We Know The Problem--Now How In The Heck Do We Fix It?

If anyone is involved in officiating as either an official, player, coach, spectator, or parent you all know the problem--a small group of very inept officials--and now we have to go about the task of fixing the problem.  The one thing I can assure you is that "it ain't gonna be easy..."

Most people would agree that the vast, vast majority of officials are very adept at their profession and knows the rules well and administer them fairly--but there is a small group that doesn't--and they are the ones that are giving us a black eye.

After every tournament or dual match you regularly hear horror stories of something some official has done somewhere in America--and many times, these criticisms are valid.  WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING to fix the problem and we need to be doing it sooner than later. 

Finding the problem is not the hard part--but analyzing and solving it can be tricky and really difficult.  Here are some thoughts and ideas to start the discussion:

*  Age is not a deciding issue in ineptness.  I've seen younger officials make some huge errors just like I've seen older officials do the same--if not worse.

*  Lack of knowledge is usually at the root of the problem.  Even though we all pass annual exams, we don't take a course in common sense and that's usually where we get in trouble.

*  Lack of training is a huge issue.  There is little, if any, training done or offered by the USTA or the ITA if one is honest about the problem. 

*  We need to discover a realistic approach to "mentoring" if we want to succeed.

When you are teaching a new hunting dog to hunt, you always pair them with an older, wiser hunting dog and let him teach the young one.  We might do well to heed their advice...

*  We need to look beyond knowledge of rules and study a person's personal traits before hiring them.  You need to know how they react to adversity, opposition, and problems.  Officials get into trouble when confronted by parents and players--not when they think about the rules...

*  Teach officials the importance of study and repetition.  There is no shortcut to knowing the rules since it take study and more study.  There is no shortcut to knowing verbiage because it only gets better by repetition.  There is no shortcut to dealing with adversity except through experience.

*  We need to expect and demand more from our leaders.  Just forcing someone to attend a useless seminar isn't going to fix the problem.  Tell them to get creative and innovative and FIX THE DANG PROBLEM!