Line Judge Position under Limited Conditions
I have come across this a few times, even from fellow referees acting as line judges, and I think some people have the mentality that the line judge position is more important that the servers position on the court.
The situation is when you have limited space behind the endline and the server wants to serve from the LJ side of the court. If the server wants to serve near the wall the LJ moves all the way back to the wall and refuses to move anymore. This forces the server to move to where they don’t want to or worse you get the server elbowing the LJ trying to get the room they want to serve.
In my opinion this is just an unexceptable situation. The LJ should simply take one step away from the server and move quickly back once they make contact. Unfortunately I have been told too often that “This is my spot and I am not moving”. As an R1 I would tell the LJ to move but as a player it is frustrating to deal with that mentality.
Does anyone else have an opinion on how to handle situations like this? A different opinion then mine?
Thanks
David Slocum
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One of the things I enjoyed last fall doing some LJ for college matches was the ‘luxury’ of time before the match to talk as a crew (R1, R2, LJs). Each match, except when we had a repeat crew, we covered lots of situations. At my D1 site, we’ve got an occasionally awkward situation at one LJ spot because of players standing between the end of the bench and the bleachers. Each time, we’ve talked about our preferred position for the LJ and then what to do if the server likes to get way over into the corner and the LJ is into the bench.
I know I always try to tell LJs in the pre-match meeting to stay out of the server’s way and, if I realize I forgot, I’ll call them over if a situation comes up and let them know. Sometimes at club tournaments, there’s so little time between matches and so much to do that there’s not much time with the LJs and, then there are the teams that switch kids out between sets so that everyone can eat.
2009-2011 DCR Pg. 122
30. Line judge position when server is within 1-2
meters of the line judge:
When a server takes a position within 1-2 meters of the
line judge, the line judge must step behind the server
along the sideline extension. After the service contact,
the line judge should quickly return to the position at the
intersection of the end line and sideline.
@Kennon
Kennon, you missed the part where the server moves all the way to the wall. There is no more room for the LJ to be behind the server. If the server wants server from the corner at the wall, where does the LJ move to?
In this case the LJ should move away from the server far enough that the server is comfortable but hopefully can still see the line. The LJ should NOT refuse to move and get into an elbowing match with the server.
I HAVE seen that happen by the way.
I personally think that on the court, the players have absolute priority.
The match is all about the players, and not the referees.
Therefore, if the player wishes to serve from that position, the LJ should position itself in the right side of the sideline.
We are there for the players, not the other way around. Do whatever is necessary to move out of the server’s way.