How a crisis management professional became a tennis official: ‘It’s just one more mini-crisis to manage’

They were having a hard time locking in L5 events or higher because you are required to have an official for those. It piqued my interest and so I started taking classes to become certified.

For me, it was like a turning point and a great way to use my experience working in crisis management. And so I went through and I took all the training, and I've been working a ton since. There were eight officials when I started in St. Louis, and we are up to 16 right now.

I feel like coaching, being a player and being an official is all continuing to pay it forward in the tennis community.

I've also been encouraging the high school players to explore becoming officials, because if they are already players, then they're 90% of the way through. They may not know all the rules, because the rule book is a little thick and high school doesn't cover them all. But we've been working on how we could get more high school kids to become officials because it's conducive to their schedules. Most of the events are on the weekends.

I give brochures out every year to the students who come through the program and tell them about it. And we are working on a one-day learning program to streamline the process of becoming an official.

Q: When you started your officiating career three years ago, did anything surprise you?

Liz Lahm: My very first solo officiating assignment was an adult sectionals, and within the first hour, I overruled a gentleman’s call. He threw his racquet and launched a ball out of the court, so I gave him a point penalty.

I'm a petite girl and he was probably 6-4. He came storming up to me and accused me of favoring the St. Louis players, and I said, “Well to be honest with you, I don't know who's from St. Louis. I'm just calling the rules as they are, which is my job on the court.” 

I was very taken back by how he reacted, but since then I come at it a different way. I know they're going to be very emphatic on their calls or how they're playing, and how it shouldn't be a penalty or whatever. I just have to put a little empathy on it. 

Like, “Hey, I understand your position, I also play. But here's what happened.” 

I just have to explain myself, and certainly not to back down—because if you hesitate just for a brief moment, they're going to take that opening. You certainly don't want to recant what you did, but on the flip side, if you really made an erroneous call or you didn't make the call when you should have, then you have to own up to it.

So those are a couple of things that I was surprised by. I should have expected it, but I didn't think it would be hour one, day one.

I find it all very rewarding and a positive way to stay involved in tennis, so I have no intention of backing out at any time soon. I've only been doing it for a couple years and I know there's people out there who've been doing this for 30.

There are so many tournaments locally that I could work every weekend for six or seven straight months and won't ever have to travel. I know there's several of my official peers who travel and do all sorts of stuff like that, but I feel it's important to stay local and give back here, where my roots are.

Learn more about USTA Officiating and USTA Coaching.