For the Bios of the Ad Hoc Referee Committee responsible for this report, and the operation of the referee program over the past couple of years, click here.
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Background:
At the time I accepted the appointment of IRC, February 2004, I was told by Bob G. that I would be a committee of "One". There would be no other official members. I could appoint people on an "as needed" basis (Co-Chairs/Coordinators for Nationals/Jo's, etc.) with the approval of the CEO. He also informed me that we had no current Code of Operations to follow.
I was first asked to develop a form of referee evaluation, that would be kept on file at the USAT office, and used to both evaluate referee's performance and as a process of selection to National/international events.
This was done and presented/approved at the very next event (Team Trails,
COS) in a meeting with Bob G., Steve Locke and USAT staff. I was told that the Athlete and Coaches Development programs were immediate priorities, and a Referee Program was in the works. 2004 events ran as in the past, with the addition of the referee evaluations.
Throughout the year, the need for improvement in the education of referee's became more and more urgent. One of the most common complaints from coaches/athletes was the inconsistent application of the competition rules by the referee's. In Dec '04,I requested to be allowed to appoint a committee to develop a Referee Seminar criteria. We could then train referee seminar instructors, who would be certified to teach all USAT Referee seminars, using the same criteria, interpretation and application of the competition rules. Bob G. approved this request.
This Project mushroomed into several projects needed to complete the Seminar project, and develop an educated, consistent and fair referee program.
The majority of my "Volunteer" time was spent approving seminars, assigning seminar instructors, reviewing seminar rosters for promotions, assigning referee's for National events, Instructing Seminars, Chairing Referee's at Qualifiers, Nationals, JO's, Team Trails, ring assignments, etc.,etc.
I selected a core of people to help with this work, some working on more than one project: Mr. John Holloway, Mr. Leon Preston, Mr. Bruce Harris, Dr. Bill Sullivan, Ms. Anne Chase, and Ms Valerie Long. We added an Athlete Rep and a Coaching Rep. Mr. Gambardella had knowledge/approval of all on these committee's. Just to be clear, the USAT Bylaws state:
Section 9.3. Membership on standing committees shall not exceed five(5) individuals. Membership on other committees and task forces shall only exceed five(5) individuals if necessary and appropriate and if approved by a majority of the Board of Directors.
(We had no BOD at that time, and I had Bob's approval.)
Section 9.4. All committees and task forces shall have at least twenty (20) percent athlete representation so as to comply with the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act and the USOC Bylaws.
I asked Bob G. if we should add another athlete, and he said one would be okay.
The following is a list of projects that were sent to CEO Gambardella for approval. I was given permission to pursue each project.
- Referee Evaluations: revised at each event to the current form.
Project Chair: Mr. Leon Preston - Instructor Manual for C/D Level Course, Project Chair: Dr. Bill Sullivan
- Referee Instructor Course Outline for A/B/ Level Course Final Draft 8/05,Project Chair: Dr. Bill Sullivan
(This was updated in the Code of Operations to Club Level,
Association Level, Regional Level and National Level. This can be easily updated to conform to current WTF/USAT regulations.) - Referee Survey.
Project Chair: Dr. Bill Sullivan
- Referee Code of Operations - including Referee Selection Criteria.
Project Chair - Mr. Bruce Harris
- Updated 2006 Referee Manual - submitted December 2005.
Project Chair - Mr. Jim Montgomery. Jim had done the revisions in the 2004 editions, and graciously accepted the responsibility of updating this 2006 edition with the help of Leon Preston, John Holloway and myself.
Contributing Members:
Mr. John Holloway –
Ms. Anne Chase -
Ms. Valerie Long -
I would also like to note that Grant Marlenee had produced a referee database, that could be used by the Referee Chair/USAT Staff in the tracking of referee data/promotions/evaluations/appointments, etc. This was also submitted to Bob G. and USAT staff, who immediately informed us that this was not needed. Seemed like a great idea to me.
A week after I had been dismissed as IRC, I (and many other ref's) was contacted by the "Referee Study Committee", for input into updating the Referee rules to conform to the newest version from the WTF. I responded that, that work had already been done, and was in the USAT office. The "Study Committee" member had no information on this. However it was later released, after it had been gone through by the "Study Committee", as the version completed by Jim Montgomery and this committee.
In conclusion, nothing that was submitted has been approved. We did a lot of good work. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve as USAT Interim Referee Chair. I am grateful for all the referee's who have "Volunteered" their precious time to this organization.
Barbara Wakefield
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