FROM THE USAPA
TRAINING UPDATE:
PROGRESS ON ALL FRONTS
BY LYNN & LINDA LAYMON – USAPA TRAINING CHAIRS
W
e’ve written a lot about Referee Certification in the last
couple of issues. In the May issue, we explained the
certification process in detail and advised readers to watch
for an e-mail blast announcing the availability of the online
application for certification. The application went live on
June 8, and since then we’ve received several dozen applications
— the majority of which have been accepted and scheduled for
evaluation. Unfortunately, some of the applicants left questions
blank or failed to fulfill the prerequisites as listed in the Terms
of Understanding and Agreement that precedes the application
itself. It is important that applicants fulfill the prerequisites
before applying, to ensure that evaluation resources are not
wasted on unprepared applicants and, just as important, that
applicants don’t waste their evaluation fee (they are allowed
two chances to pass the on-court evaluation).
Other than those who left blanks on the application,
the biggest confusion seems to be with listing a trainer.
Since Dec. 1, 2015, when the official versions of the Referee
Handbook and Trainer Guide were released, any USAPA member
who downloaded the Trainer Guide automatically became a
“registered trainer.” More than 300 members from every region
of the country have done that. This process, which does not
provide information on the teaching background or refereeing
skills of registered trainers, was designed to make the newly
developed USAPA refereeing standards and procedures (Referee
Handbook and Referee Trainer Guide) available to the largest
number of members possible. The hope was that most of these
trainers would use the Trainer Guide in conjunction with the
Referee Handbook to offer referee training according to the
USAPA standards and procedures to players in their local area.
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Judging from the questions we have received, some prospective
applicants have had trouble locating registered trainers or
simply did not understand the process.
Since we have no way of knowing who is actually offering
USAPA referee training, we suggest that the best way to
obtain referee training is to ask the tournament director of an
upcoming local tournament. Often referee training is offered
in preparation, especially for USAPA-sanctioned tournaments.
If you have significant prior experience at refereeing, and all
efforts to locate a trainer fail, you may consider downloading
and studying the Trainer Guide then listing yourself as your
own trainer on the application. We do not recommend this
approach, however, since you will then have no one to verify
that you are ready for on-court evaluation. Please keep in
mind that you must have been trained since the Dec. 1, 2015,
release of the Trainer Guide and Referee Handbook and all of the
required 30 matches must have been refereed after you were
trained.
USAPA Teaching Guidelines
Work is progressing on the guidelines for teaching beginning
recreational players. The 12-member instructional development
committee has reviewed the first draft and the second cut
is close to completion. One area in which we’d appreciate
additional input from USAPA members is drills. If you currently
teach pickleball or practice a particularly useful drill, we’d
like to know about it for possible inclusion in the guidelines.
We’re especially interested in games used to teach youth.
If you would like to contribute a drill/game, please e-mail a
detailed description (a video would be great if you have it) to:
[email protected]. •
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