How to be a "great" line judge

[bkelly]

If the ball hits a pony tail on the way out, is this a touch?

[VballDaddy78]

GLJ, you are right, Ms. Goodwin requires no help. Dont believe it? Just ask her.

Also, she seems to be one of the few that follow the "rules" noted by GLJ earlier, in that she about went off last year when we didn't have our line judge ready to go 20 minutes before the match. I've only done 1 match with her this year and she asked each of us "judges" how long we had been calling lines and when I said "for about 7 years", she told me to take the lines opposite her. So, I guess she was taking into account my "experience".............. although I din't tell her I can't hardly see anythng more than about 10 feet away!

[TheGreatLineJudge]

If the ball hits a pony tail on the way out, is this a touch?

 

Loose hair in a pony tail is not a touch; I base this on loose hair contacting the net not being a net violation. I'll double check in the casebook.

 

Great question!

[flightmaster]

GLJ, you are right, Ms. Goodwin requires no help. Dont believe it? Just ask her.

 

I would prefer that the official call ALL the balls. We lost 3 points during a district match last week (at their home)that were right in front of our bench, and were not even close to being the right call, on the final blatent bad call, the line judge (a parent) actually turned and winked at their scorers table (which my entire team saw), it was a disgrace, and home cooking at it's finest. If the TSSAA can't supply impartial line judges, WHY EVEN HAVE THEM?

[Cowboys Up]

And 78 what about the situation that the line judge being harassed by a long hired "Rock STar" looking man in the stands watching every move and call you make?

Or the hordes of adoring women that crowd the corner of the court to show their admiration for the legs of said line judge?

[Cowboys Up]

TGLJ, I call quite a bit of lines in West TN and I know we are behind East & Middle TN in volleyball by listening to all of the people say so on here, but you forgot to add a few signals that we use over here that might be of some assistance down the road for you:

 

1. If I look up at the ref rubbing my fat belly, it means that I have worked all day, it is supper time and I need some food.

 

2. If I grab my crotch and stand knock kneed, I need a bathroom break before the next service point.

 

3. If I pull out a big ole pair of black frame thick lens glasses, it's gonna be a quick night for the visiting team.

 

LOL, seriously though, I want to thank anyone and everyone that volunteer's to help call the lines at the games. Not everyone is up to that task. It is much appreciated.

[PHargis]

Or the hordes of adoring women that crowd the corner of the court to show their admiration for the legs of said line judge?

CU, and thats right, down at that corner of the court, that had the "Rock Star" with the long hair and a book of stats in his hand, was a beautiful young woman looking at that "Line Judge" and the Line judge did look like 78, in fact if i remember it could have been his twin but you know, its no telling who you will see at a VB match, Rock Stars, Country Music Stars like Alan jackson or George Jones, and ever so often a famous Line Judge.

[PHargis]

i attended a match this evening between Blackman Middle, Siegel Middle and Stewart Creek and as i got there, the parking lot was full and I thought something else was going on at the school. I walked in and found they arena had a good crowd already and it was 20 minutes before the match was to start so I thought I would check out what GLJ said about instructions Referees gave to line judges. It was like all of these people had read his instructions on this thread before they got there. Coach Stoecker, of Siegel had the Line Judges at the end of the court, the Referee had just started to talk to them and then you could see the motions and explanations she was giving each. It took about ten minutes with her pointing at areas of the floor. The two judges had called before and were not new.

They completed the instructions and the Referee went back to the scorers stand and compteted getting ready for the match to start. His explanation was text book and this referee, looking like she had read it too, was text book also. It was a good job and the matches went smoothly.

[VballDaddy78]

Or the hordes of adoring women that crowd the corner of the court to show their admiration for the legs of said line judge?

Now I'm blushing.

[VballDaddy78]

Also, how about when the line judge get's "called out" by his own daughter because I, I mean "he", didn't think the ball touched the antenna but she did?

Edited September 22, 2006 by VballDaddy78

[TheGreatLineJudge]

Do any TN volleyball matches use down refs? I know that adds additional cost per match. In KY we pay 2 refs for all matches-FR, JV, V, and tournaments. Lafayette has played at Page Tourney the last two years and they only had up ref. Maybe went with up and down late in the tourney.

 

Without a down ref there is a lot more responsibility on LJ's to pay close attention. I don't believe that I've seen LJ's who only made calls for their own team. I'm sure it might happen, but most people are fair when entrusted with this job. The most important thing is to pay attention and know what is happening on the court.

 

Save for post-season and when requested for tournament semi-finals and finals, no. There are two issues at hand here.

 

First, we don't have the manpower. I can speak for the mid-state in that between high school varsity, JV, freshmen, middle schools, and a handful of private schools, roughly 200 schedules are being serviced. We have either 68 or 69 officials. Last year, we had roughly 190 schedules and 76 officials. Long story short: the volleyball "population" is growing faster than the officiating ranks are here.

 

Second is the schools' capacity to pay officials. Judging by many crowds, schools are doing well to bring enough at gate to pay one official, much less two. I was at a dual-court match a few weeks ago and I was chatting with the coach, who I know fairly well. She told me that between gate and concessions, she broke even. Ouch.

 

If this particular part of the discussion picks up, as I figure it will, I'll move the posts into a new topic. Feel free to reply as is.

[TheGreatLineJudge]

I would prefer that the official call ALL the balls. We lost 3 points during a district match last week (at their home)that were right in front of our bench, and were not even close to being the right call, on the final blatent bad call, the line judge (a parent) actually turned and winked at their scorers table (which my entire team saw), it was a disgrace, and home cooking at it's finest. If the TSSAA can't supply impartial line judges, WHY EVEN HAVE THEM?

 

In regards to TSSAA "supplying" line judges, TSSAA doesn't supply line judges, save for the state tournament. Line judges, even during district play, are the responsibility of the host school.

 

When it comes to district finals and regions and what not, more officials are available and thus "official" line judges would be available upon request.