Congratulations also to Janet Getz for becoming our newest Regional referee.
 
REFEREE CARDS AND CERTIFIED REFEREE LISTING

     All currently certified Provisional and Regional Referees who completed their (re)certification requirements have been mailed their referee cards.  If you did not receive a card, there is probably a good reason, either on the scorekeeper or the referee side of the house, why you did not.  Go to the CHRVA Officials' Webpages to view the latest complete (I hope) listing.  If your name is not on the Certified Referees list, then you are not certified for one reason or another, and you need to find out why.  Working in sanctioned competition as an uncertified official puts your team at risk of being fined!  Contact the Referee Chair via email at referee.chair@chrva.org.
 
CHRVA OFFICIALS’ WEBPAGE

     Continue to look at the Officials Webpage (http://www.vball-life.org/officials/index.cfm) for the latest information about such things as clinics, fellowships, the rating/certification process, and officiating opportunities.

OFFICIATING OPPORTUNITIES

     I want to remind you of the opportunities to work as a paid referee in the various recreational leagues and the CHRVA-sanctioned events to which the Officials’ Division provides officiating services.  The Officials’ Division assigns certified referees to many adult recreational volleyball leagues in both the Virginia and Maryland suburbs and is looking for certified referees to assist the leagues.  We have two recreation league assignors, one in the Virginia suburbs (Jeff Himm at himmjfh@aol.com, 703-818-2419) and one in the Maryland-DC suburbs (Ray Lowman at h20koiboi@aol.com, 410-263-7128).  I highly recommend and encourage each of you to contact either Jeff or Ray and make yourself available to officiate for at least one night a month in a recreational league.  We all benefit.  You can gain some experience on the ladder (while making some money), the leagues have certified volleyball officials, and the assignors have additional resources to utilize.

     Tracy Shadle, our CHRVA assignor, makes assignments for all of the Region’s sanctioned tournaments (weekend competitions).  He can be reached via email at tracy.shadle@chrva.org or 703-461-3086.  We have a need for non-playing referees in the next several months, especially since the junior girls and boys continue their competitive seasons past the Regional Championships.

REFEREE (RE)CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

     Just as a reminder to our referees:  next Fall, ALL certified referees are required to attend an annual USAV or USAV/PAVO referee clinic and pass the USAV exam (90 is passing).  In addition, All certified referees are required to be dually-certified as a scorekeeper (Provisional, Regional, or National) so that you are proficient in the use of the USAV scoresheet.  Make sure that you look at the Officials’ WebPages (http://www.vball-life.org/officials/index.cfm) for the clinic dates and locations around August and September of this year.

     Those of you who are currently Provisional Scorekeepers must re-certify/upgrade to Regional Scorekeeper next fall.  See Dixie Collins’ column or the Officials Web Pages regarding the upgrade process.

REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

     All Regional and National referees are required to work at least one of our Regional Championships.  We welcome any of our Provisional referees who want to contribute to these Championships by working.  Please contact either Tracy Shadle or Larry Liden to volunteer.

     Congratulations to Carla Bunner and Monica Deckers for being nominated as the Chesapeake Region’s candidates for their Junior National Referee certification.  Carla and Monica will be attending one of the USAV Juniors Qualifiers for their rating session.  Mark Nash has been invited to the 2003 NIRSA Championships as a USA National candidate.
 

RULES, MECHANICS, AND CLARIFICATIONS

     The 2002-2003 Competition Season has already created some questions about “typical” issues.

Game Tempo.  We want the games to flow smoothly.  However, R1s (first referees) should only authorize the service when the server is in the area behind the end line with the ball in their possession.  I have heard reports that our R1s are whistling for service while the next server is approaching the service zone!  Let's not hurry the teams, but let's assist them in making the games/matches flow at a reasonable pace.  Make sure the receiving team, serving team, and work crew are ready.  Wait for the server to cross behind the service line and pause facing towards (or away from) the court, with the ball in his/her hands.  When all these conditions are met, beckon for serve.  Do not wait for the server to delay the process by getting instructions from the coach, finding another service spot, or bouncing the ball.

Use of Balls Between Games.  Players may use balls to pepper between games.  Adults may share hitting between games by directing their hitting into their own court.  Juniors may not share hitting during the between game interval—only peppering.

Libero Uniform.  The Libero player’s jersey/shirt must be a contrasting color compared to the other team jersey/shirts.  The Libero player’s team jersey must have a legal number on it.  However, the Libero may wear another jersey, shirt, or jacket that is of contrasting color, over their team uniform such that the uniform number is obscured.  It is more important to be able to quickly and easily identify the Libero player, rather than to be able to identify the Libero’s uniform number.

“Blocker” has been re-defined so that a player is a blocker if they are near the net and have part of their body above the top of the net at the moment of contact of the ball.  For a grouping of players to be a “collective block,” all the adjacent players must have a body part above the net at the moment the ball contacts one or more of the adjacent players.  If a player is near the net but does not have a body part above the top of the net, and the ball contacts the player (or adjacent players of a potential collective block), then that contact is simply the 1st team hit.

Multiple Hit on 1st Team Contact.  Do NOT whistle a double hit fault on the 1st team contact, regardless of what direction the ball takes, unless there was more than one effort to play the ball.  Many of us in the past called these “1st team contacts” as a “held ball” when in fact the ball was hit multiple times.  Remember, multiple contacts on the 1st team contact are LEGAL now.  “Held ball” should not be called unless the ball visibly stops or comes to rest on a player.

Held Ball.  If the ball stops or comes to rest on any part of a player on any team contact, then the fault indicated should be “HELD BALL.”  Many referees mistakenly signal a “2-hit fault” for a ball that was held.

Multiple contacts on 2nd or 3rd team hits are FAULTS and should continue to be called.  Again, the fault should be properly identified as a “Double Hit” and NOT as a “Held Ball,” unless the ball actually stops.

Warm-up Period.  In ALL competitions, the interval between matches will be 10 minutes, no more and no less.  The warm-up period for adults will again consist of four minutes of shared non-hitting followed by six minutes of shared hitting, unless the team captains do not agree to share the hitting time, in which case each team will have three minutes of hitting alone.  The warm-up period for juniors will consist of two minutes of shared non-hitting, followed by four minutes of non-shared hitting by the serving team and then four minutes of non-shared hitting by the receiving team.  (Clarification:  if the serving team just worked the previous match, then the warmup sequence is to be reversed.)  Team Referees, please do your best to get the captains meeting finished and the warm-ups started immediately after you play.