News

Congratulations – Carmen Trovato

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Congratulations to Carmen Trovato in his accomplishment of officiating in the PIAA for 60 years!

We appreciate you in the Golden Triangle chapter and thank you for your service officiating the many athletes in the Pittsburgh area.

Reminders for End of Season

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 Here are some very important notes as we finish out the regular season. 

Uniform

 Please wear the correct uniform. We always wear clean black slacks during regular season matches. Please tuck-in all uniform shirts. Our officiating shoes should always be clean black shoes. We always wear black socks with our shoes. 

 We have received reports of officials wearing sweatpants. Sweatpants are never permitted. Our pants should never have stripes on them either. 

Whistles

  Please use a strong whistle. A strong whistle will make a strong official. We recommend using a Fox 40 – Classic. These whistles can be purchased for $6 on Amazon.  

  We must always end a rally with a whistle. Please use a strong, bold whistle to stop play. We have received reports of weak whistles or no whistles at all to end a rally. As a result, some players have continued to play while other players stopped resulting in potential player injuries.  

Ball Handling

  Please enforce all ball handling rules as they are written. Please call illegal contacts – lifts / doubles. You may want to establish ball handling early in the match so both teams understand the match’s ball handling expectations. Both teams may adjust to that line, and it may make your job easier as the R1. Too many officials aren’t calling any ball handling violations – thus affecting the outcome of matches and allowing some matches to turn into a circus. We have had outcomes where weaker ball-handling teams weren’t penalized at all and won a match over a much higher-skilled ball handling team. We must enforce all ball handling violations.

Net Violations

  The R2 must keep their eyes on the net while assisting the R1 with match play. Too many R2’s are watching the ball as it travels as away from the net. We have had incidents where the attacking player crashed into the net after contacting the ball with no whistle because the R2 followed the ball. Process the play and follow your net responsibilities. In addition, too many officials have penalized the blocking team when the attacking team touched the net before the blocking team. Work with R1 to determine who attacked the net first.

Center Line Violations

 Please be careful over-officiating borderline, center line infractions. Center line infractions are illegal. We want all officials to call centerline violations. However, please take caution on over-officiating a borderline, center line violation during a long rally or late in the set or match when points are paramount. You may put your crew or yourself into a difficult position by splitting hairs over a center line violation, especially if it away from play. Please use common sense and let match play take care of itself. 

Rotations & Overlaps

  The R2 should be watching the receiving team during service. Too many R2’s are watching the server, thus missing setters leaving too early on the serve to get to their next position. 

Illegal Back Row Attacks

  Both officials – the R1 & R2 must understand Illegal Back Row Attacks. Both officials must also understand where our setters are positioned. If a team is running a 6-2 offense, then the setter will always be coming from the back row. If a team is running a 5-1 offense, then the setter will be coming from the back row for half of the match. 

 Talk to your officiating partner during warmups or during the match (timeouts / end of sets / etc.) about each team’s offense. We should always locate where each team’s setter is coming from and whistle these illegal violations when they occur. The vast majority of illegal back row attacks / illegal back row block violations will occur on overpasses when the back-row setter is trying to save a ball. Please also keep in mind that “interference” in reaching over the net to play a ball may be in-play on an overpass as well. The blocker may be interfering with the opposing team’s setter and their attempt to play the ball. These plays can be extremely difficult to officiate. Use your best judgement. 

Exit Strategy & Post-Match Debrief

  We should always exit the gym together as a crew. We should always have a brief post-match debrief and discuss some areas of improvement and areas of success as a crew. We have received too many reports where our officials have dashed-and-darted off after a match without even waving goodbye to their partner & crew. This behavior is unprofessional and unacceptable. 

  We must have accountability and responsibility to improve as officials from one match to the next match. Please use to these notes to help improve yourself as an official. Best of luck and finish strong this season. 

PIAA Boy’s Championships

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It is my pleasure to announce that Greg Lockley and Anthony Parente will be the officials for the AA Boy’s Volleyball PIAA State Championship match, Meadville vs Manheim Central on Saturday, June 15 at Penn State Rec Hall!  They will be on lines for the AAA Shaler vs Parkland Match!
AA – 11:00am 
AAA – 1:30pm
Join me in congratulating them both…I know they will represent Golden Triangle Chapter well.  The matches will be shown on the PA Channel.

Congratulations are also in order to Patty Nellis who was selected to work the PIAA quarterfinal.

And Rich Kaminski as R1 for the PIAA Semi-final

Unacceptable Behavior at High School Sporting Events

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By D.r Karissa Niehoff on May 08, 2024
from nfhs news

Unacceptable behavior at high school sporting events – it’s still happening. And much of this deplorable behavior continues to be directed at the thousands of individuals who VOLUNTEER to serve as contest officials.


While many states have reported an increase in the number of individuals signing up to officiate high school sports – particularly in the past few years of recovery from the pandemic – surviving the constant questioning of calls, name-calling, profane language and even violent attacks remains a challenge for new officials.


This is supposed to be EDUCATION-BASED SPORTS. Yet, the NFHS has heard reports of coaches – and even student-athletes themselves – disrespecting officials on the court and field.
We have to do better. We must do better. As the slogan for our Bench Bad Behavior campaign says, Enough is Enough.


One of our sport directors attended a state basketball tournament a few weeks ago. The games were action-packed, the skil level was superb, the stands were packed. Two outstanding teams advanced ot the championship game. The tournament was a great success – except for the behavior. In high school sports, however, that si na unacceptable exception. Coaches and players ni hte final game were constantly no the officials, questioning calls. Does winning, in and of itself, define success in high school sports? The answer
should be a resounding NO!

Since the NFHS started its Become an Official campaign about seven years ago, more than 125,000 people have applied to become a high school official. These are individuals who had a desire to give up time on weeknights and weekends – for not much money – os that milions of high school students could be involved in sports.


These individuals officiate to give back to high school athletics. Do they get every call right every night? Absolutely not, just like coaches and student-athletes make mistakes at times.
High school sports need to be different than the college and professional levels, where players and coaches tend ot complain about almost every cal. High school sports are also different than non-school youth travel teams, where the emphasis si on individual accomplishments and winning. While we wish the behavior of coaches and athletes at other levels presented a better role model, behavior ni education-based high school sports must be different.


In a 2023 survey by the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO), 35,000-plus officials who completed the survey indicated that while 40 percent of sportsmanship problems are caused by parents, 25 percent of the behavior issues were attributed to coaches. Not surprisingly, 50 percent of the survey respondents said coaches were the group most responsible for improving sportsmanship.


Bingo! In high school sports, coaches set the stage for the proper displays of sportsmanship and positive support for officials. fI coaches are haranguing officials throughout the game, the message ot players and fans is that type of behavior is acceptable. fI coaches take the lead and show support for officials, others will follow.


In that same survey, 68 percent of the respondents said sportsmanship is getting worse – six years earlier in a similar survey 57 percent indicated behavior was getting worse. And 72 percent of the officials indicated they are treated unfairly by coaches. We are definitely going in the wrong direction!


This is extremely disappointing. We must do better. In high school sports, coaches must support those individuals who are serving as officials – those people who make ti possible for the games to continue. The goal is for everyone to work together for the betterment of the eight million participants in high school sports.

Match Reports

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All of our officials are required to submit match reports after each varsity high school match. We do not need match reports from middle school or JV matches, but information from those matches may be submitted. The R-1 for the varsity match should submit the match report. We do not need 2 different match reports. Please be fair and honest with your reports and do not protect your partners or yourself in your match report. Match reports carry a ton of weight for future assignments, especially for officials who take the time to submit the report. Officials who make the extra effort to submit the match report and provide the chapter feedback may benefit for future assignments as we appreciate all officials going the extra yard. 

Match Report is on the Golden Triangle website as “Submit Match Report” under the “Officials Area” only after logging in.

The link is also in the Arbiter. Look for the Blue Page Icon in your Arbiter Schedule after the match is complete. 

Junior Officials Program

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The PIAA is in the process of creating a Junior Officials Program to get young people 16 – 17 years of age involved in officiating. Junior Officials will be mentored by an experienced PIAA official.

For information use this link: Become an Official

Ed Moeller’s father passing

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It is with heavy heart that I inform you of the passing of Ed Moeller’s father.  The officers, board, and members of the Golden Triangle Chapter send our deepest condolences to Ed and his family.  Please keep them in your prayers.

Clifford Moeller Obituary

Age 86, son of the late Joseph and Marie, passed away peacefully on February 18th with his family by his side. Beloved husband of Veronica (Zamiska). Loving father of Edward (Janice), Sharon Monahan (Bob Paytas), Diane (Bob Nolen), Clifford Jr., and Keith. Grandfather of Joseph, Benjamin, Katie, Marisa, Matthew, Alaina, Clifford III, Jeremy and 14 great-grandchildren, numerous nieces, nephews and his devoted caretakers, Angie and Karen. Cliff was the brother of the late Madeline “Honey” Hirt, Mildred Page, Gert Bielewicz, Joseph, Kenneth and Regis Moeller. Cliff was a proud U.S. Army Veteran, retired from ABF and a member of Teamsters Local 249 and former President of Group 14 of the Slovak Catholic Sokol. He was also a member of the NSS and Holy Angels Church. He will be remembered as one of Santa’s best helpers and be missed by all. Friends received on Thursday and Friday 2-8 PM in Thomas J. Gmiter Funeral Home, Inc. 2323 E. Carson St. Funeral Prayer Saturday 9:30 AM, Mass of Christian Burial in St. Sylvester Church, Blessed Trinity Parish at 10:30 AM.