We have all made mistakes, there are plenty of reasons why, but officials can’t compound missed calls with phantom calls. It can happen with ballhandling. Maybe your mind wandered momentarily, and you lost focus, or you were distracted for a split second and took your eye off the ball. The bench erupts, you hear the spectators booing and you wonder what you just missed. And of course, the ball looks like it is in a tornado, but you have no idea whether it was played with one hand, two hands, a forearm pass or a foot dig. How about a net fault ..read more

Line judging, at any level, has its challenges. The game can move quickly and there are so many things to watch and think about as you prepare to make a call. Being able to read and react quickly are keys to getting the call right. Here are some tips and techniques to consider to help take your game to the next level. Pregame With Officials As a line judge, be sure to take an active role in the prematch discussion with the officials. While it’s important to listen, it’s just as important to ask questions. Does the first referee have preferences about a secondary signal? Are there specific inst ..read more

“Spectacularity” sounds made-up and highfaluting, doesn’t it? Au contraire. This actual word should be in every referee’s vocabulary. What does it mean, anyway? And how is it relevant to officiating? Spectacularity is a hustling or extraordinary effort by a player to play the ball that results in the inner fan in you, the referee, silently raving, “Wow! Nice play.” It can occur at any level of competition. What may apply for one level doesn’t necessarily apply for another level. Spectacularity is to be judged in relation to the caliber of the competitors present. Regardless of the degree of sp ..read more

Staying focused as a referee or line judge is of the utmost importance. Whether it’s a tight match or not, first point or last, long rally or quick kill, you need to be on your “A” game. When rallies and matches get long, it can sometimes be difficult to keep your concentration at the level it needs to be. Use these simple tips to help keep your mind and body ready for each point of the match. Before the Rally As a referee, keep focused on your routine. As an R1, the routine might be to scan the benches, scan the players on the court, scan the work crew and then one final scan to check if the ..read more

Officials often wonder what higher-level officials are thinking between points while up on the referee stand. What is going through the minds of officials as they prepare for the next play? Let’s take a look at the job responsibilities of a first referee between the time a point is awarded and the beckoning for the next serve. Watch for any unsportsmanlike actions The majority of points in a volleyball match are not controversial. Examples include a ball that falls to the floor as a down ball or the ball sailing out of bounds. These plays could have controversy, but the majority of the time, t ..read more

Very early in my officiating career, I received a call to officiate a local collegiate match. My partner was someone I had not worked with previously. While I thought I was very well trained, nothing had prepared me for what I call my worst nightmare as an official. It almost made me give up officiating altogether. The things that I remember most about that match are insignificant when I think about them today. However, I’m sure I will never forget how awful I felt after the match and especially after the postmatch conf ..read more

Taking a little extra time to properly make the triple check of rosters, the scoresheet and lineups prior to the start of a match and each subsequent set can prevent needless delays. Has this ever happened to you? Three serves into the first set the scorer informs the second referee, “wrong server.” There have been no substitutions and you know the players rotated properly. How can there be a wrong server? Valuable time is taken only to discover that the scorer recorded the lineup incorrectly on the scoresheet, the second referee ..read more

During our careers, each of us is bound to hear those irritating words shouted by parents or spectators or a team, “The score is wrong!” It doesn’t matter the level of play. It happens to all of us. At first, you frantically start looking at the scoreboard trying to remember what the score was at the end of the last rally. Then your focus quickly shifts to the scorer’s table to see if there is any indication of an issue. And then you glance at your partner for some kind of confirmation as to whether there’s a problem. There are two simple things that can help avoid that potential disaster: 1 ..read more

R egardless of the level of volleyball, before a match a coach may ask a referee, “Are you tight with ball handling or do you not call doubles?” Similar situations occur in baseball and softball. Umpires are often asked whether they have a big or small strike zone. Of course, answering the question can place officials in a situation where they must call the game based upon how they answered the coach. Although a referee might lean toward calling more ball-handling violations than not, it is best practice to consider several factors first. Instead of trying to be considered either tight or loos ..read more

As crazy as this might sound, have you ever thought of volleyball referees being in the customer service business? One might advance the notion that a lot more is required of referees than of a customer service agent. Both have a customer to please after all, don’t they? Except referees have many more customers to please and they’re divided into two opposing teams. Coaches are at the helm of advocating for their team, but they may be a little harder than the customer who’s trying to get a free meal after encountering “bad service.” There are many ways to tackle communication without words bein ..read more