Search Forum Home   Discussions  Events  A report from D...  A report from Dallas    5/18/2006 6:41:00 AM Jeannette 176 posts A report from Dallas The Dallas Qualifier Twenty-one (21) referees attended the seminar, well-taught by Masters Holloway and Chase. The entire group was together for much of the classroom discussion. Then the six who were taking the seminar for the first time left with Master Chase for more focused discussion for the new judge, while the rest remained with Master Holloway, for situation analysis and more in-depth discussion of penalties, legal scoring areas, legal techniques, and the like. The two groups remained split for the practical on the floor, while the first timers learned the basics of hand signals, and the more experienced worked on “getting on the same page” in their hand signals. All had a chance to score points, and see the effects of needing three out of four judges agreeing within the one second “bucket” for a point to score. All in all, valuable for all levels. We ran five rings, six referees in each ring. TA’s for the event, all IRs, were Raymond Hsu, Alva Adams, Ed Jacobson, Richard Sacks, and Tweedy Nguyen. All of the six first timers at the seminar worked at least one day. They were surely welcome additions! Thanks to Master Sacks for making phone calls right before the start of the event after a few cancellations came in, and to the five additional referees who responded to his call, and came to work the tournament. Very special appreciation for the work and commitment of those referees who had made the choice to commit to the tournament in advance. Yes, this is a call for referees. If you haven’t yet signed up to work Buffalo, Miami and/or Juniors, do it now! At the end of day 2, the TAs all met individually with every referee in their rings and conducted formal evaluations. In at least some cases, self-evaluations contributed to the value of the review process. We know that our primary goals are safety and a level playing field for the competitors. In both areas, the competition was a success. With 647 competitors, we had no major injuries and no protests. The facility was fine, an easy walk or DART ride from the hotel. The organizers, both USAT staff and volunteers, did a good job keeping the flow of matches to the ring steady without too many hanging about ring-side waiting. There were very few lulls in the action, either when entire brackets were brought to the ring, or once the match numbers started. The usual computer glitches were there but minimal. Medical did their always fine job. The first day was a bit long; we left the Arena about 9:30 pm. Day 2 was shorter; we were out by late afternoon. [Complaints about the food, yes. No place for the referees to buy food for the day of the seminar. No protein during the tournament for vegetarians, or even those who just don’t eat red meat. You CAN order large quantities of decent food without blowing the budget. Black beans and rice, maybe, in Texas?] The best comments came from the first-timers. They proclaimed the tournament a “Great learning environment.” They couldn’t say thank you often enough to the more experienced referees who worked with them. One asked me to issue a “Special invitation to other black belts to Come on out.” Two asked me to encourage black belts to volunteer at events where they can’t officiate, saying that they learned so much by helping at the US Open in Dallas, and they felt good that they contributed to the success of the event. And yes, well, Dallas does close down at dusk. And never mind that it was Mother’s Day. But as evidence that a good time was had, Team 2, in Ring 5, enjoyed getting to know our fellow referees who came from East Texas. We wonder, just how do you spell “Taaaaamm” (time)? And “Faaaaaat” (fight)? Respectfully, Lois Schoenbrun  5/18/2006 6:44:33 AM Jeannette 176 posts Re: A report from Dallas Thanks to Lois (Lane?), our roving reporter. Remember everyone, without referees, the tournaments cannot run. There are still plenty of opportunities to get in on the fun this year. The USAT is still looking for refs for Juniors. Your local tournaments can use your help too... Jenny  Page 1 of 1   Discussions  Events  A report from D... Flat View Tree View Oldest To Newest Newest To Oldest