REFEREE (RE)CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

     Clinics. All certified referees must be dually-certified as a Provisional, Regional, or National scorekeeper so that you are proficient in the use of the current scoresheet. All of you should have attended a scorekeeper recertification clinic during the past two seasons!!! If you failed to attend a scorekeeper clinic in the last two years, your scorekeeper status may have lapsed, and you will be required to start over by attending an entire day of clinics. If you are unsure of your scorekeeper status check the CHRVA Officials Webpage (http://www.vball-life.org/officials/) and then contact Dixie Collins at dixie.collins@chrva.org. 

     Juniors’ referees are especially encouraged to attend any of the fall clinics for recertification, or to become certified as a new Provisional referee (you must attend the scorekeeper clinic as well), or to become certified as a new Provisional scorekeeper. Attendance at one of the fall clinics satisfies the clinic requirement.

     We have scheduled several clinics so far this fall:

Saturday, October 11, 2003 —

Frederick Recreation Center, Frederick, MD
(new and recert referees and scorekeepers)

Saturday, October 25, 2003 —

Victory Villa Community Center, Middle River, MD
(new and recert referees and scorekeepers)

Sunday, October 26, 2003 —

Fairfax Government Center, Herrity Building, Fairfax,
VA (new and recert referees and scorekeepers)

Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Wednesday, November 5, 2003
Thursday, December 4, 2003

     Online Referee Exams. We are changing our referee examination procedures this season by migrating to an Internet-based online exam process this fall. This change will allow us to use the clinic time for more coaching and discussions of “what if?” scenarios and “how to?” techniques. The process will be discussed more at each clinic and on the CHRVA Officials WebPage at http://www.vball-life.org/officials/.

     New Referees. You must attend both a new referee AND a new scorekeeper clinic, successfully pass both exams, and attend one or more Fellowship Tournaments to successfully pass three (3) practical “on-the-job” evaluations (ratings) as a first referee and as a scorekeeper (two ratings). See the clinic attendance matrix located near Dixie Collins’ Scorekeeper column elsewhere in this DIGS to see when you need to arrive at clinics, and what to expect.

NEW RECERTIFICATION PROCESS

     We actually will be instituting a new recertification process for referees this season. Each referee will be responsible for being observed during the season and documenting their evaluations. A new form for this purpose will be available in September on the CHRVA Officials Webpages and at all clinics. The use and function of this recert document will be fully explained in the fall clinics.

FELLOWSHIPS

     We are planning several fellowship tournaments for November. We anticipate that there will be several other fellowships sponsored by other clubs/teams. Our goal is to use all fellowships for training and certification. Complete and up-to-date information about fellowships will be discussed at the clinics and on the CHRVA Officials Webpage at http://www.vball-life.org/officials/.  I encourage everyone to take advantage of these training/practice tournaments to become familiar with the new “look” of volleyball officiating.

REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

     I want to extend my personal THANKS!!!!! to the many great referees who worked the 2003 Regional Championships. We were able to completely staff each tournament with non-playing referees. These individuals, some of whom worked more than one day, and some of whom are Provisional referees, deserve a BIG round of applause: 

Rod Anderson, Kelli Auletta, Mike Barnett, Maggie Booth, Marty Bosse, Tom Brewer, Emmanuel Brunot, Carla Bunner, Steve Burinsky, Bruce Burris, Chris Cant, Ken Carey, Mike Cerny, Seng Chiu, Morris Davis, Les Deason, Monica Deckers, Rick Dubois, Pat Duggan, Sue Ebbitt, Dee Eddy, Connie Engel, Charles Ezigbo, Andres Fillipi, Ripley Forbes, Corny Galdones, Arlene Geppi, Janet Getz, Steve Hall, Beverly Himm, Jeff Himm, Jim Holcolm, George Hayn, Gary Hughes, William Hughes, Shari Jennings, Greg Johnson, Joseph Konrade, Jim Kriebel, Neil Kurland, Larry Liden, Kip Lornell, Ray Lowman, Jeff Mazerski, Fred Mehl, Sherry Morgan, Duncan Munro, Mark Nash, Tom O’Connor, Diane Paterline, Alex Postpiscil, Rudy Quinones, Bob Powell, Glenn Reid, Gwen Sanford, Fred Seeger, Tracy Shadle, Scott Shipley, Dean Shumway, Kevin Sippel, Richard Smith, Kenneth Spriggs, Joe Stepan, Bryan Strong, Hieu Tang, Amy Unger, Stacey Weitzel, and Diana Zabetakis.

RULES

     You will all be pleased to hear that there are, again, no new rules this season. However there are several clarifications that we will again be discussing at the fall clinics. Come prepared to ask questions. Teams are warned that their Libero player must have a jersey of a contrasting color to the other players’ uniform jerseys. 

     The clarification at Rule 11.3.2.1, pg. 24, USAV 2003-2004 Rulebook—The Libero must wear a uniform shirt or jacket that is immediately recognized from all angles as being in clear contrast to and distinct from the other members of the team. If other members wear a uniform that is composed of two or more colors (exclusive of sleeve trim, collar trim, seam piping, lettering, and numbers), the principal color of the Libero’s uniform CANNOT be ANY of those colors. 

     This means, for example, that if a team wears red shirts that have white panels (gussets) on the sides (under the arm area), and the Libero wears the same colors in reverse (white shirt with red panels/gussets under the arm), THIS IS NO LONGER LEGAL! This also means that the Libero’s shirt cannot be any of the colors of the team uniform shirt. The Libero’s shirt must be such that it can be “immediately recognized” and ‘in clear contrast to and distinct from the other members of the team.” Some examples of non-contrasting color combinations of team and Libero shirts: white and light gray or black and navy blue or dark brown. 

CHRVA OFFICIALS’ WEBPAGE

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