Never in my coaching career have I been told, after the match was over, that I could have been given a yellow card because my assistant coach looked at the official disrespectfully. I'm still shocked the conversation even happened. Let me set the scene.
We're down in the second set 21-24. A free ball is headed back to our side, so my hitters pull off the net. Suddenly the whistle blows, and we immediately celebrate the point thinking the other team must have made the mistake, since we haven't even touched the ball, yet. Nope, she calls my Middle in the net. We're all confused, and even give the official the benefit of the doubt that maybe my hitter's hair hit the net when she pulled off, which is perfectly legal. She literally said my 5'9" middle's butt hit the net when she turned. The bottom of the net hits, at the very least, the middle of her back, so this is almost humanly impossible. Long story short, we lose the set 21-25 on a very bad call. Unfortunately, that happens sometimes.
It was a hard-fought loss in 5 sets, 25-18, 21-25, 25-27, 25-17, 15-17.
Fast-forward to the end of the night, after the JV game. The official who had been up during the varsity match called myself and my assistant over for a private conversation. She never would look at him, but proceeded to tell me that between the 2nd and 3rd sets she should have given me a yellow card because my assistant coach looked at her disrespectfully while switching sides. He started walking to the other side, stopped and looked at her, started shaking his head, and then continued walking. He never said a word.
Soapbox time: volleyball is the only sport, to my knowledge, where the coach is completely powerless when it comes to the officials. We aren't even allowed to talk to them during a match unless it's through our floor captains. In football and basketball, the coaches can scream and yell at an official, and unless they personally attack them, they are perfectly within their rights. But my assistant coach can't disappointingly look at an official who makes a set-ending terrible call (which she admitted she shouldn't have called) without me being threatened with a yellow card? Unbelievable!
Here's the bottom line: I never complain about officials. They are not going to call a perfect game, just like we're not going to play a perfect game, and I'm not going to coach a perfect game. I get along with almost every official I meet before and after a match. Do things get tense during a match? Of course! I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't fight for my girls when obviously bad calls were made. And I can honestly say I don't even argue the iffy calls. But it never carries over beyond the match. I've never in my life scratched an official. If we're doing OUR job, no official will make enough bad calls to cost us the match. But I have never in my life been so disrespected by an official as to be threatened with a yellow card after the match was over, and never for giving a "look". If they could give yellow and red cards for looks, I would have been kicked out of every volleyball match I've ever coached!
Rant over. Tomorrow's a new day!
Ridiculous
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