Officiating

FAQ: Becoming a USA Volleyball Official in the OVR

The following FAQ addresses new officials. If you are a returning official, renew your membership online, which includes updating your profile and signing up for a clinic.

Welcome to the Ohio Valley Region (OVR) of USA Volleyball, and thank you for expressing interest in becoming a USAV certified official! The following information will help you as you take on this task!

The following resources are of primary importance to prospective officials:

You may find additional background information useful...

  1. Pre-register: You must pre-register online for one of the OVR New Officials' Clinics. Our website address is www.ovr.org. The following link will take you directly to the pre-registration page (www.ovr.org/officiating/new_official_signup.php), which is linked from our Officiating section.

  2. Clinic: At each clinic, you will be given a wealth of information about becoming certified as a USAV official. This includes the testing and evaluation process, officiating philosophies, rules discussions and the USAV rulebook. We will also take you through a scoring example. There is a $35 registration fee for the New Referee's Clinic.

  3. Testing: The USA Volleyball rules and scorekeeping exams are important parts of this process! You will take the exams online instead of at a clinic site. You may take these exams at the time of your choosing; however, they must be completed after you become certified and no later than February 15. If you have specific questions about testing, feel free to send an e-mail to Brian Hemelgarn, OVR Referees' Chair (hemelgarn@ovr.org or hall@ovr.org). Instructions will be provided after completion of the on-court training/evaluation process.

  4. Practical evaluations: You will sign up online to be a candidate at a practical, on-court evaluation tournament. The fee for the training/evaluation process is $115. There are various dates (all weekends) in January around the region. Although the final evaluations are pass/fail, we do our best to make these hands-on learning and training sessions, as we want you to be prepared to begin the season. You will work as the first referee (on the stand), second referee (on the floor), and scorekeeper. You must successfully pass all three phases. If time allows, you may be evaluated in any/all of the phases a second time to help ensure that you're prepared! A re-evaluation is not guaranteed, however, depending upon the number of candidates at each evaluation site. You will also work at least one set as a line judge and one set as a Libero tracker.

  5. Registration: Once you have attended a clinic and successfully completed the evaluation process, you must register as a member of the Ohio Valley Region - USA Volleyball. This fee is $67, plus $14 for background screening. If you are already a member (coach, club director, player, etc.), you do not need to pay the fees again; however, you will need a new registration number that reflects your status as a certified referee. And now, you are a certified USAV referee in the OVR! Congratulations and good luck!

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