Paul Arinze earns white badge

Paul Arinze just returned from Cape Town with a brand new ITF white badge as a professional chair umpire. Paul works in Wisconsin but his time is limited because his real job as a Catholic priest means weekends aren't often open. But he has great people skills and a great voice which make him a natural as an up and coming young chair umpire. Congratulations Paul, and keep up the good work.

Midwest Section Annual Meeting-Dec 7-9, 2007

Midwest Officials:
The 2007 Annual meeting will be held in Detroit on Dec 7-9 at the Marriott Detroit at the Renaissance Center. The officials will have meetings on Friday and Saturday. All officials are invited to attend any session, so if you are going to be in Detroit, please stop by.

Datacards for 2008 recertification processed

Officials:
The bulk of the Midwest Officials' datacards have been processed. Those who submitted completed datacards will receive a 2008 datacard, a new certification card and a 2008 Friend at Court in late December or early January. Please check your certification levels and if incorrect, please contact your Section Chairman and submit any request for changes immediately. Changes not requested by March 1 will not be made.

Each datacard should reflect the work for the year. Do not add the late matches of 2007 onto your 2008 datacard.

Anyone who was certified at the provisional level because of missing eye doctor's signature may be raised to the proper level once their eye doctor's documentation is submitted. Otherwise, they will remain at the provisional level.

2007 Mel Bergman award to Lynda Hinshaw

Indianapolis, In. --- Lynda Hinshaw of Richmond, Indiana, will receive the 2007 USTA/Midwest Section Mel Bergman Award at an awards banquet on Saturday, December 8. The banquet is being held during the 2007 USTA/Midwest Section Annual Meeting at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Detroit, Michigan.

Hinshaw served as the Central Indiana Tennis Association (CITA) President from 1989-1990 and chaired numerous district committees including nominating, awards, tournament administration and special populations. She is a recipient of the 1985 CITA Stanley Malless Award.

At the Section level, Hinshaw is finishing a 14-year term as USTA/Midwest Section Grievance Committee Chairman. She was a previous member of the Officials Committee. Hinshaw is a recipient of the Midwest’s Frank Dowling Award presented to an individual who has displayed outstanding attributes as a tennis official in the USTA/Midwest Section for at least five years. Hinshaw has served as an official for many years for both the USTA/Midwest Section Closed BG16 and 18 Championships and USTA/Midwest Section Junior Wightman Cup.

Hinshaw has been involved with the USTA at the national level. She was a member of the Umpires/Officials Committee for 12 years, and has been a National Trainer/Evaluator for more than 10 years. She has been an umpire and referee at tennis events for 30 years, which includes the four Indiana High School Athletic Association State Championship tournaments for over ten years (Girls Team Championships, Girls Singles and Doubles Championships, Boys Team Championships and Boys Singles and Doubles Championships).

Recertification for 2008

Midwest Tennis Officials:
It's time to complete your 2007 datacard for submission for 2008 certification.
Be sure that your datacard contain:
-USTA membership number
-Membership Expiration Date
-Your Signature and date
-****Signature of your eye doctor and date****
-Information regarding the annual traning session you attended

Sendthe datacard to your district chairman - If you don't know who that is, check the officials' website at http://mwofficials.home.att.net Go to the link for your state and your district chairman's contact information is provided.

The district chairs must meet my deadline of October 15 in my hands, so please send it in time to your chairman.

Regards,
Joy Duerr

Officiating Tips Newsletter - June 2007

Good morning,

The June, 2007 edition of USTA Officials Department Newsletter is now available.

You can access the newsletter by doing one of the following:

1. Click on the following link http://www.usta.com/rules/default.sps?iType=923 in order to access the USTA Officials Department web page and click on the link that reads Officiating Tips Newsletter- June, 2007

2. Go to www.usta.com, click on the “Get Involved” tab, click on “Officials” and click on the link that reads Officiating Tips Newsletter-June, 2007

If you have any questions about or problems accessing the newsletter, please contact us at officiating@usta.com.

Sincerely,

Ryan Orner
Officials Coordinator-USTA
914-696-7280 (Phone)
914-696-7008 (Fax)
orner@usta.com

Jimmy Williams retires from umpiring

Jimmy Williams, formerly the chairman of officials of the Central Indiana district is retiring from umpiring. After his wife retired from work, they moved so Jimmy could spend more of his time fishing. However, he has experienced physical problems stemming from previous injuries causing back pain as well as buring sensations in his feet. Neither of these conditions are good when umpires need to stand for long hours with little rest. The medical condition is called neuropathy. Mayo clinic does not recommend further surgery, so Jimmy is calling it quits. You may contact Jimmy at wjwill2 (at) aol.com. He'll love to hear from you.

Steve Menoff from Chicago area was recently honored by the Chicago Tennis Patrons as the umpire of the year for 2006, awarded in 2007. Congratulations for a well deserved award.

Line Umpire Training Elm Grove - start is 6:00 pm

Line Umpire Training at Elm Grove Wisconsin, at the Western Racquet Club, Aug 6 starts at 6:00 pm instead of 7:00 pm as originally stated.

Line Umpire Training Opportunities

Midwest Officials:
There are opportunities to get line training at two professional tournaments in the Midwest.

Winnetka Challenger: Hardcourt, Men's 50K. July 3-July 8

The Winnetka, Illinois Challenger occurs from July 3-July 8 with a qualifier on July 1-2. Before the event, there will be a line training session at the Winnetka outdoor courts from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm on Saturday, June 30. If you perform well, you may be selected to work at the tournament. You are expected to provide your own transportation and lodging. If you are selected to work, you are doing this to gain experience and get the opportunity to be seen by other chief umpires who select umpires for other tournaments.

The chief umpire for Winnetka is Lynda Hinshaw.
If you are interested in attending as a trainee, contact Joy Duerr mw_officials@yahoo.com

************

Elm Grove, Wisconsin Futures: hardcourt, Men's 10K Aug 7-Aug 12.
Elm Grove is a suburb of Milwaukee. This tournament was held in Kenosha, WI last year.
The main draw begins on Tuesday, Aug 7. The line clinic will be on Monday, 6:00 - 9:00 pm
You must pay for your own transportation and lodging. If you are successful, you may be selected to work during the main draw.
The chief umpire for Elm Grove is Sharyl Currie

If you are interested in attending as a line trainee, contact Joyce Tessiatore tstennis2@hotmail.com

Chuck Brothers Retires

Chuck Brother, an umpire from Kenosha, Wisconsin is hanging up his stop watch and tape measure and retiring from umpiring. Chuck umpired at all levels from juniors to the US Open. Thanks for all your hard work. Now enjoy tennis as a player and spectator.

Haury & Robinson earn White Badges

Congratulations to John Haury from Indiana and Jordan Robinson from Wisconsin who recently earned the White Badge chair certification. These are competitive slots and many prospective chair umpires are eagerly vying for them. Well done!

New Uniforms

Midwest Officials:
Now that the summer heat is upon us, we are beginning to shed our outer jackets, sweaters, and windbreakers. We should now all be wearing the new red and blue uniforms when we are out on the court. Honigs nicely provided 3 new logo patches with each of our uniform orders last winter. These patches are to be used on existing USTA umpires jackets and sweaters to cover the old logos and show the new logo. This alleviated all the umpires needing to purchase an entire wardrobe just for the new logos. The patches are not to be placed on outer wear which is dissimilar to the existing umpire's outer wear.

Kalamazoo B16 & B18 Umpire Application

Midwest Officials:
Chair umpire qualified officials may apply to work the National B16 and B18 tournament at Kalamazoo, Michigan, to be held on Friday August 3 through Sunday, August 12, 2007. The application is on-line at http://joyduerr.home.att.net The entry deadline is May 15 and selected applicants will be notified by June 1. If you cannot access the online application input form, a paper application is also available on the same site. This is the highest level tournament for junior boys and the Boys 18 winners will get a wild card entry into the US Open. The most qualified officials available will be selected to work, and preference will be given to Midwest Officials and those who are available to work the whole tournament.
Chief Umpires: Darrell Davies and Joy Duerr
ddavies (at) kvcc.edu
joyduerr (at) att.net

Joyce Tessiatore selected for Midwest Frank Dowling Umpire of the Year

At the Spring Meeting of the Midwest Section, Joyce Tessiatore, the chairman of officials of the Wisconsin District will be awarded the 2007 Frank Dowling Award whch recognizes the person who has displayed outstanding attributes as an umpire in the USTA/Midwest Section for at least five years. Frank Dowling, known for his training of umpires, was an oustanding umpire himself. Congratulations Joyce for the well-deserved award.

Online USTA, ITA, Referee tests

Midwest Tennis Officials:
I am going to use this blog to try to send out timely information to the umpiring team in our section. There will be a link to this blog on my Midwest site, so if you forget the url, you can find it again.

I hope most of you have already attended the 2007 training class. However, if you have not, you must take an open book test for each class and complete it before you attend your session. Because it is online, some people are confusing these tests with the more familiar online Provisonal Umpire's Exam. For your USTA, ITA, and or Referee classes, you must download and take the tests which are to be completed on paper answer sheets. USTA (60 questions) ITA (40questions) Referee(50 questions). These tests require the references from the 2006 Friend at Court. If you no longer have access to the 2006 Friend at Court, there is a link to a copy at my website http://mwofficials.home.att.net On the home page, there are links to both the 2007 and the 2006 Friend at Court.

The district trainers for the most part take their own time to go to their own training class with a National TE, and then use their own time to prepare, lead, and then follow up on your district training sessions. Please do not take the registration lightly. Don't cancel unless there is a very urgent conflict. Assume you have one chance to complete your training and attend that class. I often get requests for another training session late in August or September and there is none scheduled. Don't assume that the district trainer is going to schedule another session later for your convenience.

Remember, for 2008 recertification, you will need an eye doctor's signature. Be sure to schedule your appointment early enough to get your required signature on the datacard.

The Kenosha Men Future's tournament in August has moved to Elm Grove, Wisconsin. It will be Aug 3-Aug 12. The chief umpire is Sharyl Currie sharsunshine@aol.com

ITA New Rules-2007

ITA Rules Changes for 2007
(New wording is indicated Bold)
2/6/07


Adopted by the Rules Committee at its December Meeting at the ITA Annual Coaches Convention.


Rule Change #1:
ITA Rule II.K.5 (p. 255-256). Before the state of the dual-meet match, the coach must submit the lineup, including their top 6 players who are available to play and in order of ability. Once the match has begun and a coach removes a player from the singles lineup, all players then must move up one spot and the No. 7 player must be inserted into the No. 6 position unless this move violates the order of ability rule (ITA Rule II.K.3) in which case the player will be inserted into their appropriate lineup position based on ability.

Rule Change #2:
ITA Rule II.K.6 (p. 256). A coach may remove any player from the doubles lineup by making a direct line substitution. The doubles lineup must still be played in order of ability. Players removed from the doubles lineup may play in singles. Once the match has officially begun, two players may be substituted for any doubles team (only if the match begins with singles). The lineup must remain in order of ability.

Rule Change #3:
ITA Rule II.V.B (pg. 260). For all ITA Division I National Tournaments, in singles, a can of balls must be used for each set (3 balls per set), and four balls (4) must be used in doubles pro-sets.
Note: The current ITA policy for dual matches will remain in effect through this spring season: to use a new can for the third set, unless conference rules mandate otherwise. This rule will be reviewed by the Rules Committee and Operating Committee at the meetings during the NCAA Championships this May.

New Rule:
ITA Rule I.E.12 (pg. 233). A player or coach ejected from a match must leave the tennis venue for the duration of the team match.

Rule Clarification:
A Roving Umpire, in direct observation of the court, may call a hindrance without being appealed to by one of the players on the court. A roving umpire may also call a “let” if a player is endangered by a stray ball on the court.




Rule Modification:
ITA Rule I.B.11 Touches, invasion of opponent’s court, reaching over the net, and double bounces, which states, “Calls involving a player touching his opponent’s court, hitting an opponent’s return before it has passed the net, and a double bounce must be called by the player committing the infraction. If there is a solo chair umpire, he also may make these calls. A roving umpire may make the call if he directly observed the incident or if he is appealed to.”

Midwest Tennis Officials:
The last National TE taught training session in the Midwest Section is scheduled for Toledo, OH on the weekend of March 3-4. Pre-registration is required. The contact is Jerri Banks 419.634.7831 jerbanks (at) earthlink.net The trainer is Rebel Good. For other training sessions in the Midwest, go to http://mwofficials.home.att.net/Train/ to find the session most appropriate for your schedule. You must come to the class with each pre-test completed. You may download and print the required tests at
http://www.usta.com/rules/default.sps?iType=1059&icustompageid=16674 They must be completed using the 2006 Friend at Court as the reference. If you no longer have the 2006 FAC, there is a pdf file at the midwest website http://mwofficials.home.att.net