Referees

Voice

The referee's delivery of commands should portray determination, confidence, and control. This helps to establish the amount of authority and presence the referee exerts in the ring. The tone, inflection, and explosiveness of voice will aid in controlling the match, particularly during a match with heated action. Air is needed to give the voice force. Proper inhalation should become an automatic process. With experience, taking the breath happens subconsciously. Commands must be voiced in such a way that they are heard and understood by the competitors, coaches, timekeepers, scorekeepers, and spectators. This is accomplished with clarity, volume, and projection.

Clarity in enunciation is assisted by accent. In general, the last syllable of a command should be accented and vowels should be short. The following should be used as a guide for vowels:

• "a" as in around, about
• "e" as in egg, edit
• "i" as in police, machine, ski
• "o" as in so, go, open
• "u" as in suit, you

Volume and projection work together. A louder voice can travel further and is projected in the same direction as the head faces. The easiest way to be heard is to face the target. The referee must always face the competitors when giving a command as the competitors rely exclusively on voice and not gestures to know what call has been made. Whenever, possible the referee should face the timekeepers and scorekeepers as well.