RAPID CITY - A state tournament can put a lot of extra pressure on competitors as they look to do their best, but one thing that players at the state tennis tournament don't have to worry about is making all of their own calls on the court.

Throughout most of the season, tennis players are on their honor to make the correct calls, keep score and continue to play at a high level. At the state tournament, players still make their own line calls, but there are roving umpires who stand courtside making sure everything is being conducted in a fair manner.

"They will call things like foot faults, lets, double bounces and deal with any scoring issues," said head official for the state tournament Jeff Nelson. "Players are pretty much still on their own until we get to the semifinals and finals. Then we have chair umpires who keep track of the score, call out the score and do other things, but the players still make their own line calls."

Nelson said the biggest benefit of having officials is simply their presence on the courts.

"The kids really behave well and you are less apt to have any outbursts when officials are present," he said.

"We can ask for an official when the calls are close," said Tanner McCaskell of Huron. "It's a little more nervous for us when someone else is watching."

McCaskell has played in two matches this year with an official overseeing, once at the Eastern South Dakota Conference Tournament and again at this week's state tennis tournament.

He said he has never had an opposing player request an umpire because of his line calls.

"I would actually start questioning my own calls, wondering if they were that bad," he said. "And I'd probably be more lenient, playing balls that were out."

While almost all the tournaments and duals that take place during the regular season are without umpires, Nelson said that is something that is slowly changing. He said there is a push to get umpires for all of the duals and tournaments, but there is a need to build up the number of umpires throughout the state.

"Outside of golf, tennis is the only sport I can think of that is not officiated," Nelson said. "We are going on 10 years of having officials at the state tournament. I think and we have roughly 25 officials that have kept up their certification."

With the addition of Division I tennis programs on the east side of the state, Nelson believes that the numbers of umpires will continue to increase to meet the needs there as well.

Nelson said the next tennis umpire certification will happen during the girls' state tournament in October. Certification is a rather easy process that involves an open book test and a test on the court.