Working as a USTA Roving Umpire

My first experience as a USTA official was as a Roving Umpire.  I think this is pretty typical for most newly certified officials.

After completing all the requirements - see my previous post - I shadowed an experienced official at a youth tournament to learn 'hands-on' how to begin and monitor matches.  If possible, a roving umpire will start all the matches with a pre-match discussion with the players.  This will typically include a review of the scoring (pro-set, best two out of three sets, 3rd set match tiebreaker, no ad etc.) and the tossing of a coin for choice of serve, side or deferral.  After their 5-minute warm-up, the players will keep score and call their own lines until the match is over.

A roving official will monitor 4-6 (or sometimes more) matches at the same time.  If one of the players has a question about the score, the rules, or their opponent's line calling etc., they can ask for an official to come to their court.  The roving umpire, if available, will help to resolve any issues, answer any question(s), and may choose to stay on the court - at the net post - to watch the proceedings for a couple of games.  During this time, the players continue to call their own lines but the official will overrule any obvious errors.

Youth tournaments can be Level 1 (the highest, e.g. best players) to Level 5 (e.g. beginners), and you can probably guess that the higher the level, the more high strung the players and their parents are.  At level 5, you may need to assist more with scoring and/or instructions for the players and their parents, and both are usually grateful for any help.  At the higher level tournaments, the opportunity to get involved in more contentious situations and disputes on and off the court is elevated.  Therefore, a roving official needs to be prepared to be "Switzerland", even handed and even keeled.

At this point, having officiated half a dozen tournaments from Level 2 to Level 5, I haven't been involved in too many situations where I felt that either the player or their parent was out-of-line, but I realize that these opportunities will increase the more I work as a roving official.

I have to say that I have really enjoyed working as a roving official at youth tournaments, from the 8 year old players (on the smaller courts with modified bounce balls) to the 18 year old players, males and females alike.  It's been both a challenge and a pleasure.  More to come ...