first year volleyball official

[refinks]

I registered to be a volleyball official for the first time this year. I have never done volleyball before in my life, and I am nervous. I looked through the rulebook and officials manual, and I am confused on rotations, screening, overlapping. any advice for me? I have my first match in 2 weeks and I'm clueless

[MCBear]

refinks, welcome to volleyball officiating. What level is your match - HS, MS or JH? Do you feel ready to officiate? Contact a respected local vb official who has experience and ask questions. Ask if he/she would be willing to mentor you.

[refinks]

It is JH, and yes, I think I will be ready. I am going to a clinic this weekend and working some scrimmages next weekend. I've always heard vb will be easy to pick up, so I'm hoping I have no troubles

[MCBear]

Boy, did someone ever feed you a line! It's only easy if you aren't willing to make the effort to learn how to officiate the sport correctly with knowledge and understanding. Like I said, find a respected volleyball referee in your area to be a mentor for you. Good luck,

[Bishopcolle]

I am also a new VB official who missed the first (and probably only) year's clinics....I will be doing largely JR. HS since I missed the clinics and my Northern Chapter contact doesn't sound terribly encouraging....Any suggestions on a good video training series?

[outathm]

Volleyball is only easy if you are only there to stand and watch the game. Learn what you need to do and there is a lot to learn. It is a harder than wnyone ever lets on at the beginning.

[MCBear]

If anyone EVER tells you that volleyball is an easy sport to officiate, RUN - do not walk to get away from them for they have no idea what they are talking about. As my good friend Felix Madera says, "Volleyball is an easy sport to officiate unless you want to do it well!" If you want to do it well, you are going to work your tail off learning about the game. However, with that being said, DON'T try to eat the elephant in one bite...make it small manageable ones.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by refinks

I registered to be a volleyball official for the first time this year. I have never done volleyball before in my life, and I am nervous. I looked through the rulebook and officials manual, and I am confused on rotations, screening, overlapping. any advice for me? I have my first match in 2 weeks and I'm clueless

Originally Posted by refinks

It is JH, and yes, I think I will be ready. I am going to a clinic this weekend and working some scrimmages next weekend. I've always heard vb will be easy to pick up, so I'm hoping I have no troubles

First, I like your name. "Refink" reminds of "Rat fink", which is what my dad used to call me when he would pretend to be upset about something. I was always the "rat fink, crummy kid". As in, "Who ate the last chocolate chip cookie? Was it that rat fink, crummy kid???" And naturally, I had the crumbs still on my shirt.

Anyway!! I'm just starting my third year and I still am very inadequate at a number of things -- including rotations and overlaps. I'm hopeless when it comes to back row stuff. You're nervous, and that's to be expected, and you just have to go in and realize that you're not going to see everything very well for a while.

Which is why I am laughing to myself when you say that you think you'll be ready. NOT!! And that is not a dig at you, honest. It's just that there's too much to know for you to be ready the first time out.

As for being an easy sport to officiate, I will tell you what I tell everybody else. Some parts are VERY easy and other parts are IMPOSSIBLE. My advice is to get real good at the easy stuff (in/out, lifts, net faults) and not worry too much about the really hard stuff (back row attacks, overlaps on the receiving team). Be aware of it, and grab an obvious one if you happen to see it; but don't feel too bad when you don't see it.

[MCBear]

If anyone is interested, I have a really good PowerPoint on Illegal Alignment (i.e., overlaps) that I can e-mail. Contact me at [email protected] with IA PPT in the subject line and I will be glad to send it to you,

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by MCBear

If anyone is interested, I have a really good PowerPoint on Illegal Alignment (i.e., overlaps)

I have it, too!! (Thanks, Jan!) It really is good.

[refinks]

Scrapper, you are 100% correct. I can handle the little stuff like net play, line violations, illegal hits. but the stuff that R2 looks at, with the subs, and libero, and especially the illegal allignments, rotations, overlapping, back row attacks, setters, stuff like that, is like a foreign language to me.