The USA Volleyball Officials Development Department implemented a re-envisioned evaluation program called RISE during the 2019 Girls 18s Junior National Championships.
Made up of coaches/mentors from across the nation, the RISE team has a shared goal of providing courtside mentoring-style feedback as a benefit of USAV membership for our national-level officials. The intent is to elevate the quality of officiating and consistency of techniques and procedures within the cadre.
A new evaluation form was created for these RISE reviews which will be posted on VRT for the upcoming 2020 season. The form is split into four sections based on the RISE acronym and is defined below with an explanation of the purpose for each section.
- Reflect – Events/situations from the match where philosophical and/or preferred techniques may be used for reflection by the crew during the debrief and applied in future matches.
- Implement – An indication of the official’s overall professionalism, knowledge of the rules, ability to control the match and how the official implemented these skills in conducting the match.
- Set Goals– Officials should continuously be setting goals for themselves. This section identifies current areas of strength as well as opportunities for improvement.
- Evaluate – This section has a five-point rating scale including Insufficient, Needs Work, Good, Very Good and Outstanding. As a national-level official, the expected standard for the evaluated categories in this section is “Good” for all matches. Your performance in that particular match dictates whether the scale moves to one side or the other of the expected standard.
The RISE team’s efforts this season will continue to focus on helping our national-level officials be the best they can be by providing constructive feedback regarding performance and offering suggestions for improvement.
In the past, a “Strength Rating” had been assigned to an official to indicate an appropriate level for assignment. This method will no longer be a focus for the Officials Development Department. Each official brings their own unique experience to their matches; it is our intent that your body of work and interactions with other officials reveal your strengths as we continue to place officials in situations where they can be successful at our various championships.
Finally, as a national-level official, you are the model for the officials in your region who are looking to advance and improve their skill set. We encourage you to implement this mentoring-style philosophy in your work with and recruitment of new officials in your area. Together, we all raise the quality and quantity of volleyball officials across the nation.
“We Rise By Lifting Others” -R. Ingersoll