From
The
Fellowship Committee
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Debbie Reed
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Debbie Reed
1311 Aintree Road
Towson, MD 21286
TEL:410-825-2849
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For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity
to interact with the Fellowship Committee, let me give you a brief description
of our function. The Fellowship Committee consists of a handful of National
Scorekeepers or Junior National Referees whose job is to coordinate
the ratings of all referee and scorekeeper candidates at all designated
Ratings Fellowships. Each member is assigned approximately two Rating Fellowships
and is responsible for accepting appointment requests from candidates and
scheduling those candidates into their rating matches. At the fellowship,
the committee member is the Head Rater, and is responsible for ensuring
that things run smoothly, making last minute changes, collecting all of
the paperwork, and in general trying to make the candidate’s rating experience
as positive as possible.
The Fellowship Schedule is distributed to
all candidates at the Referee and Scorekeeper Candidate clinics, along
with more detailed instructions on how to make appointments, etc. Because
we attempt to concentrate our resources (i.e. raters), there are some fellowships
that are not designated as Rating Fellowships. If you plan to be at one
of those Non-Rating Fellowships and would like to get rated, all we can
tell you is that every attempt will be made to accommodate you with the
personnel available at the tournament, but we will not be taking appointments
and we cannot offer any guarantees. Please try to understand that we must
put our raters where they can do the most good. It is unreasonable to schedule
several raters at fellowships where past history has suggested there are
only a few candidates, or where there is another more centrally located
and better attended fellowship on the same day.
As I am sure everyone has heard by now, this
fellowship season presents its own special version of the Y2K problem.
The Rules of the Game have gone through extensive changes which has filtered
down to the techniques and procedures for both refereeing and scorekeeping.
Regardless of our individual feelings about these changes, we all must
face the challenge of adapting, not only as players and spectators, but
as referees and scorekeepers as well. In addition to rating new referees
and scorekeepers, the fellowship season will provide an excellent opportunity
for all the existing referees and scorekeepers to practice the new techniques
and procedures. Raters will be available to provide some guidance although
obviously their first commitment will be to the new candidates. I cannot
stress enough that all referees and those scorekeepers who have learned
the new techniques and procedures should take the time during the fellowship
season to practice. None of the new procedures are rocket science but they
are somewhat complicated and very different from anything we have experienced
before.
The success of this entire system, both the
training and re-training effort, is totally dependent on the volunteerism
of a small group of dedicated referees and scorekeepers who are willing
to serve as raters at these fellowships. “Volunteerism” is perhaps not
totally accurate as I want to once again remind all National, Junior National
and Regional Referees and all National Scorekeepers that you are required
as part of your continued certification to contribute your time as a rater.
Both the National Referee and Scorekeeper Commissions are increasingly
concerned about nationally certified officials who do not contribute their
expertise to promote their programs at the regional level. Your respective
Referee and Scorekeeper Chairs will be reminding you of this obligation
and I can only hope that you will respond accordingly. However, the Rating
Team is not limited to these people - anyone, especially Regional Scorekeepers,
who is interested in earning a few extra bucks (usually $25 half day, $50
full day) and experiencing the satisfaction of helping candidates become
certified, please raise your hand (or rather pick up the phone and call,
or drop me an e-mail.) It’s not that hard and besides it’s usually cold
and yucky outside anyway, so what better way to spend a weekend day or
two? And if you need better incentive, perhaps I should mention that every
Lines Judge and Scorekeeper at the Atlanta Olympics started out in their
regions volunteering as raters. If anyone has aspirations of being there
the next time the Olympics comes to the U.S.A., now is the time to start!
I also want to remind everyone who intends
to participate in the fellowships as either players or candidates, we will
conduct all Rating Fellowships using the new Rally Point Scoring system
(2 games to 25 and 1 to 15). One major benefit of using this scoring system
is it is supposed to control the overall lengths of matches. Perhaps this
means we will not need to use timed games at fellowships anymore, but we
reserve the right to change our minds on that one if the matches do not
stay contained within an hour time-frame.
I am looking forward to seeing many of you
at the clinics and fellowships this year. There is a lot going on from
the referee and scorekeeper point of view and I hope all returning officials
will jump right in with an open mind and the same enthusiasm you brought
to officiating the first time around.
— Debbie Reed
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