In preparation for Zenkoku festival to be held on November 20th, Mr. F from the refereeing dpt of the Tokyo Mini Volley Association (TMVA) came all the way to practice of Abiko to give referee guidance.
We were asked to unify the judges within TMVA, and the B-class referees were instructed about the standing position when taking time as assistant referee. It was explained that only when the electronic whistle was used, the timing hand signal was to stand on the side of the court where the time was taken, and the movement of the hand could be done with either hand.
But the difficult part was the line’s mans’ judge.
The first is the position of the line’s man. The line’s man should stand 1m away from the sideline and endline. The standing position during play must be changed such as moving with the movement of the ball at a distance of 1m. When judging, the line’s man should stand at the point where the side line and the end line intersect. It is such a hard work, isn’t it?
Stand 1m away with the flag behind you like this.
After judging, it seems that the referee does not lower the flag until the referee gives a hand signal for judgment.
We were told not to issue undecidable hand signals so often. In such a situation, he/she looks at the line’s man on the other side and gives a hand signal.
This often troubles line’s man. There was also an explanation about the case where the foot goes out of the side line at the timing of hitting the ball during the serve.
In this case, line’s man should take “foot fault”.
Just a few more days until Zenkoku festival.
It’s tough to acquire the skills.
Anyway, we thank Mr.F a lot!
