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Originally Posted by Mark Padgett
OK - Juulie, that's starting to sound better. However, my feeling at this time is that I'll pass (pun intended). I asked Lee (my co-worker) to say hi to you at the meeting.
BTW - does the volleyball association have a "Howard equivalent"?  |
Along the lines of what Juulie said, I like to refer to volleyball as a kinder, gentler sport. We probably have more ejections in basketball in one week than volleyball has had in this state in the last 5 years.
While it is not as physically demanding as basketball (although spending 2+ hours on top of a 2'x2' stand can be pretty tiring), it is much more mentally demanding if you're doing the job right. The up official has to judge every contact of the ball for legality based on several criteria, keep track of the number of hits, front row/back row status of the players, height of the ball when contacted under certain circumstances, etc. In a game/match between reasonably good teams it can be a real challenge.
Yes we have a "Howard" equivalent - very sharp lady & is also the SRI for volleyball. I think we had almost 30 new folks show up last night. When I started 5 years ago we had a shortage of officials in this area, but from what the commish said that's no longer a problem - to the point where most of the new officials may only see MS matches their first year.