Welcome to the Potomac Valley Officials Association, based in Loudoun County, Virginia.

For 30 years we have been the County's pre-eminent officials association. We provide officiating services for a variety Adult, HS, and Youth Softball(Fastpitch and Slowpitch), Basketball and Baseball. Full details of our organization can be accessed at www.pvoa.org.

Our Board of Directors consists of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Baseball Commissioner, Basketball Commissioner, Softball Commissioner, a Member-at-Large from each sport and a high school youth member.  Each member is elected to a term consistent with our Covenants and By-Laws.  Each official is an independent contractor with membership in our association.  We provide training to complement your knowledge in each specific sport of interest.  We hope you enjoy working with your new association!

Understanding the following information will ensure a smooth working relationship for years to come.  Remember, this is your association, so let’s make the most of it!

Every official must complete an IRS W-9.  An IRS Form 1099 will be issued the end of January for gross earnings of $600 or more of the previous year.  Each check issued from PVOA will include a 12% deduction for assigning services and administrative fees.

Every official must be a registered member of PVOA at the current rate of $30/year.  We have a special student membership rate of $15/year for members in middle/high school.  The fee will be deducted from your first check.

Every official must provide their own uniform for each sport they are officiating. You can purchase basketball uniforms at www.theofficialcall.com (PVOA official supplier). Uniforms can be obtained at www.theofficialschoice.com, www.getofficial.com, or www.honigs.com.  They can also be obtained locally through the various sporting goods stores including Sports Authority, Dick’s, Modell’s, Cheers Sports and Catoctin Sports.

The Winter Basketball season begins with class training and registration clinics in October and on court sessions/scrimmages in November. Actual games begin the first weekend in December and conclude the end of March.  We officiate private high schools, high school recreation and intramural leagues, travel and middle/elementary school recreational leagues throughout Loudoun County.   We use NFHS rules and guidelines for all games.

High school basketball officials may join VHSL (Virginia High School League) at the current rate of $39.50/year ($29.00 membership + $10.50 insurance). You will receive basketball rulebooks and be eligible to take the high school test in November and qualify for assignment to all high school games that we cover.  Checks should be made payable to PVOA should you wish to register with VHSL through us.

Softball season begins with training in March and ends in November. The various ASA and VHSL contracts are as follows:  High school softball begins in March and ends in June.  Adult slow-pitch, spring softball begins in April and lasts until July, whereas fall slow-pitch begins in August and ends in November.  Youth fast-pitch softball begins in April and concludes in June.  There is a fall league that starts in September and ends in November.  We also umpire several ASA fast-pitch and ASA slow-pitch tournaments throughout the season.

ASA slow-pitch and fast-pitch softball officials must register with ASA at the current rate of $30/year.  They may also register with VHSL (Virginia High School League) at the current rate of $33.50/year (only $23.00 if registered for basketball as well) and be eligible to take the high school test to umpire our high school games.  These fees should be paid at the first training class in February so that official rulebooks can be issued and membership can be obtained.   Checks should be made payable to PVOA.

Every official is required to maintain a complete pay sheet.  We cannot emphasize enough the importance of maintaining an accurate pay sheet.  This includes date of games, time, place, partners name (if any) and comments.  If you work with a partner, please know your partners name and write it down correctly.  If you are not working with the partner originally on your schedule, please make sure to get the correct partners name.  Pay sheets will be accepted for payment and payment will commence if the information is accurate and legible.  If you work with a partner and his/her pay sheet does not agree with yours, there will be accounting problems.  Please know that we will make every effort to obtain payment from the leagues in a timely manner and that you will receive your pay checks as soon as we receive payment from the leagues.

Basketball officials will be issued an account with our assigning software, www.thearbiter.com, and will manage their account during the season for availability and assignments.   If you are new to our association and have not pre-registered, you will soon receive an invitation email from ARBITER to "join" PVOA. Officials should initially change their password, accept terms, and join PVOA. Then, you need to update your personal information, block out any dates for which you won’t be available, and then place a check mark in the READY box. You will be notified of all assignments electronically by email, at which point you must either accept or decline your assignments. If you have not made a decision to accept or decline within 48 hrs. prior to the start of the games,  you will receive an email reminder. If no response is received, the games will be reassigned to someone else. This is critical to ensure that all games are covered by the required # of officials. For games you have accepted, you will receive an email reminder 48 hrs. prior to the start of the game.