An umpires’ meeting with a bit of past, present and future

They are the ones who ensure the application of the regulations, who sanction the infractions and validate the results: the umpires.

The usual meeting of those responsible for administering fair sports at the 9th World Cup 2024 in Mar del Plata, Argentina, was attended by the full presence of the Umpires Committee, with its chair GM Benzaquén and members GM Rubén Suárez, GM Gordon Wallace, Master Kurt Ottesen and Master Saija Aalto.

Also present were GM Marano, chair of the Technical and Instruction Committee, GM Omar Merodio, chair of the Organizing Committee of the World Cup, and GM Azucena Zorzón, member of the Women’s Committee.

The first to give his greetings was GM Marano, who praised the technical knowledge of all the umpires and celebrated the opportunity for both committees to work together and exchange opinions in order to overcome the differences in criteria that exist when evaluating the technique in patterns

By way of explanation, he gave a summary that justifies this joint work between the Umpire Committee and the Technical and Instruction Committee. He pointed out that there were no rules until 2003, which is why they began to be established. Since then, the emphasis has been on the technical part and he stressed that the level of standardisation of our ITF is very good in relation to other organisations.

But he immediately recognized that, during that standardization work, the same energy was not put into other aspects that the patterns needs, such as rhythm, power and beauty.

As these aspects were not given the same importance as the technical part, excellent competitions began to appear in the technical aspect, but not at the same level in the other aspects mentioned, he mentioned. Among the advances, he mentioned the execution of one competitor at a time, since before it was very difficult for a referee to decide between two competitors who did the pattern at the same time.

Regarding beauty, he commented that General Choi wrote about that aspect and that, when the technique is very similar, beauty can help judges in making decisions.

For his part, GM Merodio welcomed the umpires to Argentina and especially the city of Mar del Plata and highlighted that this is the first time that the country has hosted a World Cup. He also referred to the preparation of all members and the professionalism of the umpires well as that of the members of the IT Committee. He ended by thanking everyone for their participation.

Then, GM Azucena Zorzón, representing the Women’s Committee of both the ITF and FETRA, asked for the collaboration and support of all umpires to prevent any type of harassment.

The ITF has been running campaigns to prevent such behaviour and has specifically stated that it has zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

“It is our responsibility to protect our members, and especially the most vulnerable,” she said.

She urged everyone to be alert to any type of act or conduct and reported that there is a channel for making anonymous complaints through the form published on the website.

Then it was GM Benzaquén’s turn, who said that emphasis must be placed on working so that the pattern are not so cut at the time of execution, as if they were frames in a movie, he compared.

GM Wallace, for his part, gave a presentation on how to apply the rules and provided general information.

Attendance was taken, credentials were handed out, and areas were assigned.

He spoke about the protocols and the exchange of information that is being carried out through the automated WhatsApp Chatbot.

Finally, he mentioned what the daily work and competition schedule will be like.