(Transfers from other USAV Region please, contact Earl Capps)

All officials that want to work in the Arizona Region must be a have a current membership before they will be assigned to work. To purchase your membership, go to the Join the Region page - under About Us to access the Membership Quizzard.

Season pre-registration opens in early August each year but the membership is not effective until Sept 1st.  This is the official start of the new season.

To be an official in the Arizona Region an official must:

• Contact Earl Capps (Officials' Division Coordinator) or Ron Pelham (Assistant Officials' Division Coordinator)
   
• Brand new officials should attend the Official's Orientation meeting. For 2023-24, this meeting is still being finalized.  This meeting will let you know who we are, what we are about and how it all works. If officials are interested in joining the officials cadre then they will go on to the rest of the check list. No officials training will take place at the Orientation meeting (though a training clinic typically follows - see below).
   
• Purchase your membership for the new season before Dec 15th (Sept 15th if you are working boys tournaments in Arizona). Purchase your membership through the Membership Quizzard on the AZ Region Join the Region webpage. The Official membership is called Adult with SafeSport and Background Screen.  A background screen and SafeSport Training complete the membership. No other background screen or fingerprint card can be substituted. The background screen is applied for and paid once the membership requiring the background screen is purchased.
   
• After registering, the membership box in your SportsEngine account will show you a list of items that you need to complete or that have already been completed. To access SportsEngine, click here or on the appropriate link above. Click on Household then click on your profile.  The membership box will pop up on the right side.  Click on View Details and scroll down to see what needs to be completed.

• Submit the following documents to the Region Office:
  1. Independent Contractor Agreement/Sole Proprietor Waiver; 
  2. Official's Code of Conduct

These 2 documents are required annually. These forms can also be accessed through the Handbook.

• Attend the NPP official clinic normally held in early December each year. For 2023-24, this meeting is still being finalized.  Attending this clinic satisfies the classroom portion of your required annual training. This free lecture clinic is recommended for New, Probationary, Provisional and Regional officials with less than 3 years experience. 
   
• Attend the designated December pre-season tournament Practical Training Clinic (2 waves).  Attending this tournament satisfies the on-court practical portion of your required annual training. For more information on this clinic, contact Ron Pelham. In the event you cannot attend this practical clinic, you can satisfy your training requirement by officiating your first wave assignment of the season under observation but with no compensation. 
•  
• Complete your online coursework through the USAV Academy.  To access the USAV Academy, follow this link to login to your SportsEngine account.  This will be available in the USAV Academy in early September.
  • Click on Household, then on the profile of the person to take the course. 
  • On the membership box, click View Details.  The USAV Academy button should now be visible on the upper right. 
  • Click on the USAV Academy. 
  • If the appropriate course is not listed, click on Content Library on the left side menu and select the appropriate course. 
     
  • The following dates will be deadlines for completing online training with the AZ Region Officials Division:
    • Please note that if modules/tests in USAV Academy are not fully completed prior to the end of the season, your USAV Academy course registration status will be updated to Cancelled. This is to facilitate registration for the next season's courses in the Fall.
       
    • Failure to attend required training clinics, complete USAV Academy modules, or meet testing deadlines for Referee and Scorer tests will result in immediate non-assignment and placed on probation in a "Not in Good Standing" status.
    • USAV Lateral Officials (transferring from another Region): Mar 1st.
    • Brand New Officials (no prior experience): Feb. 15th
    • Veteran Officials (any returning official): Dec 15th
       
  • All officials must have an account in ArbiterPay.com to receive payment for working and in ArbiterSports.com to list availability, check for assignments and accept assignments. All assigning is done through ArbiterSports.com and all payroll is paid to ArbiterPay.com. Once you have contacted Earl Capps and registered with AZ Region in SportsEngine (as detailed above), you will receive an invitation from Earl Capps to join ArbiterSports.com with a new account. Please contact Earl via email at Officials@azregionvolleyball.org if you still need your Arbiter registration invitation.  The invitation does not usually happen until late in December as the calendar year must be turned over for 1099 creation.
     
    • To get paid you must also link your ArbiterPay account to our ArbiterSports group (Group #108723). To link your ArbiterPay account:
      1. Log into ArbiterPay
      2. Click on the Payroll Tab,
      3. Then the ArbiterPay sub tab.
      4. Type in your ArbiterPay username and select the + symbol.
      5. Type in your ArbiterPay Security Key,
      6. Click the group #s that are not linked and click save when finished
      7. The Arizona Region Arbiter group ID # is 108723

Each official is assigned a Team Leader. The official is assigned to a Team Leader by where they live - in the Phoenix metro area it is by zip code. Once registered contact your assigned Team Leader.

The Arizona Region has 3 incentive offers to encourage the Arizona officials to work our Region tournaments. Below is the description of each of those offers. All officials' bonus pay will be paid with the last payroll of the girls' tournament season in May/June.

• Hard Worker Bonus - A Hard Worker Bonus of $100 will be paid out for officials that work a minimum of 12 tournament dates (not waves) in one season with a minimum of four (4) matches per date. One No-Show deducts two (2) tournament worked toward the Bonus. A second No-Show removes the possibility of a Bonus for the tournament season. The Bonus will be paid with the last payroll of the girls' tournament season.
• Girls Region Championships Bonus - Each official that works the first two Region Championships tournaments (last Saturday of April and the 1st Saturday of May) will receive a bonus of $50. If they also work the 3rd week of Region Championships (2nd Saturday of May) they will receive an additional $50 bonus for a maximum bonus of $100. They must be available to work the full day of the tournament (it is a shorter schedule than normal tournaments with a built in break as the teams move from site to site) This bonus will be paid with the last payroll of the girls' tournament season. The girls early Region Championships (18s only) and Adults do not count toward this bonus - it is for the April/May Girls Region Championships tournaments only.
• Referral Bonus - For every official that brings someone to join the AZ Region cadre of officials, a $50 bonus will be given.  The new official must register and work a minimum of 5 dates in the first season for the referring official to be credited with the bonus.  Only one official may claim the referral bonus for the new official.

The Officials' Division has two (2) policies designed to assist an official in handling misconduct on and off the court. Sanctions in the rule book (DCR) remain the same for on-court teams and club personnel, but the Spectator/Parent Code of Conduct policy applies to aggravated misconduct in the stands or off-court in which violators can be ejected from the playing facility before, during and after the match.

The Region Purple Card Sanction Policy was also created to handle misconduct by parents, spectators and club personnel before, during and after a match. Violators affiliated with a club team can be sanctioned with possible escalation up to ejection from the facility. Read the entire policy here.

Substandard Scoring Teams 
Any team that an official finds is deficient in properly scoring a match will be written up on the Officials Tournament Report Form and Pay Sheet detailing specific team name and head head coach. The report goes to the Officials' Division Coordinator who notifies the Club Director of the team deficiency. The club is then responsible to re-train the team members either by contracting another Scorer trainer to hold a clinic and paying the standard clinician fees OR reviewing the USAV Academy training modules. Either way, if they are deficient in their next tournament scoring assignment, they will be penalized eight (8) points on their next scheduled match to play. If the team scores deficiently a third time, they will be penalized one (1) set on their next match.

Mileage Policy Update
There has been some accounting discrepancies discovered by the Region Office as to recording mileage on the Officials Tournament Report Form and Pay Sheet. Here are the following clarifications:

• Although you may be carpooling, the minimum mileage requirement must be met; carpooling does not constitute automatic mileage reimbursement.
• For officials outside the Phoenix metro area, if you sign up to officiate on Saturday Junior play and Sunday Adult play of the same weekend you should write your Round Trip mileage on only one Pay Sheet unless you drove home on Saturday night and returned on Sunday morning. The mileage reimbursement is based on Round Trip mileage actually driven. If there are other officials from your area at your site you also need to car pool to fulfill the reimbursement policy.

Officials Not Available for Tournament Assignment:
Officials will need to make themselves available for at least one tournament wave assignment before February 15th or they will be removed from Arbiter and placed on the "Not to be Assigned" list for three (3) consecutive tournaments. Reinstatement requires contacting the Competition Assignor or the Officials' Division Coordinator. This policy will be an extension to the current tournament requirement necessary to retain your rating certification, as outlined in our OD Handbook.

USA Volleyball has replaced the VolleyballRefTraining.com website with the Officials' Resources page on their website - https://usavolleyball.org/resources-for-officials/

Payroll is paid bi-weekly from Dec through May. For the months of Sept, Oct & Nov the officials pay is monthly instead of bi-weekly.  This is due to the limited number of events in those months. 

The payroll for officials is transferred to the official's account in ArbiterPay.com. It is up to the official to put pay instructions in their ArbiterPay account - example - to send any money in their account to a designated bank account, to hold the money in the account until it is manually moved to a designated bank account, to load an ArbiterPay debit card for use by the official or to cut a check and mail to the official (this will cost the official $5 per check cut).

ArbiterPay holds our money for 5 work days before it is available to be transferred and available to the official. 

All Hard Worker Bonuses, Region Championship Bonuses and Referral Bonuses will be paid in the last payroll of the girls' tournament season in May.

New lateral-entry officials from other USAV regions may start on Probation if their Regional or National certification is lapsed. The length of probation depends on reviews of proficiency and adaptability. Advancements from probationary must be approved by the OD Steering Committee.

Lateral-entry officials (transfers) with current certifications and in good standing in their previous region will retain the same rating in the Officials Division (OD).

PROBATIONARY OFFICIAL

Probationary officials are defined as officials that are new to USA Volleyball with no, little or minimal experience in USAV mechanics, signals, match protocols and related processes and procedures. This would include officials from other venues or organizations such as high school or college.

EXPECTATIONS OF PROBATIONARY OFFICIALS:

• Attend the annual Training clinic as scheduled by the Referee Training Director
• Complete the USAV Test C or higher exam and correct to 100%
• Practical observations, receive one (1) passing rating as First Referee and one (1) passing rating as a Second Referee from a USAV National, Junior National or Regional Referee
• First year of referee certification is considered an "In-Process" year
• Must be a USAV and Arizona Region regular member in Good Standing
• Have a general knowledge of the rules, mechanics and techniques used by USA Volleyball referees
• Understand the basics of transitioning and positioning as an R2
• AZ Region Tournaments: Must officiate a minimum of 6
• Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the USAV score sheet by completing a minimum of 3 score sheets (including 1 with a deciding set) for review by the Scorer Director

ATTAIN PROVISIONAL OFFICIAL RATING:

• Attend the annual officials training clinic as scheduled by the Referee Training Director
• Complete the USAV Test C or higher exam and correct to 100%
• Practical observations, receive one (1) passing rating as First Referee and one (1) passing rating as a Second Referee from a USAV National, Junior National or Regional Referee
• Must be a USAV and Arizona Region regular member in Good Standing
• Have a general knowledge of the rules, mechanics and techniques used by USA Volleyball referees;
• Understand the basics of transitioning and positioning as an R2;
• AZ Region Tournaments: Must officiate a minimum of 6
• Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the USAV score sheet by completing a minimum of 3 score sheets (including 1 with a deciding set) for review by the Scorer Director

RETAIN PROVISIONAL OFFICIAL RATING:

• Attend the annual official's training clinic as scheduled by the Referee Training Director;
• Complete the USAV Test C or higher exam and correct to 100%;
• Practical observations, receive one (1) passing rating as First Referee and one (1) passing rating as a Second Referee from a USAV National, Junior National or Regional Referee;
• Must be a USAV and Arizona Region regular member in Good Standing;
• Failure to complete the above listed requirements by the published ratings and test date may result in the forfeiture of your Provisional Rating;
• Have a general knowledge of the rules, mechanics and techniques used by USA Volleyball referees;
• Understand the basics of transitioning and positioning as an R2;
• Shows awareness of rotational faults;
• Shows back row attack awareness;
• AZ Region Tournaments: Must officiate a minimum of 6
• Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the USAV score sheet by completing a minimum of 3 score sheets (including 1 with a deciding set) for review by the Scorer Director

CONSEQUENCE FOR NOT MAINTAINING YOUR RATING:

• Any failure to comply will result in six months probation. In addition, the official will be subject to a re-evaluation that will be pass/fail.