Disclaimer: Blog posts represent the opinions of their author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of MVSA VBC the organization.

I will make this simple… it is not helpful to yell at the work team. Ever. Full stop. This is even more true for issues related to the score because, as a spectator, you don’t even know what the game score is. You think you do, but you actually don't. To understand why, keep reading. If you are only interested in what I think you should do instead, then jump down to What Can You Do? below.

Each USAV volleyball match actually involves three teams. The two teams that are playing, and one team that is “working” the match. The work team is responsible for providing all of the people necessary to administer the match. This includes the following:

• First referee (R1 or sometimes call the “up ref”)¹
• Second referee (R2 or sometimes called the “down ref”)
• Scorekeeper
• Libero tracker
• Score flipper
• Two line judges (the line judges are not relevant for this discussion)

The first referee is the leader of the work team and is ultimately responsible for its operation. The second referee is responsible for the work table (Scorekeeper, Libero tracker, and Score flipper). The Scorekeeper tracks everything happening in the match related to lineups, substitutions, scoring, side-outs, timeouts, sanctions, etc. They track everything on the “score sheet” which is effectively a big spreadsheet in paper form. USAV publishes a helpful sample score sheet you can view to gain some appreciation for how involved the task can be.² The Libero tracker provides backup to the Scorekeeper for tracking substitutions, and true to their name, they also track all Libero switches. The Score flipper manages the scoreboard that you see.

While the Score flipper appears to be tracking the score, it is important to understand that their role is completely ceremonial. What is on the scoreboard does not matter and exists in service of the spectators alone. In a good work team, the Scorekeeper and Score flipper will be in constant communication during the match, verifying that what each has for the score is in agreement. In this way, the Score flipper can provide a helpful backup (confirmation) for the Scorekeeper. However, if there is any disagreement between the two, the Scorekeeper always wins. As such, the score that the Scorekeeper has on the score sheet is the only score that matters, and as a spectator, that is not something you can see. So when you yell “Score!”, you are doing so without even knowing what the score actually is! As I said before, not helpful.

If, during the course of a match, a coach believes that the score (as shown on the scoreboard) is not correct, they can request a “score check” during a stoppage of play. When this happens, the second referee (as leader of the score table) will talk to the Scorekeeper and possibly examine the score sheet to determine what the score is and what the scoreboard should show. If the scoreboard and the score sheet both agree, that is usually where the score check ends. If there is a discrepancy, further discussion/investigation will happen. The score sheet contains information that can be used to verify other information on the score sheet (a partial checksum of sorts). As such, an experienced second referee can examine it closely to determine whether an error may have been made on the score sheet. However, this is not something all second referees (which are often young athletes) can do. In this case, the first referee (who may be a paid official) may be called upon. However, barring some obvious mistake on the score sheet, the score that it indicates, is the score, and the scoreboard will be updated to reflect that upon conclusion of the score check. Still disagree? Too bad. We are moving on.

If yelling at the work team isn’t helpful, what can you do as a spectator when you believe the score isn’t correct? The biggest thing you can do is be 100% positive that you are right. Yelling at the work team is bad enough. Yelling at the work team and being wrong is orders of magnitude worse in my opinion. As a result, here is my advice for all volleyball spectators:

1. Keep track of the score yourself using one of the many phone apps available for doing that
   • Search for “scoreboard” in your app store of choice. There are plenty of free and paid options
2. Recruit a fellow parent (or parents – the more the better) to do the same
3. Whenever your score doesn’t match the work’s team score, do the following:
   • Check with your fellow score trackers to make sure your score agrees with theirs
   • If the score of all trackers matches and still differs from the work team, then continue to the next step, but first, some important things to understand:
     • Sometimes the work team will simply make a correction on their own with nothing needing to be done by you. The time it takes you to confirm your score with your fellow scorers may be all that is needed
     • The number of times you find that your score does not match your fellow scorers may give you a new appreciation for the job that work teams do
4. Alert your team coach to the scoring discrepancy
   • It is important that you discuss this ahead of time with your team coach to make sure they are even interested in the assistance
   • Assuming they are interested, agree on a procedure for both when and how to alert them
5. Once alerted, your team coach will ask the second referee for a “score check”
6. Regardless of how the score check resolves, move on after it completes
   • If no change is made to the score then just update your score to match the work team’s. Anger or further complaining will accomplish nothing

While your “back seat" scoring may not always result in the desired outcome, it will hopefully give you some sense of control and involvement in the process. Above all, I hope it gives you a new appreciation for the difficulty of the task and the excellent job that most young athletes are doing when working a match!

¹ In some regions, the first referee is always a paid official. In other regions, including CHRVA, the first referee may or may not be a paid official depending on a number of factors too numerous to break down here. The factors are also irrelevant for this discussion.

² If you want to really understand the Scorekeeper task, USAV provides free training for USAV members. All athletes are encouraged to complete the training but parents can go through the training as well. CHRVA publishes a certification guide that shows how to access the training. Anyone willing to complain about a work team should have at least completed the training before doing so.