Who We Are
ZONI is a high school volleyball officials organization in the Chicago area. We have over 100 members, including more than 20 who have either been officials and/or line judges at the State Finals. ZONI members routinely represented at least half of the Boys State Finals officiating crew. To find out some more information about our membership, click here.
ZONI’s Goals
- To recruit and mentor new officials
- Develop positive relations with other officials
- Develop officiating skills within our membership
- Provide feedback to the conferences about their coaches and teams
- Support and encourage freshman officials
- Promote good sportsmanship
- Promote advancement in official ratings and member evaluations
Initiatives
ZONI has several ongoing projects that aim to improve officiating and the high school volleyball experience:
| Sportmanship | We continue to reward positive sportsmanship exhibited by players, coaches, and fans in matches that we officiate. Awards are given out after each season. |
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| Clinics | Most years our officials run the Whistle for a Cause Clinic. All monies have gone to charitable causes. In addition to helping train officials, nearly $15,000 has been raised in past years to provide equipment for local schools in need, assist schools victimized by Hurricane Katrina to rebuild their volleyball programs, and to help out seriously ill children with ties to athletics in Illinois. |
| Mentoring | A mentoring program was introduced a few years ago. We pair more-experienced officials with less-experienced officials in an effort to facilitate the learning process. |
| SERVE | In 2000, the SERVE (Sessions for Explaining the Rules of Volleyball to Everyone) program was created. ZONI officials make presentations to parents’ meetings at schools to explain dificult rules, differences with club ball, sportsmanship, etc. |