GhostBuster
Jeff Shank, a referee from Florida, says some
of his favorite games to oversee are when the
players are referees themselves because the
appreciation of the referee’s role in the game is
present.
“I love when I referee players who are also
referees. They understand. I don’t think the
average player understands how complicated
and how complex it is to properly referee a
match. With the USAPA’s standardized training
program to certify referees, people can tell right
away that they’re getting someone who’s highly
trained and highly competent,” he says. “I was in
the Army, and it’s like coming through bootcamp
successfully. Anyone I see with a white certified
shirt I know right away is a competent referee.
Anyone who comes through that process with a
certification—that’s something to be proud of.
And I also give kudos to the USAPA for making
it a pretty stringent process to become certified.
It’s not some two-hour class you go through and
have all the skills at the end. It takes a minimum
of 50 matches to be competent to even try for
certification.”
While the commitment is huge, both Shank and
Grasso say refereeing is a way for them to give
back to a sport that they thoroughly love.
“I’ll be turning 65 in six months. Referee
training and being a referee turned out to be an
easy way to give back to the sport because it’s
something I love to do,” Shank says. “My reflexes
are slowing down, so I’m pulling away from
competing and going more into refereeing and
evaluations.”
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“I definitely see it as a way to give back to the
game. I don’t play tournaments anymore, but I
love the pickleball family. This is a way for me
to stay in touch with everybody and stay in the
game,” Grasso says. “You can sign up for what
you want, and we’re lucky that in Arizona we have
referee coordinators. Two couples coordinate
referees for two-hour shifts. You can do 8 a.m.
to close, or however many shifts. Nothing says
that being a certified referee means you have
to do a minimum of matches in a year. But we
do have people who get into it like that. They
get passionate. The need for the most referees
is Nationals. We had 81 certified referees, and
most of them did four to 14 hours a day for the
entire tournament and they loved it. It’s the same
drive we have about playing that transfers into
refereeing.”
If any of this sounds like it may be a good
calling for you, Barksdale says people should
check out the training video to find out more. She
adds that good referees have some personality
traits that give them an edge.
“I think good referees are those with a fairly
calm demeanor who can think on their feet.
They’re confident in what they’re doing and can
make a ruling properly and are comfortable with
their decision. They also conduct themselves in
a calming manner, which helps when interacting
with the numerous players,” she says.
Shank explains that, with excellent training,
anybody can do the referee’s job, but the key is
excellent training.
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