Roving Umpire Procedures Flashcards
The Roving Umpire — an official overseeing play on multiple courts — is automatically at a disadvantage. There will always be action going on that is not observed. Therefore…
Every second spent looking at something that is not match action is an opportunity for issues to occur on court. Thus, the goal of the Roving Umpire is to minimize unobserved action.
Before Play Begins:
1. Arrive early. The Roving Umpire should arrive at the dual match or tournament at least 45 minutes before start time and report to the Referee. There you will learn SEVEN things:
a. Match formats
b. Who the coaches and DPAs are
c. Who the trainer is, where the trainer will be located and how to contact trainer
d. Bathroom locations and time allowed
e. Communication system among officials
f. Where the Referee will be
g. Court assignments/crew rotation schedule (if any)
Before Play Begins: Court Preparation. Check (EIGHT items):
a. Net tension (adjust as necessary if tools are available)
b. Singles sticks (if needed and available)
c. Net height after adjustments (singles sticks/net tension)
d. Court is clean, old balls are cleared
e. Water/cups are available
f. Scoring devices are cleared
g. Have new and like-wear balls readily available
h. Know off-court access (for tracking down stray balls)
Starting the Matches:
You want to do as many of these as possible for as many of your matches as possible. You probably won’t be able
to do all of them for all your matches, but do your best. FOUR ITEMS…
a. Ensure the proper players are on the proper courts. If they are not, it is the Referee’s responsibility to sort things out.
b. Pre-match meeting with players, including the
coin toss
c. Timing the warm-up (if any)
d. Making warm-up time announcements (if there
is a warm-up)
ITA Cases and Decisions:
Q: You are roving six courts at a DIII dual match. You are unable
to start every match. As you make your way to courts 5 and 6
you learn that the wrong players are playing each other. On
court 5 it is 1-1 and on court 6 it is 1-0 and 40-0. How do you
correct this error?
A: If you are the Referee, move the players to the correct courts.
If you are not the Referee, notify the Referee to handle the situation. The played games don’t count and each match will start over from the beginning.
Roving the Matches
1. POSITIONING. The ideal position for a Roving Umpire is at the net post of a court. The challenge, of course, is that
you are usually responsible for more than one court.
What is the POSITION of the Roving Umpire when officiating: two adjacent courts; three adjacent courts; four adjacent courts, and five or more adjacent courts?
a. Two adjacent courts: stand between the two courts at the net post(s).
b. Three adjacent courts: stand between two courts at the net post(s), shifting back and forth occasionally to the other inter-court space at the net post(s).
c. Four adjacent courts: same as with three but with another space to visit.
d. Five or more courts or multiple non-adjacent courts: do the best you can.
Roving the Matches: Roving Technique. Ten Items
a. Stand at one net post and observe
a point being played. -Use the same techniques a Chair Umpire would, observing the server’s toss, checking for foot faults and tracking the ball throughout the point.
b. Be prepared to overrule an obviously incorrect out call immediately.
c. When the point is completed, watch
the point loser long enough to make sure there is no behavior problem.
d. Then pivot to take up your ideal
roving position for the adjacent court and observe play there.
e. Continue pivoting between points, giving yourself maximum opportunity to observe points in play.
f. Of course, the points don’t always “line up” on adjacent courts. If you pivot and nothing is happening, feel free to pivot back or,
g. if you have responsibility for
additional courts, glance at them from afar.
h. The secret is to minimize time spent looking at a court where nothing is happening.
i. When one court goes into a changeover, start your watch to time it, but pivot back to watch a court still playing. You can always make a
“time” announcement when a point finishes.
j. We are not trying to be perfect on timing when roving. If you have
more than two courts, changeovers are the best time to shift to another set of net posts.
Roving Choreography.
When you have roving officials with overlapping court responsibilities (i.e., two Roving Umpires watching three adjacent courts), what technique should they use? (Three items)
a. they need to work in tandem to cover the middle court.
b. When one official pivots to look at the middle court, if the other official is already watching it, one of you needs to pivot back.
c. Having two sets of eyes watching one court is not only inefficient, it can lead to problems with overruling line calls.
PROFESSIONALISM:
Go where the action is.
a. If one match is in a tie-break and the adjacent match has just finished; Be alert, attentive and responsive to players and coaches.
b. Assist with ball changes when possible. Provide the assistance and information players need to play their match, without unnecessarily inserting yourself into the match.
c. Your presence alone is often sufficient to keep matches on track, so it is of the utmost importance that your “presence” conveys confidence and engenders credibility.
