2019 GKCOA SUNDAY VB NEWSLETTER – 9/8/19

FROM DAVINE DAVIS AT MSHSAA – POST-SEASON WINDOW NOW OPEN UNTIL FRI., SEPT. 13!!!

This is a reminder that the window to submit your postseason application to officiate (district/sectional/state) volleyball will open on Friday, September 6th.  The window will close at midnight on Friday, September 13th.
Before you begin entering your availability please go to the ‘Volleyball’ page to view who will be hosting the district tournaments by class.  This information is located under the ‘Class and District Assignments’ link.  You will need to select the class and scroll down past the state map and select either the ‘View Host Site Information’ link or locate the word (Host) next to the name of the school.  I am still waiting on a few districts to return this information but a large majority of the sites have been selected.
I would then encourage you to go to the link on the volleyball page called ‘2019 Statewide Volleyball Officials Draft Information’.  This link will show you which region each class and district have been assigned to for the draft.  If you have any questions, please let me know.
Once you have submitted your application you can log in and view/change any information prior to midnight on September 13th.  To do this select the ‘Postseason Forms’ link under the heading ‘Miscellaneous’ and then volleyball if you are registered to officiate more than one sport.  You can view your ‘Postseason Application Summary’ answers and if there are any changes please select the ‘Postseason Application Form’ link and you will be taken through the questions again.  Once you have made your changes remember to select the‘Submit’ button at the bottom of the page.
Reminder:  In order to be eligible to officiate postseason you must have successfully completed the MSHSAA Volleyball Online Rules Review, the NFHS Volleyball Part 2 Test and have officiated at least 10 matches last year and will officiate 10 matches this season.
After the window closes any changes in your dates should be forwarded to the MSHSAA office.  If you have any questions, please contact our office at 573-875-4880 and ask for me or my assistant, Jennifer Bethmann.  Thank you.

 

DISTRICT OFFICIALS DRAFT

Back in the day, district managers were expected to contract their own referees for district tournaments.  As you can imagine, it got to be pretty ugly with districts fighting over referees and referees having to sort through multiple offers.  So, several years ago, MSHSAA created officials drafts across the state where the AD’s in charge of each district would draw for order and when their turn came up, they would select the referees they want for each night of their district tournaments.

This year’s draft for northwest Missouri will occur on the evening of Wed., Oct. 9 at Blue Springs South.  Districts will draft for referees and some line judges, and GKCOA will select line judges for the remainder of the districts that didn’t select theirs at the draft.  After the draft is complete (starting that night), AD’s will begin contacting officials to offer contracts to work districts.  The offer over the phone or on an email is NOT the official contract.  YOU MUST LOG INTO THE MSHSAA WEBSITE TO OFFICIALLY ACCEPT THE CONTRACT IF YOU ARE DRAFTED.  If you don’t, you will not be paid.

How do AD’s know if you’re available?  That’s why you fill out the above form to indicate your open dates.  Please make sure you keep MSHSAA up to date if your availability changes after the window closes on Sept. 13–MSHSAA doesn’t look highly upon you if you are drafted, but have to decline a post-season assignment because you didn’t update your calendar.

 

GKCOA STATEMENT ON POST-SEASON OPPORTUNITIES

We encourage all members of GKCOA to register to work post-season, no matter what level of experience you have.  Your application will be received by MSHSAA and forwarded to the athletic directors in charge of the officials draft.  The athletic directors in the draft will select referees (R1 and R2) and some of the line judges.  GKCOA will supply the remainder of the line judges.  Even if you have little varsity experience (less than the 10 match minimum to officiate), we would highly encourage you to register and be eligible to line judge in districts.  This would be a fantastic opportunity to see higher level volleyball and gain more experience to advance your officiating careers.

Last year, in the northwest Missouri region, 75 of the 89 officials registered were from GKCOA (84.3%) and of the 75 GKCOA officials, 53 were selected to work districts as a referee and/or a line judge (73.4%).  This year, we would like to see more officials sign up and your chances are actually pretty good of getting selected in some way to work districts!

 

DISTRICT HOSTS NAMED (District 13, 14, 15, 16 listed in that order)

CLASS 4:  Lee’s Summit West, Truman, North Kansas City, Kearney

CLASS 3:  Clinton, Notre Dame de Sion, St. Pius X, St. Joseph Benton

CLASS 2:  Stover, Lone Jack, Richmond, Lathrop

CLASS 1:  Santa Fe, Drexel, Bishop LeBlond, Tarkio

The winner of District 14 will host sectionals.

 

THE DEBRIEF

We want to continue the debrief initiative because we all can learn from each other, no matter what the experience level is of our partner(s).  Try to carve out five minutes after your last match of the evening to discuss anything that came up that night.  If we do this properly, the GKCOA will continue to be the best association in the state!

IF YOU ARE OFFERING FEEDBACK: Critique the situation, not the person, accompany the critique with a compliment, be specific with feedback, give recommendations on how to improve

IF YOU ARE RECEIVING FEEDBACK:. Hit pause on your initial defensive reaction–it’s not personal, LISTEN for understanding, avoid saying “Yeah, but…” and giving a reason for why you made those decisions on the court, always thank the person offering feedback, and possibly arrange a time to follow up if the situation warrants.

We are all mentors and we are all mentees!  The intent of this practice is to help each other make each other better…not to cause conflict or hard feelings.

 

ILLEGAL COURT MARKINGS

If you have courts that are illegally marked (like the attack lines that must be solid colored lines below), take photos and email Davine Davis at MSHSAA and be sure to CC Dixie Wescott and Don Sleet.  Court markings will be taken care of at the administrative level.  Officials are not to require a school to tape down lines, even if the lines do not follow NFHS rules.IMG_5268IMG_5267

 

HOW TO GET YOUR MONEY OUT OF ARBITER PAY/REF PAY:

Here’s a good video to check out if you haven’t figured out how to get your Arbiter money into your bank account yet.  PLEASE pay particular attention to using manual transfers—in other words, DO NOT set ArbiterPay to automatic transfers—if you do, it will charge you $1.50 per transaction!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOUQdQDjHow

 

NEXT “MEETING”

We do not have any more scheduled face-to-face meetings this year, so please keep up with the latest information using the Sunday newsletter and videos we may post here.  We are planning on doing an online “meeting” of some sort on Sun., Oct. 6, if we feel it’s necessary.  If you have questions or situations, please email ken.corum@nkcschools.org or use the Drop Box.