February Gathering

Posted on February 22, 2012 by 10scorinne

Today, I loved my job. I say loved because I usually just like my job and save love for more important things like my family and chocolate cake. But today was great. I hosted a group of tennis Officials at my house in the first of many, I hope, meetings and social opportunities for us Officials to share our experiences and knowledge with each other.

PNW Tennis Officials

FR: Holly Weyhrauch, Bo Yu, Roberta Kanter, Yaeko Jacques BR: Corinne Mitchell, Russ DeMoss, Debbie Johnson, Mark Benecke, Jeff Carey, Darryl Kealy, Dennis Kviz

I was impressed with the generous nature of the veteran Officials who came to the meeting. I’m sure their patience was tested with us rookies, but Mark Benecke’s comment, “When we’re green, we’re growing.” was well-timed and got a big laugh.

I also learned that there are plans underway for Line Schools and more Chair Schools for our Section. I will post more information as it becomes available. Now …how does April look for the next Official Gathering?

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Are You Listening??? by Betty Rankin

Posted on February 8, 2012 by 10scorinne

Your ears play an important role in making you a better official. When roving, you often hear a variety of noises on courts behind you. Even subtle things such as “are you sure” (more than once), excessive racquet hitting the tape/floor/curtain, loud comments of disgust directed at the player him/herself, etc. can mean there are potential problems and you should move to the court in question to observe.(This is particularly helpful if you are covering multiple courts) Obviously, there are the blatant, code-able offences such as obscenity/racket abuse. A new rule for 2011 states that “roving umpires may impose a penalty only if they have seen, heard, or otherwise observed enough to determine with reasonable certainty that a violation has occurred.” (2011 FAC, IV.D.6c) In other words, although you no longer have to be in direct observation, you must be absolutely sure of who/what you’ve heard (you can ask the player) in order to give a code violation. (Interesting that there was a question on the most recent USTA exam concerning this rule.)

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Launch and Learn

Posted on January 15, 2012 by 10scorinne

PNW's newest officialsI gave a short presentation about our new website and blog to both USTA certification classes this weekend — you may’ve seen me. This happy group of our Rookie officials and new recruits paid close attention to JaneUSTA Sunday rookie school instructors. Goodman and Steve Halberg — here they are enthusiastically knowing the right answer. Or voting for a break?

PNW's veteran officialsThe next day, I attended the veteran class and tried to count myself as one of them. The collective experience of this group was very intimidating for a rookie like me. As you can tell, they are not easily rattled — taking my short presentation about the new website and blog in stride. Believe me though, they are very excited. Really. No, really!

Anyway, we will test them with our questions and concerns right here in this blog, I’m sure. But first, how was your school experience this year? Any thoughts?

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Sectional School

Posted on January 3, 2012 by 10scorinne

I didn’t intend to take the month of December off from my blogging duties, it just happened. I didn’t work much either, but the craziness of December shopping, parties, and holidays (and two family birthdays) always leave me feeling like I need a vacation but instead it’s back to work — and school.

If you are planning to attend Sectional school next weekend you are plowing through the tests just like me; I took the USTA test in late December, the ITA test is next on my list. I’m not going to take the Referee test or class yet, I still have a lot to learn and master before taking that on. I’ve heard that there will be a Chair School offered sometime in January, but haven’t heard anything more about it.

USTA Sectional School will be held here in Beaverton, Oregon on January 14th and 15th, however, the Veteran class will be Sunday and the Rookie class will be Saturday. I will be taking the Veteran class for the 1st time, although I may drop in on the Rookie class on Saturday to say hello and invite them to our blog because the more, the merrier. Merry Officiating!

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Involuntary Hindrance — You Make the Call

Posted on November 22, 2011 by 10scorinne

I’m watching the Barclays World Tour Finals as much as I can and I saw something interesting during the Llodra-Zimonjic/Bopanna-Qureshi doubles match. Bopanna hit a lob that went up through the overhead scoreboard (think Jumbo-tron). Zimonjic thought they won the point and yelled, but the ball fell inside the lines. Bopanna and Qureshi stopped playing after hearing Zimonjic yell and were upset with the chair official for deciding to replay the point based on an “involuntary hindrance.”

After watching the video, please comment on whether or not you agree with the call.

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Tony Anegon, Our Outstanding Official of the Year!

Posted on October 26, 2011 by 10scorinne

2011 Outstanding Official of the Year, Tony Anegon

Tony and his wife, MaryKay, have two children, Edward, and Angela. They are a tennis family, with their kids following in Tony’s footsteps as junior players that went on to play in college. Besides being a full-time attorney, Tony also finds time to playgolf, tennis, and indulge his love of jazz music that stretches back to his early college days as a jazz DJ for college radio.

Tony added officiating to his busy schedule in 2003 when there became an increased demand for ITA Officials in his area. He remembers his first match was a D-1 match at Washington State. “Was I nervous? –no, not really. The key is to behave in a confident manner while re-reading the rules often over the season.” Tony says his favorite match was, “A high school State Championship that I had the privilege to chair. The big, energetic crowd and the high level of tennis combined to make the atmosphere electric; I was happy to be a part of it.”

I asked Tony to share the worst call or mistake he has made and he said it was when he had to work a collegiate match while feeling under the weather; he felt he didn’t do a good job that day. “I missed calls. I struggled to find my focus. I made many players mad.” He still thinks about that day and feels like he let the players down. When I asked him what he learned from that struggle he said, “You can’t allow your focus to slip, even if you aren’t feeling well. Maybe by accepting the situation, knowing that you aren’t feeling your best, your focus will
come.”

Tony feels humbled being named Official of the Year since the nomination came from his peers and feels it is, “the ultimate compliment.” As he moves forward in his officiating career his goal is to continue to improve. “I don’t necessarily aspire to call lines at the US Open. I aspire to improve. I work 90% collegiate tennis and I would eventually like to work other types of events – maybe a National Championship or something along those lines. I just want to keep improving.”

On behalf of the PNW, congratulations to you on your Official of the Year award!

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TennisFest PNW Style

Posted on October 13, 2011 by 10scorinne

Road trip!

My daughter and I are heading to Bellevue, Washington to attend the USTA/PNW Awards lunch and Induction Ceremony this Saturday. I am so excited to meet our Official of the Year (if you don’t know, you’ll have to wait, sorry); I’ll give you the details in my next entry. Happy officiating!

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Time To Update NUCULA

Posted on October 9, 2011 by 10scorinne

Being a rookie, I was hired after NUCULA became the required method for keeping track of your work record but only just, so the seasoned officials and I are on equal footing as far as technology, as least. I don’t mean to be negative, but NUCULA is not a user-friendly or intuitive program and to be honest, I’m not sure I’m even using it correctly! I have suggestions for improvement, starting with the name or the logo, this is what you see:

— come on, let’s add some cool to our job –who’s with me?

Anyway, our wonderful Section Chair, Dennis Kviz, needs us all to update our Manual Work Records on NUCULA by October 15th — this Saturday. The important fields are dates you worked, number of roving days, and the number of chairs for 2011 to date.

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High Altitude, High Temperatures… High Hopes

Posted on August 30, 2011 by 10scorinne

I was selected to go to Sun River to work the Adult and Senior Mixed doubles Sectionals! This is for work; I’ll be working…I had to remind myself as I packed the swimsuit and tennis bag just in case.

from left: Darryl Kealy, Corinne Mitchell, Denise Alexander, and Tournament Referee John Flynn

Living with three officials (and two officials’ wives) for five days was a fun and educational experience. We worked long days and discussed the day’s events in the evening.  The “debriefing”, as I came to call it, began to remind me of an art class I took in college. “Corinne! Hold up your drawing for the class to criticize –er, critique.” It was humbling to sit in this group in general but I really felt the heat when my answers to some situations revealed how green I really was; my giant balloon of confidence at having been selected for this gig went pffffftttt.

So my balloon took a hit, it was for the greater good. I was still very excited to be a part of this event as were my housemates. We supported each other and worked this event as a team by sharing information, advice, and humor; like when Darryl asked a player to call heads or tails and the player nervously called, “up!” Don’t forget to share the funny stuff–do you have a story to share?

Happy officiating!

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Why don’t you talk about… How Rovers Move

Posted on August 6, 2011 by 10scorinne

The 1st blog entry in the “Why don’t you talk about…” series – these entries are suggested by fellow officials who feel the topic is worth discussion.

Roving is, by far, the thing we do the most of in the PNW. We cannot be everywhere at once, but attempt to divide our time equally between all assigned courts; sometimes roving 4 courts can be just as difficult as 8, depending on the tournament. Ideally, Rovers should be a visible presence on all of their assigned courts and players on neighboring courts cannot claim an Official Hindrance when Rovers are performing their duties even if they allow themselves to be distracted by the uniform or movement of a Rover.

I didn’t find information in FAC about the manner in which a rover should move around the courts, but in reviewing material from Official School, I found the following suggestions made in “what NOT to do when Roving – ‘Do NOT walk across the court while ball is in play.” This guideline implies staying put, at the net post, between 1st and 2nd serves and waiting until the point ends to enter or exit a court – that being said, I’m sure there are situations we could all think of that would require a Rover to interrupt play on a court.

As always, your comments are welcomed.

 

 

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