Quote:
Originally Posted by Raymond
To me it was quality. After my first season of officiating, I was no longer doing it for the money. I didn't mind doing decent-to-high quality girls games, but I had no desire to drag myself to gyms in the cold of winter to referee bad basketball. I put myself in a position that my HS supervisors wanted me on their boys games, especially games where they needed a strong presence to keep things in check.
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I've never been picky, and as I've settled into quasi-veteran status, I'm happy to earn a HS game check on either side.
Do I prefer boys basketball? Depends on the quality in the area I'm working. In SE Virginia, I'd agree with Raymond; there are very few quality girls teams in that area. Luckily the supervisor I had there the last few years had a healthy roster of female officials plus those that just preferred girls, so I got an exclusively boys schedule without even asking. But in some other states I've worked where the quality of girls basketball is much better (e.g. Wisconsin and Kansas), I was always happy working both genders.
There are some places in America where girls basketball is quite putrid. You can tell places where there is a proclivity for girls to eschew picking up a basketball until their freshman year in high school. Why that's a phenomenon in some places and not in others, I'm not sure. When it comes to sports participation, it seems like there are geographic feminine sub-cultures in this country.
I've never really suffered from "change-of-pace-itus" from one night or level to the next. I can spool up or down pretty easily. I know that's not easy for everyone, so I guess I'm lucky in that regard.