There is a Biblical admonition that says that if someone has ears to hear--let him hear. That admonition certainly holds true to those in leadership in the USTA, ITA, and UIL. These are the three governing bodies that control most of the tennis world and therefore they should be the ones with "ears to hear."
We recently sent out an email to over 100 experienced officials all over the country and asked for their ideas and explanations about the sad job performance of many officials who work tournaments on a regular basis.
Here are their comments:
"Solution is easy, the USTA needs to bring back some classroom work for those who need it. They got rid of trainers, with very little notice to the trainers, they have a crappy database NUCULA, paying more $$$$ to get a new one, but yet they are not doing evaluations any more, not doing doing class rooms any more.
You can only get so much learning done watching an annoying video and unfortunately not enough referees to pull officials aside to properly address issues. Factor in USTA National does not punish bad officials for fear of lawsuits or does very little to truly address these issues."
"My first thought--and this is based on 2 minutes thinking about this--is that the change in training format (USTA and ITA) may have a part to do with this. (Not all of it.) And let me preface this with the fact that I think online clases are great! However, with the USTA and ITA instructions being 95% online and 5% webinar, we've lost that "in person" aspect of training. I think that is so important for newbies. They need to be around tenured folks; hear how they have handled things; ask them questions and get an immediate response; get a hands on feel for the culture of officiating (at any and all levels). I'm not suggesting that the training format is 100% to blame. Some of it is just due to some people trying to achieve a higher level of stupidity! But I think this has contributed to it."
"I can appreciate your email and the content within, but "us" talking about it will not make changes. This has to be heard at the top, whoever that is! On site training is more valuable than before, especially if we're not getting the quality of officials required. I've heard plenty times while officiating, "we just don't have enough officials to conduct all these matches." Officiating is not easy, especially in heated conference matches, but to me, the key is experience and great training...locally, regionally, and nationally. The more chair experience an official gets, the better prepared he/she will be when the match is on the line. So, let's start there....less on-line computer training, click the button and watch this video....and more local, regional and national training for new and experienced officials. Training and practice are always the key!"
"I find umpiring especially on a local level in crisis. Ever since the USTA moved away from face-to-face training (especially for newbies) and formal evaluation of officials, there is no accountability. Officials fill the boxes with on-line training and forget everything else. I am sad about the level of skill and common sense we are seeing on the courts. Of late, I cringe when I check scheduless to see who is on the crew. Unfortunately, this is a problem all over the country. Chiefs are forced to hire bad umpires just to fill the schedule. I am seeing this on the ITA level too.
I was the chair of officials in my area for years, a trainer, and a sectional evaluator. We had very stringent standards that an official had to meet before working on their own, that is not happening now. It took several years before working college matches. Now all an aspiring umpire needs to do it take a test, then umpire on court (with some shadowing) and let an assigner know they want to work. There is always talk about bad officiating, but the offending official does not get feedback, training, or guidance; don't want to hurt their feelings. You are not the only seasoned umpire that is frustrated. What are we to do?"
These are just a few of the comments. Again let me ask, if you have ears to hear, are you listening???
1 comment:
Well the umpiring community got what it wanted to get rid of the T/E's and the face to face training and most of all the evaluations. Funny how you get what you ask for. Skip heard and made it happen. He was a pawn to shake things up and leave it in a mess. You are right we have lost a decade of training. Line umpiring will become a thing of the past with the electronic system in place. The office in Orlando is filled with people with no answers or they get angry when you question them. there is no guidance of where we are going and how to get there. They started a system and have yet to see it work. They have spent a ton of money on the webinars and they are like child's play. I haven't learned anything from them. To bad sad state of affairs. there should be training training and more training and also sit down with your officials at the end of the day or the end of the meet and talk about what happen and what the decision was and was that the right decision and could it have been handled different to come out with a better outcome. Admit when you make a mistake and learn how to not make the same mistake again. Learn too open yourself up to continue to learn because if you don't you want improve
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