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In northern VA, there are 3 or 4 associations. My association is the largest. The association has contracts with each district/region and they are usually for 2 years. We cannot obtain any scholastic games on our own. We have an assignor for rec ball and one for scholastic (boys & girls). Up until about 4 years ago, we had a "girls" commissioner and a "boys" commissioner and officials were assigned to each commissioner. If you were a girls official, you had to work at least 3 boys games and vice versa. We finally got smart and made it one position. The assignor has an assistant that handles most of the non-varsity stuff and reassigning any turn-back games. We receive training through the association, starting with an applicants class. We have association meetings every other week during the season and attendance is mandatory. We have 2 excused absences (other than working a game that night) and then we are fined $10 for each meeting missed. Some officials don't bother with the meetings and simply pay the fine.

You can belong to more than one association. However, since my association is the largest, we have most of the games in our area. If you belong to more than one, and you are assigned games by my association and you can't accept them because you are working for another association, you can bet you won't get any more of the "good" games. May not be fair, but that's the way it works.