything. Each section should work in conjunction with college teams to help train all officials, veteran or rookie. It could be done during practice sessions or when challenge matches are played. The key here is some really good on the job training NOT during an actual match. In addition to role playing out scenarios electronic scoreboard practice would really take the edge off new officials working with the systems for the first times.
The Texas Section has no on the job collegiate training since they don't work in conjunction with the ITA. We are, however, fortunate in the Metroplex to do on the job training in dual matches at SMU, UTA, and UNT. Those coaches are gracious enough to let us train officials and they are certainly to be commended for their generosity. We also do on the job training at Highland Park High School in their dual matches to prepare them for collegiate matches. I know of nowhere else in Texas that has this kind of training so I consider us to be very fortunate. In fact, we regularly train officials from the Houston, Abilene, and Austin areas.
BTW, this chair training is open to anyone in Texas if someone would like to come. We are nearing the end of the Highland Park training for this fall so it would have to be some special training and then integrate you into the collegiate matches but its well worth it!
The current Friend at Court lacks the correct narrative for working a chair and handling overrules, code violations and being decisive in a way that makes it clear our decisions are decisions and not an invitation to a discussion. Through the USTA website I could not locate the necessary information on chairing a match. I had to get a copy from a current official, and the copy obtained was several years old and didn't cover adequately cover all of the calls we might see in a match. The chair academy attended had experienced trainers and that was valuable. However, the trainers each had some differences too. For example, one trainer was against clipboards.
For sure, the face to face training sessions provided more learning opportunities than what's covered in the current on-line training. The nice feature in the on line training is that you can go over a topic several times if that's what you need to understand the material. In a classroom setting, you don't want to slow the group down on something you're not quite grasping. A blend of the two might be a better training course.
It's great that this venue is available and can be used as part of our on going training. I would be curious to know what is the communication channel to make suggestions to create even some small changes with the USTA. For example, the official shirt needs to be made in a dri-fit type of material for our hotter climates. I keep getting heat rashes in the new 100 polyester shirts and they fade much more quickly than the previous sport tek fabric shirts which were much cooler.
more on court training is needed, bring back competent trainers to assist with Local and District Officials.
Pay should be similar across, but at same time we are independent contractors, TD's generally will pay the minimum needed, but at same time they get the quality that they pay for. I have declined tournaments and dual matches due to this.
Many officials need to be more open-minded and listen to those that have done decades of service, provided said elder official also checks their ego and is willing to share advice. Nobody is trying to take anyone's spot, but if you have a new green official with a know it all attitude they will not last long.
Add a question/answer area/link to Nucula.
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