Standby Procedures

Standby (SB) positions are an honest attempt to work officials into matches, and are an absolute necessity. They are on site to fill in for assigned officials when sickness, dead car batteries, injuries, etc. occur, and they happen at ALL tournaments, either the day of the tournament or the week before leading up to it.

SB positions help assure 100% of the tournament games are covered. Tournaments have referee tents to hang out in (which are supervised by a referee coordinator all day), gifts for participating, and lunches at the field. Sometimes SBs are not needed to fill in on a game, but usually every site has to use at least one SB, as we just have no idea when and where the emergencies will hit. While you are at the fields, you can do whatever you want if you are not needed on a game. Do homework, read, watch movies on your devices, video games… anything you would be doing at home, yet we pay you $15 an hour to do it (not to mention feed you and give you a gift as well:)).

Standby’s are paid $45 for 3 hours or $60 for 4 hour stand by slots ($15 an hour) to be at the fields for these emergencies, and they are only assigned to positions they are comfortable with. If you prefer to AR, we would only assign you to an open AR position.

  • Check Arbiter after 10 PM each Friday and Saturday night to see if your SB position is still scheduled. While not often, some SBs may be canceled the day before play due to tournament constraints.

  • Arrive and check in with the Referee Site Coordinator by the start time of your SB assignment in Arbiter and be ready to step on the field at that time if necessary. You do need to be on site and remain on site. You do not need to be arrive earlier than your SB start time.

  • If your SB assignment starts after 10 AM, and you are not already at the fields doing games prior to the assignment, call the Referee Site Coordinator to see if you are needed as a SB.

  • Plan for at least the length of time stated on the SB assignment (which is indicated in hours). If needed you may be asked to stay longer if you are able to.

  • Starting the week before play, accepted stand bys may be assigned a game position during the time they have committed to being a stand by.  ACCEPT these games- that is what being on stand by is for.   In other words- you can be assigned before the day of the tournament to fill in openings that occur due to schedule changes and turnback’s that happen the week before, not just the day of.

  • You are guaranteed to earn the amount of pay on your stand by slot if you are at the fields for the allotted time. You will be paid the amount specified   BUT- if you pick up a game that starts during your stand by time the pay will be split between your game fees and your stand by fees. It is just a matter of what bucket the tournament will pay you for. Game fees will reduce the amount you are paid from the stand by budget by the same amount you will be paid from by the game fee budget.

  • You need to sign in and out at the referee tent to be paid.