Yin Jianwei, who just earned a referee's silver badge from a level 3 school in Shanghai in October, said surviving the comprehensive tests is much tougher than expected.
"The evaluation started at the very first moment in the class. How you communicate with the tutors, how active you are in answering questions and how intelligently you react to case studies all count toward your final assessment, not to mention random written tests," Yin said of the three-day course.
It was the first time that ITF hosted its level 3 school in China. Seven out of eight Chinese participants passed the evaluation to obtain bronze and silver badges, elevating the number of Chinese officials holding white or higher badges to 47.
"With an increasing number of professional tournaments held in China every year, the international tennis community has sensed the game's growth here as well as the pressing need to educate local officials," said Wan.
According to the CTA, the country hosts 12 tournaments on the WTA and ATP tours, amassing a total of 78 events including lower-level ITF tournaments, while there were only three WTA and ATP events in 2010.
Chen Shu, China's only gold-badge referee, said tournaments held at home greatly benefit young officials.
"More events at home provide more drills to improve and closer access to accumulate experience at their doorstep. When I started in the 1990s, it was more difficult because I had to travel overseas to chase events, one after another," said Chen, who is now vice-president of event operations for WTA Asia Pacific.
Apart from the ITF schooling program, the CTA has organized 16 national-level training seminars involving at least 1,000 officials and has sent 230 officials, including line judges, to officiate 1,200 matches overseas in the past five years.
