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Old Sun Jul 31, 2005, 12:02pm
Andy Andy is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Glendale, AZ
Posts: 2,672
Quote:
Originally posted by TravelinMan
I decided to try officiating HS volleyball for the first time and I hope I am not getting in over my head.

I have officiated HS basketball for 8 years and this past year I had a full varsity schedule.

VB is another story. Not having played competitive volleyball, I have a lot to learn. Are there any other officials who are or once were in the same boat? Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated.

I have my first meeting tomorrow with the local volleyball association in Columbus, GA. The head of the association gave me the rule and case books to study for an open book exam. He said he would work me with some experienced officials before the season starts.
I was in the same boat when I started to do Volleyball. I had been doing basketball for a few years and decided I wanted to take up another sport.

The advice offered so far is great. As you stated in your other post, the refs don't have to run with the action in VB. However, the game is very mentally taxing. There are some very subtle facets of the game that you must concentrate on as an official in order to be effective. I will say that it took me a good three years to become comfortable as a VB official and, of course, I'm still striving to learn more.

One additional piece of advice that I will offer is to learn to identify what type of offense each team is playing and who the setter(s) are. The game revolves around the setters and identifing them will help you in several areas of officiating the game. It is a little complicated to get into here, but talk to some of the experienced officials in your area to get specifics.

Someone else said "it's not as easy as it looks" and I will definitely agree with that, but once you get it, the game is a pleasure to watch and officiate.
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