HOW DO WE GET
MORE
AND
BETTER
Qualified Referees?
Refereeing in USA Pickleball
Association (USAPA) sanctioned
tournaments is big fun for many of us.
But do we always have enough referees –
or, better said, well-qualified referees who
can keep the games running smoothly?
That has been a problem at many
tournaments around the country.
Officiating is a necessary function for
sanctioned tournaments in virtually
every sport, including ours. But how
people become referees has varied all over
the map.
And the tools officials use to referee
have been pretty fundamental (e.g., the
advent of the clothespin to signify first
or second server was a big improvement
over holding one or two fingers behind
your clipboard, now, wasn’t it?). So what’s
in store for referee evolution?
We heard about a couple of potential
changes recently at the 2015 USAPA
Nationals Pickleball Tournament VII in
Arizona. The first is the USAPA plan that
will standardize training and lead (when
fully implemented) to USAPA Referee
Certification, and the second is a first
step into the digital age with a fascinating
software/hardware tool, ScoreIt Remote,
that’s in development to assist referees.
How well do you think each of these
undertakings will move us toward the
goal of smooth‑running tournaments
with quality officiating? Let’s take a look
at each in a little more detail.
50
1. USAPA Referee
Certification: A New Process
Lynn and Linda Laymon, USAPA
Board members in charge of
Training, described the plans for
Referee Certification in one of the
open seminars at the 2015 USAPA
National Tournament. Here’s Linda’s
description of the program.
To achieve USAPA referee
certification, a person will need to
complete the following steps:
1 - Be a USAPA member in good
standing.
2 - Pass the current Referee Test on
the usapa.org web page.
3 - Download and study the USAPA
Referee Handbook, which contains
USAPA officiating standards and
procedures.
4 - Complete ref training delivered
by an instructor using the USAPA
Referee Trainer Guide.
5 - As specified in USAPA standards
and procedures, referee at least
30 matches, 15 of which must
occur in sanctioned tournaments.
6 - Request your trainer (#4
above) to recommend you for
certification by completing the
Recommending Trainer section
of Certification application
(under development). Based on
your refereeing performance,
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trainer decides whether or not
to recommend you for on‑court
evaluation.
7 - Complete Applicant section of
application and send it and the
required application fee to USAPA
Training Department. While the
fee has not yet been set, at this
point, the Training Department is
estimating that it most likely will
be around $100.
8 - Be evaluated by a USAPA
evaluator, who will observe
your performance during three
tournament matches and record
your adherence to USAPA
standards and procedures. The
evaluator will provide feedback
after the on-court observations
and confirm whether or not
you have met the standards for
certification. Application fee
allows for two opportunities to
successfully pass the evaluation
process.
9 - Evaluator reports results to the
USAPA and successful candidate
will be sent USAPA Certified
Referee credentials package
(under development).
The referee fee paid in step 7
is meant to cover the cost of the
certification materials and the cost of
evaluators going to a central location
where the evaluation takes place.