canthe's WebLog : Volleyball

Whew! The finale of volleyball (pt. 2 - long)

canthe — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 08:51:00 GMT

So arriving on Saturday morning the final match brackets are posted. For all of Friday's matches, officials are rated by the coaches, their partner, and observers/raters. I was extremely honored to be selected to down ref (umpire/R2/whatever) the 2A championship match (with Alan, my partner from Friday morning). Several people congratulated me, and honestly I was surprised, as this was my first state tourney, so it was quite an honor for me.

But, moving on, I had to ref a match that morning. One of the teams was a local Seattle school, the Bush Blazers, who were a semi-favorite to win the championship but lost their first round match, making 5th their best possible outcome (this is a shame of the modified double elimination format the WIAA switched to a couple of years ago, one loss in the first round puts you out of contention for 1st-4th, no matter if you sweep from then out. The format change was necessary as the pool play/bracket format of years past often put matches going into midnight/1AM on the 1st day, which just ran everyone ragged, so you have to be perfect at state to win).

Bush went up 2 games-0, and then managed to lose the next 2 to force 5. I must be cursed (or my partner was, as he was the up ref and my 1st match Friday then went 5). The game went so long that I was at risk of not being able to switch over to the other court for the next match I was scheduled to ref, so as soon as we were done I signed the scoresheet and ran over. Warmups were already started, but since I was there in time, I kept the match.

Sometimes it's good to not have time to think. I introduced myself to my crew (all of whom it was my 1st time working with), and after just a couple of minutes went up to start the match - and it was my best/favorite match of the tournament. Everything pretty much clicked - the setters were clean, which made it easy to call ball handling. My line judges were rock solid, never had to think about their calls - and my down ref was on top of everything. Even with all that, it was still pretty eventful (this was a semi-final match - winner moved up to final, loser went to 3rd place match, so a lot was riding on the match).

Somewhere in game 2, I think, passer overpasses into the net, but setter makes a great save to the back row, and I watch the hitter out of the back row do a great jump and spike... only she's wearing a different color jersey. Oops. I whistle and signal illegal attack, and the coach and players are looking very confused. So I call over the captain and explain patiently:

Me: So the reason I made a call there is that your libero is never allowed to attack the ball when it's above the height of the net, regardless of whether she was in the back row or not. She can never do it.
Captain: (nodding) Ohh.... OK.

(How is it they get to state and don't know the rules?)

Shortly afterwards there's a timeout and my line judges come over (they're all local officials), and congratulate me on a great quick call.

Somewhere later in the game, on a great dig, the libero runs over and sets the ball, with one foot in the front zone. I'm watching the ball and attacker to see where it's hit, and out of the corner of my eye I see the opposing coach literally leaping off of her seat to complain that I haven't called an illegal attack yet. Patience.... I wait for the hitter to complete the hit above the height of the net, and make the call, and my R2 does a great job explaining to the coach why the call happened when it did.

A bit later in game 3, the libero again attacks above the net, and gets called again.

Then on the opposite team, on a great blocked ball that got popped up, a player from her knees tries to set it up and just does this awful double (but single play on the ball). I almost gag on my whistle and let the play go, and again in the corner of my eye I see the assistant coach yelling about the non-call (again, how do they not know the rules?). The other assistant grabs his arm to shut him up before he gets too out of hand, but even after the play he's chirping.

So I wait a few plays until the next time out and then call over my R2. I ask her to please explain to the assistant male coach that the reason why I didn't make a call on that blatantly obvious (even to me) double was that it was the team's first contact, and a double hit is allowed regardless of finger action, and I'd make the same call for his team.

So my partner trots over and explains the rule to the assistant coach, who smiles and nods and gives me a thumbs-up. Problem solved, moving on.

The game ends in 3 straight, but I barely even noticed because I was having a lot of fun ref'ing the match. It was one of my best matches all year, both in terms of how I did and how much I enjoyed it, and it's why I'll do it again next year. I thank my crew, who did an awesome job and who congratulate me as well, and now ponder what to do with my 6 hours of free time until the championship match.

[time passes and our hero returns]

As I was killing time waiting for the 1st place match, I was sitting on the event floor watching the 3rd place match. As it happened, I was sitting next to the WIAA Executive Director, who was there to hand out the trophies. About 1/2 way through the match, one of the local officials who was watching got up to leave, walked over to me, and thanked me for the great ref'ing job I had done and said he hoped he could work with me in the future.

I was startled by this very sincere compliment, and thanked him and wished him the same. As he left, the WIAA ED turned to me and said "Sometimes that's all you really want, isn't it?"

And it's very true - I've had plenty of parents come up to me after a match and complain about how I was unfair to their team/player/child/whatever. Usually you can let these go, but it's hard enough doubting yourself without having that tacked on.

At the same time, I've had many more players, coaches, and parents approach me after a match and thank me for a job well done. I can't tell you how rewarding it is to hear that kind of thanks. Very few of us ref volleyball for the money - most do it for a love of the sport and wanting to give something back to players who just want a fair match to play at. If you're a parent reading this, please remember that officials put in a lot of time/energy to ref your child's matches and aren't making a lot of money at it. So be kind.... rewind.

[mush section over]

Alan and I met up ahead of time to work out how we want to divide up responsibilities for the match. Since it's the championship, we'll have 4 line judges instead of 2, so we talk with them about how to work with 4 and then get our picture taken as the officiating crew.

The one complaint I had about the court layout was that 4 of the 5 courts were set up right next to the stands, so as the down ref I would literally back into the bleachers (which started just above my head level). This doesn't leave a whole lot of room, and as I discovered, also means that when the front two rows are all high school kids in face paint and screaming and banging on chairs in front of them, get very very loud. I wear earplugs when I'm up ref'ing, but down ref'ing I don't because I need to hear coach's requests and the scorekeeper. For this match, it meant I was yelling sub numbers to the scorekeeper while trying to keep things moving (and keeing an ear out for any inappropriate taunts from the fans).

The match got a lot of attention. We had press photographers all around the court (I forgot to mention, some small town radio stations actually broadcast the games to their towns - a first for me to see for volleyball). Plus, since all the other refs are pretty much done, you're the focus of attention. Nothing like all your peers watching you in a high-stakes match to focus your attention. :-)

Alan did a great job as up ref - good control, consitency, mechanics, very much in charge and fair. I think I did the same at down ref. One team kept on confusing me on rotation and I'd be 99% sure they were out of rotation but didn't want to call it, then I'd check it and be right but they'd have rotated. Finally I caught it in time and whistled the fault (in game 2, I think). Then in Game 3 I started to see it happen again, and I told the asssistant coach "Coach, #7 is creeping forward again", and he got her to step back.

The match was everyting you'd want in a championship. Awesome offense and defense, some great digging. Unfortunately, one team was just out-matched by the middle blocker of the other team, and had a hard time adapting. In the 4th game, as his team was struggling to adapt, the coach called his 2nd time out early, and I told him at the end "That's two, coach." He looked at me and smiled and said "Are you sure there's not another one in there somewhere?" Right back I quipped "In game 5, sure."

Finally we got to championship point, and the team that was behind manages to eek out a couple, making it 20-24, I think. There's a hit down my side, and it clearly appears to be going out. I sneak a peek out of the corner of my eye and see it go out, and I look up at Alan and mirror his "out" signal, when I sense something amiss to my right, and I see the coach for the behind team (that just won the point) up and screaming at the line judge. I can't see the LJ because the coach is in my way, but I can't imagine he called it in, and Alan has already called it out, so what is he yelling about? (The coach had complained about the LJ calls previously). I quickly go over and get the coach to sit down, and Alan adminsters a yellow card, which I quickly tell the score table and try to get the match resumed ASAP. Two serves later the match is over, and we gather up and go.

When we manage to debrief afterwards, the LJ tells us the coach used the f-word at him, making it a good thing neither Alan or I heard it, as that would have been red card-point-match over. I'm not sure what he thought was up, but oh well.

And that was my weekend. I said goodbye to the great people I worked with over the weekend, we picked up some photos of our group from the event, and then we scattered to the winds. I decided to surprise Prashanthi by driving back that night instead of the next day, and immediately went to bed when I got home. :-)

I had a great time, and hope to do it again next year. And since it's now close to 1AM here, I'm done and heading home. And that finishes my volleyball work for the year.... until USAV in the spring. :-)

Whew! The finale of volleyball (long)

canthe — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 07:59:00 GMT

Warning - this post has nothing to do with SBS, computers, or Microsoft. :-)

Those who work/live around me know that between the end of September and Thanksgiving I'm almost always on the move. Between work and the fall volleyball season I'm pretty much on the move from 8am - 8pm or later. So the playoff and tournament season at the end is always a bit of a relief. For one thing, you are usually guaranteed a good match, and it's nice to feel like the season is over and my free time is my own again (and my gf Prashanthi is very happy about this too).

I did want to say a bit about my trip to the WIAA State Volleyball Tournament in Yakima, WA this past week (Nov 12-13). This was my first trip to state (I have qualified in years past but have always had a commitment - last year was the launch of SBS 2003 (OK - 1 SBS reference) and the year prior I attended a friend's wedding in Hawaii. That was a tough choice - Yakima or Hawaii???)

So this year I was finally able to attend the 1A/2A tournament. First off, let me say that the tournament organizers and hosts in Yakima did a fantastic job. I had a free room at the Ramada with free wireless Internet (awesome), and they provided food all 3 nights I was there - the whole tournament ran like a swiss watch, and everyone was super friendly - I'd love to go again.

That said, for those of you who have never been to Yakima, there's not a whole lot going on in November. They do grow 80% of the world's hops (great for beer) and many wineries have their vineyards there (including Chateau Ste. Michelle), but in the winter it's cold and hazy as the air is inverted from the valley (ala LA). Fortunately I was spending most of my time in the Sundome.

Thursday night was the officials/coaches prep meeting. After going over the format/run of the event, we took a quick look through the courts to check out the layout and see our schedule for the first day.

Friday morning I scraped the ice off my car and arrived for my 9AM first round match. I was up - paired with Alan Hirayama, a National official from Spokane, and we had a great match. I had a little difficulty as it was a typical first round match, with one great and one mediocre setter, but we got through our match fairly quickly and I took my first break.

After that, I had two matches in a row, down and up. I was a little concerned about my down ref'ing - during the regular season I had mostly up ref'd, but I had gotten practice in during District playoffs and felt I did pretty well, with a couple of exceptions. It was a tight match, going 5 games. In the middle of game 3, I think, after a hit that went out, a player on the blocking team reached up and said she touched the ball after we all called it out. I'll give her kudos for honesty, but it put my partner and I in a bind - do we take the honesty call, and then have to deal with a potential conflict later, or stick with our call, and I get an irate coach on the "losing" side? After a brief consultation, we stuck with our call, and I tried to explain to the coach how in the long run this was a good thing.... right....

We get to Game 4, with the score 23-18, and at a fast play at the net right in front of me, I must have blinked, because I see the play, see the ball hit the floor, and all of a sudden everyone is yelling at me saying the attacker was in the net (and I mean everyone). I must have looked like a deer in headlights, because I had no idea what to do, and stared at my partner praying he would bail me out. Unfortunately, he didn't see it either, so we stuck with the call as is and I've got a lot people booing at me now (including the coach of the "losing" honesty call earlier, who is now down 2 games to 1 and is trying to force game 5). Move on, and fortunately it doesn't affect the outcome as the other team forces game 5, and then wins the match. Whew.

Our court is now behind thanks to our 5 game series, and I go up for the next immediate match. This ones also proceeds to go 5 games (I must be cursed). At this point we're 1.5 hours behind, and while I should have a break, we need to move right on to our reguarly scheduled match, where I'm down again.

This match was weird as a down ref. I'm looking at the receiving rotation (and their serve receive positioning is just weird). I see a clear out of rotation where a back row player is too far forward, and whistle it. My mechanics here are to immediately explain to the coach the positioning fault so they can correct it - my conversation goes something like this:

Me: Coach, #7 is back row and needs to be behind #1, who is front row.
Coach (looking at court): No -her opposite is #6.
Me (who had already checked this twice): Coach - that makes no sense. #6 is the libero, she can't be front row.
Coach (still arguing): No, it's 7 behind 6.
Me (getting frustrated): Coach, that can't be right, but it doesn't matter, she was in front of both of them.

OK, so putting that aside, a few points later same coach asks for a sub and sends up a player. I whistle, signal, and adminster the sub, and then a 2nd player comes up to sub.

Me: Coach, sorry, it's too late. She needs to come up at the same time.
Coach: But she had to wait for the libero to swap out!
Me: Coach, the subs have to be at the same time. Sorry.

So the players are trying to get right again and the coach grabs the player who should be back on the court and starts talking with her. I wait about 5-10 seconds and when it's clear it's not going to be quick, whistle for a team delay and adminster a time out. I couldn't understand what this coach was doing - I haven't had a single coach make this many mistakes in a single game all season, and we were at the state tournament!?

So we move on to game 3, and the same out of rotation occurs. Again I whistle it, and I must have been the only ref all season to catch this, because it was still difficult for the coach to get it (her players understood right away, as players are apt to do).

Fortunately we get through the rest of the match without too much hassle (weird coach's team wins), and I'm able to run up to grab dinner before heading home to collapse. I won't know Saturday assignments until Sat morning as our evaluations are compiled overnight.

Coming next, finale on Saturday.

Some links on tournament (sorry, no photos of us officials):
http://www.tourneytown.com/vball/volleymain.shtml

How to call a "Lift" ball in volleyball

canthe — Sat, 17 Apr 2004 18:13:00 GMT

Surprise, Roger asked me for my thoughts on what is a “held” ball in volleyball when I'm reffing. This is probably the most argued subjective call a volleyball ref can make, but I'll add in my 2 cents. I've had this discussion many times with clinicians and colleagues, and here's my best attempt at explaining it.

For a standard overhead (set) pass, your primary criteria is was there “prolonged contact” between the player and the ball. The set should continue in one fluid motion, and the ball should not come to rest at any time in that motion. If either occurs, then the played has held the ball and the foul should be called.

That's the simple explanation. :-) Now you have to add in lots more judgment. What caliber are the players? For younger players (12-14) I'll definitely be more forgiving than varsity high school, and at the collegiate level there's little leeway. Honestly, I see more double contacts when players set then held balls (where the ball is distinctly contacted twice by the player during the set, usually by one hand and then the other). These are easier to see because usually you see the ball make 2 distinct changes in direction while in the players hands.

For me, I see more held balls on 1st contact (when the player attempts an overhead pass and has to hold on to the ball longer in order to control it), or 3rd contact (when the player ends up underneath the ball instead of behind it, and is forced to reach behind them to hit the ball, forcing them to “push“ the ball forward rather than hitting it.)

So how do I catch these? A lot of it is experience. I find some things that help me (and the things I give feedback to junior refs on when observing them) are:

Watch the player not the ball - This is a very common trait in younger refs. We teach up refs that they are responsible for the ball handling (the down refs have the net), and so they watch the ball. The problem is that they focus on the ball, and the player is in their peripheral vision as the play occurs. As play speeds up in better settings, this makes it much more difficult to observer the players hands at the time of contact. I watch the player. After the 1st contact, when the ball is in the air, once you know it's not going to go over the net or contact the ceiling, let it go. Gravity will make sure it comes back into your field of view. :-) Find the player who's going to contact it next - focus on the player as they get set for the play, now you can clearly observe the contact as the ball enters your field of vision, and it's much easier to see prolonged contact and double contacts.
Spin is not an indication of a foul - this often gets debated hotly between parents/coaches and refs, but in reality this should be a non starter. To me, spin is a secondary indicator - that is, if I suspect from the motion that a foul occurred but I didn't have a great view, if the ball is spinning then I may be convinced of a foul and call it. If I saw a clean play and the ball is spinning, then I let play continue. For those that want to argue this, watch plenty of bump/forward passes where a single contact occurred, but the ball spins like crazy - you're not going to call a foul on that play, so why do it for a set? Don't get me wrong, lots of times a player will mis-hit a ball and it will spin like crazy. There, your call is easy. But don't penalize a player who made a good set just because it happens to spin.
Don't set your level to the lowest common setter - this is tempting to do at all levels, but especially when one setter is really good, and the other is marginal. It's tempting to set your judgment at the level of the less skilled player, to be more “fair“. Nothing is further from the truth, the opposing setter practiced to get that good, to allow a player with lesser skills to get away with calls is actually penalizing the better player, and penalizing the better team by awarding opportunities to the team with the less skilled player. That said, you don't want to set your bar where the other setter can't make a play without you calling a foul. Set a level where you reward the less skilled setter for making clean plays, and penalize them when their play is clearly deficient. Be sure not to let mistakes by the better set go away just because it happens less frequently! (A mistake I make occasionally b/c I just hadn't seen them commit an error for so long! :-)
Be consistent! No matter how you call it, make sure that you are consistent, both between teams, and throughout a match. It's very difficult to start a match being super-tight. It requires a lot of concentration, and if you're reffing a 3/5 match, to continue that vigilence over 1-2 hours can be very draining. You will start to get tired, and let things go, and now the coaches will start to be upset because more marginal plays are not being called. At the same time, you can't start a match letting anything fly, and then try to tighten it up, you'll get the same reaction. Find a place where you're comfortable, and call that throughout the match. I've spoken with many coaches, and for them the most important thing is consistency. Once they understand what you will call and what you won't, they can set their expectations - they just hate being surprised.

</soapbox>

OK, I'm going to get away from the computer now because I actually have to go ref a 1/2 day for a club tournament. Until later...

--charlie