USA Volleyball : Rules/Officials

Table of Contents

How do I apply to officiate at a national tournament?

You must be a national official to apply for the national tournament. You must be a junior national official or higher to apply for the junior national tournaments. Applications must be made by the deadline for each event. The positions are filled until the tournaments are full. To apply, you must go to the officials site by choosing to "Update the database" link on the menu for the Officials Division. You then fill out an intent to officiate form. No applications will be accepted by mail, fax, email or phone.

Back to Top

How do I change my personal information in the database?

Choose the "Update the database" link on the menu for the Officials Division. This site will allow you to change information about your address, phone #'s and email address. To change other information, you will need to email the NC for Referee Administration. The site now combines all PAVO and USA VB officials, so you can change both at the same time if you are a member of both associations.

Back to Top

How do I apply to become a junior national candidate?

You can register at by choosing the "Update the database" on the menu for the Officials Division ... Please follow the instructions that are contained along with this form.

Back to Top

How do I apply to become a national referee candidate ?

This is a several step process for junior national referees. First, you must attend the boys tournament or NIRSA as a non-candidate or show evidence of working male matches at a high level. Second, you must apply to the boys tournament, using the link "Update the database" on the menu for the Officials Division at USA Volleyball. More information is available in the letter that accompanies the form. The letter is directed to all regional referee chairpersons.

Back to Top

How do I apply to become a national scorekeeper candidate?

A copy of the application letter and the application form is available at the USA Volleyball site.

Back to Top

When is the 2004 dues deadline date?

December 1, 2003. Dues paid after December 31, 2003 are subject to a 50% late fee ($20 or $30). If dues are not paid by March 1, 2004, the official loses his/her certification.

Back to Top

I do not understand the recertification dues and who to send them to.

Dues for 2004 are due on December 1, 2003 (the beginning of the fiscal year for USA Volleyball). Dues are computed as follows:

Individuals holding a single rating (indoor or outdoor) from the OD for USA Volleyball will pay $40. The definition of a single rating is based on the ratings that you hold on October 1, 2003.
Individuals who hold multiple ratings (indoor or outdoor) will pay $60 for the recertification fee. With the exception of junior national scorekeeper, all ratings count. For example, a person holding an outdoor national rating and an indoor national rating pays $60. A person who is a junior national referee and a national scorekeeper pays $60.
Junior national scorekeeper is NOT considered a rating for fee calculation purposes. Any junior national scorekeeper who holds no other rating pays no fees. A person who hold a JN scorekeeper rating and one other rating pays $40.
If you are confused about how much that you should pay, go to the officials data site and check on your status.

A check for the dues amount should be made out to USA Volleyball and sent to AVP for Finance, 4118 Calle Unidos, Las Cruces NM 88005-1540. If the dues are sent after 12/31/2003, a 50% late fee should be included. If dues are not received by March 1, 2004, certification will be taken away.

Back to Top

I do not understand my referee rating. Can you help?

The current rating system for USA Volleyball referees was developed in 1999. The rating system is used in two ways: (1) It is used at the national tournaments by assigners in assigning matches to referees; (2) It is used to evaluate the candidacy of junior national referees for national ratings. The ratings are not released to outside organizations.

The ratings begin with new junior national referees being assigned a rating of 40; new national referees being assigned a rating of 60 and international referees are assigned a rating of 96. These ratings are based on ratings of levels of play that we developed in 1999. Those ratings go from 10 (12 year olds) to 100 (World Cup matches). Other points of reference are Open matches at the USA Volleyball Championships (70-90); MPVA men's collegiate matches (80-90); women's collegiate matches in the very top conferences (60-70).

A rating of 60 or above allows a junior national or national official to officiate any matches at either the boys or girls junior national championships, including the finals in Gold Divisions. A value of 40-60 allows all matches except the Open division gold (18-17-16). A rating of 80 or above allows a national official to officiate any matches at the USA Volleyball Championships except the Open Division. A rating of 90 is required for officiating in that division.

The beginning settings of ratings for all existing referees in 2000 were done as follows. Data were gathered from the USA Volleyball Championships for 1997-2000. Data were gathered from the junior boys and junior girls tournaments from 1999 and 2000. We looked at the highest level matches that were done. Referees were assigned ratings on the basis of the best quality matches that they had done over these 8 tournaments. These ratings were then reviewed by a panel that included the last three AVP's for referees and the VP for the Officials Division. Individuals who did not attend tournaments over this time period were given the lowest ratings. Some changes in the ratings were done based on our knowledge of the person's activity outside USA Volleyball.

The ratings were used for the first time in 2001. Other than the restrictions given above, no national official or junior national official was constrained from doing any matches at the national tournaments. The ratings were used to set the AVERAGE quality matches that were done by people in average rating category. Thus, those national officials with ratings of 80 typically have average match qualities about 5 points better than those with ratings of 70. However, each referee will have some high rating matches and some with lower ratings.

At the end of each national tournament, the ratings are reviewed. The Head Referees and rating team members make adjustments that they feel are appropriate. Individuals who do a good job at the tournaments have their ratings increased by two points if they attended the USA Volleyball Championships. Individuals who are judged to be ready to move to the next level generally have a rating 5 points between levels. Thus, a current national referee with a rating of 85 will receive Open Division matches that are available when the assignment of those with ratings of 90 and above have been assigned. The highest current rating for junior national referees is 60.

How can I increase my rating?

Keep coming to national tournaments. Missing two in a row reduces your rating. Doing a good job increases your rating.
Submit evidence to the AVP for referees that you are doing officiating that indicates a rating above your current rating. Since we cannot observe this officiating, the level must be considerably above your current rating. To use collegiate refereeing as an example, you need to list each match that you have done over the last two years. National referees are expected to do collegiate officiating, so just doing some will not increase your rating. For example, doing a men's match as R1 that is between UCLA and BYU indicates that the referee has been accepted to do very high level work. However, doing a men's match between two NCAA Division II schools would not likely increase someone's rating. It might increase the rating if the current rating is quite low (20 or 30). Junior national referees can increase their ratings by going to the boys' tournament and showing that they can handle the faster speed of the matches and the behavior of the boys' coaches as long as a good job is done at that tournament.
Request a reevaluation. You can request a reevaluation at a national tournament. The rating team will do a full evaluation on two matches. Your rating could go up, go down, or remain the same, depending on your performance. You will forfeit your match fees for these two matches.
Stay available for the last day of national tournaments. Often, we need people to do finals that could potentially increase their ratings. However, they have already left the tournament.

Back to Top

I need to attend NIRSA this year to complete my national referee candidacy. What do I have to do?

All persons who passed their rating at the JN Boys need to attend NIRSA as the next step to a national rating. You do not need to get a room; it will be provided by NIRSA (2 to a room). They also provide most of your food. You will be paid for all matches when you are not rated. Pay will be at the same rate as other referees at NIRSA (generally around $17/match). Please confirm your attendance with Mary Blalock as soon as possible. YOU DO NOT NEED TO MAKE YOUR OWN ARRANGEMENTS.

What is the Officials' Division Policy for accepting officials and assignment of officials at the national tournament?

All national officials can attend the national tournament. However, this only guarantees assignment to two matches for the tournament to fulfill their good standing requirement.

The two four-day tournaments are treated separately. Anyone who wants to be a PRIMARY official for a full four-day tournament gets assignment priority over all other persons. A PRIMARY official guarantees to stay for the entire tournament and guarantees that s/he will not have conflicts (except for Officials Division business such as rating) during that 4-day tournament. Two people can SHARE a PRIMARY official slot. To share, an official must have another official as his/her "buddy". The two agree to cover all hours of every day of the four-day tournament, so that if one is not available, the other with take his/her place. Our goal is to provide PRIMARY officials with six matches per day. Therefore, in a shared slot, both officials would be assigned 3 matches per day.

We try to estimate the number of matches at the tournament as reliably as possible. This is not easy because the USA National Championships do not have a fixed number of teams playing in each division. We can therefore only approximate. We take this estimated number of matches for each day of the tournament. We then determine how many referees, scorekeepers and duals that we need for the first three days of each four day period. We try to have enough available people to give 5-6 matches to PRIMARY officials on the slow days and 6-7 matches on the full days. Therefore, we hope to average six matches over the first three days of each 4-day tournament.

PRIMARY officials and those officials who must attend the national championship on Officials Division business are accepted to the tournament first. Each day, these officials are scheduled first to be able to give them the appropriate number of matches. The remaining officials are scheduled to provide coverage for all matches. We try to even this out as best that we can from day to day. However, with conflicts this is not always easy. The conflicts give the assigners the most headaches in doing the assignment.

In 2004, referee and scorekeeper candidates will arrive for the 2nd 4-day tournament. In most years, the PRIMARY official slots will fill up for the first half of the tournament and some people who only want to come to this half will not be given PRIMARY status. Therefore, if you want to officiate a full schedule in the first half, you should get your intention form in early. Intention forms are on-line on the link for the officials' database. You must register by this method; no email, faxes or phone calls will be accepted.

The type of match that referees (not scorekeepers, except in the Open) are assigned depends on their rating (see elsewhere in the FAQ for an explanation of the rating). At the end of each day, the assigners are asked to look over the rating of matches that are assigned for each referee. If the rating is very high, then that referee will probably be assigned to some lower rated matches the next day. The reverse is true for persons who received lower rated matches. At the end of the tournament, the higher rated referees should have average higher quality matches, but not significantly so.

It is the goal of the Officials Division to only use nationally rated officials and candidates for the national rating. Occasionally, we will estimate that the number of officials that we have available will not fill all the slots on our large match-count days. In that case, we will request that some junior national referees come to the tournament. Once we have made the commitment to these individuals, they will be treated like all the other referees at the tournament except they will typically be assigned to lower level matches as second referees.

Back to Top

How do I know if I qualify for retirement and what should I do if I decide to retire?

The guidelines for retirement are covered elsewhere at this site. An official must be in Good Standing. Good Standing requires that (1) the official has paid dues in each prior year of his/her certification period. If an application for retirement is received prior to the beginning of the next year, the official may request that retirement begin immediately. If he/she meets the other requirements, there is no need to pay dues for the up and coming year. If the request is made within the calendar year when an official wants to retire, dues must be paid for that year. For example, those requesting retirement in 2004 need to pay dues for 2001, 2002 and 2003 if the request is made prior to January 1, 2004. If the request is made after January 1, 2004, then the individual must also pay dues for 2004 (2) the official must have fulfilled the tournament requirements that are required for their rating (See the requirements on this site); (3) the official must not be on probation with either the Officials Division or his/her region; (4) the official must be in Good Standing with his/her region; (5) the official must have six years in good standing with their rating (Junior National) or five years (national).

If an official meets these criteria, s/he should send a letter requesting retirement to the appropriate AVP for their rating: Kathy Ferraraccio for Referees; Sue Mailhot for scorekeepers and Steve Owen for Outdoor/beach referees.

Back to Top