[MCBear]

Bob, from what you are saying, I can only offer my sympathies to you for having to endure these yo-yo's who think they know what they are doing but, in all actuality, don't have a freakin' clue! I am wondering how they have survived this long without the coaches ganging up and lynching them or they partners that they have left high and dry not taking them to task for their ineptitude.

The responsibilities have changed very little over the years except to become more organized as to who has primary responsibility for certain calls. The referee is responsible for all ball handling calls (it has only been in the last 12 years that the umpire has been restricted to calling only those ball handling errors that are clearly out of view of the referee.). The umpire's focus is to be between the attack lines concentrating on the net and centerline. If you want to break your umpire of the habit of following the ball and not focusing on the net/centerline, tell them that you want their check to be returned to the school since they are not doing the job that they were hired to do and are trying to do your job instead. I guarantee that will get their attention. Another option is to call them over to the stand at the earliest opportunity and tell them to quit trying to do my job and to focus on their duties. There are certain expectations that are implicit in officiating volleyball and one of them is that each official does the job that they are assigned to do without infringing upon the partner's area. In addition, as the Referee, you have the right and responsibility to over-rule any other member of the officiating team who makes an obviously incorrect call or is not paying attention to their specific duties.

If an umpire makes a ball handling call and, in my estimation, it was not warranted, I WILL issue a replay and flat out tell the umpire that ball handling is NOT their responsibility. Following the match, I will file a written report & evaluation on that individual with the assigner so that corrective action can begin.

In addition, I will bring these types of situations to the attention of the local association's trainers and evaluators so that appropriate action can be taken to get the members trained properly (and if the individuals do not want to change what they are doing, avoid working with them like the plague!!!).

Hopefully, you are encountering the last of the dinosaurs who are undoubtedly multi-sport officials who have never played the game of volleyball and don't have a clue about what the game is about. Within a few years, like all dinosaurs, they will die out. Just be sure that you are working with the younger officials so that they DO NOT develop any of these curmudgeon's atrocious habits.