A Round Up of the Tournament by Rishad Alikan

The view from the outside - Rishad Alikhan

 

 

In mid July, I received a call from Ben Harris III, the USSRA National Director of Officials. He was looking for a total of four American referees to go to Quito, Ecuador, to assist with the XII Pan American Squash Championships during the last two weeks of August. Why me, I asked. His response: because I happened to be at the top of the alphabetically arranged list of certified regional referees and Rod Symington had given me a "clean bill of health" vis-à-vis my refereeing skills. His first choice was Andy Forster (certified national referee), also from Houston, but Andy had a business conflict during the dates of the tournament. Ben Harris, for those who don't know him, has a unique sense of humor. Either you find him to be hilarious or you look at him and wonder whether he's lost all his marbles. As luck would have it, I enjoy his brand of humor and he had me in stitches for a large portion of our time in South America. This was fortunate, as the referees were forced to spend a lot of time together. After all, we couldn't be seen fraternizing with the players, could we? No, that wouldn't do; we might find ourselves giving a friendly call or two to players we got along with off the court. I must admit I was guilty of sitting with the American players at the breakfast table on more than one occasion, although it was an unspoken rule for the referees to dine together, or go to the venue and return to the hotel together. But as the referees were not permitted to officiate matches played by their compatriots, Damian Walker, Richard Chin, David McNeely, Preston Quick, Latasha Khan, Shabana Khan, Meridith Quick and Julia Beaver didn't waste their time trying to "butter me up". Nor did team leaders Paul Assiante, Sharon Bradley or Karen Schmidt-Fellner, much to my disappointment. Darn. A referee should have some perks, don't you think? Along with the four American referees (Ben, Paul Brogna Meherji Madan and me), there were ten others from various parts of the Americas, led by Nelson Neto of Brazil. Nelson is fluent in three languages, which was not necessarily an advantage during these two weeks. It meant that he had to put up with abuse in the form of complaints by a larger group of people. He has an incredibly cool personality, and was the unofficial glue that held everything together at the tournament. I would gladly work under his command again, and I know the other referees feel the same way. Naturally, some were more qualified than others, and at the risk of coming across as arrogant, I'd have to say that the four of us Americans were considered among the more qualified in the group. In any event, the group consisted of very friendly people and even though language was sometimes an issue, we all got along famously (I, for one, am embarrassed that I don't speak any Spanish, and plan on correcting this shortcoming soon). We had very long days, starting at 8 a.m. every day and finishing at close to 10 p.m. most nights, with no days off for good behavior! Every one of us worked equally hard and we all wound down together over a couple of drinks at the end of the day. Beer at $1 a pint and consumed at an elevation of 9,400 feet goes a long way, but that's another story. Heck, we even managed to go out salsa dancing one evening, but I sure paid the price the next day. Too many drinks and lack of sleep is not a good recipe for refereeing high-level squash matches.

 

So what is it like from the outside, you wonder? After all, I, like most of you, have been guilty of dishing out insults during and after losing a match, but have seldom been on the receiving end. Most players feel the need to blame someone for their loss, and more often than not, the referee is the available scapegoat. Sure, many times a ref will make a bad call, and that call is what players tend to discuss for days after the match. Forgotten are all the good calls, including several very difficult ones. What players need to remember is that the refs intend no malice, they just call 'em as they see 'em, and they see 'em and call 'em right an overwhelming majority of the time. Seldom is a match won or lost due to poor refereeing. I'm sure it happens, but it's the exception rather than the rule. We all get bad calls, or what we think are bad calls, but how we react to them is what defines our character. I hope I never behave as badly as some of the players during this tournament. Yes, I saw a few bad calls and probably made some myself, but there was a lot more whining, complaining and throwing of tantrums in Quito than there were bad calls.

 

Without going into detail on the bad behavior I witnessed by several players from various countries, I must say a brief word about the American players, particularly the men. I'm leaving the women out because nearly every one of the women's matches was "clean"; there were seldom any disputed calls and the behavior of the players was generally faultless. The men were an entirely different matter nearly across the board, with one notable exception, that being the US team (actually, the Paraguayan team and one Colombian impressed me favorably too, but I'll let someone else write about them). I personally witnessed all four US men get some pretty egregious calls, but what I also witnessed was their incredibly muted response to these calls. Without exception, the US team played clean squash, called their own balls down on several occasions when the referee and marker didn't, congratulated their opponents at the end of every match, and never disputed the ref's decision. Never. One referee told me that he got nervous and fluffed several calls in one game, all which went against Preston. He said he was amazed that Preston never challenged him. He said it was pretty clear that the Americans were gentlemen on and off the court, and it was a pleasure to referee them. I agree, although I was unable to referee any of their matches. I don't know what it is that separated them from the rest of the teams. Maybe it's because as a group they were slightly older and therefore more mature. Maybe it's because they don't subscribe to the "win at any cost" theory. Or maybe it's because they have Paul Assiante as their leader, a man you can't help but like instantly and who commands respect from anyone who knows him. Whatever the reason, they made me very proud to be an American.

 

Thanks, team.

 

The entire group of referees and markers

 

 

Referees and markers receiving instructions at the start of the day from Nelson Neto, tournament referee. We had a group meeting every morning at 8 am