Quote:
Originally posted by Camron Rust
The fact is that no one moves up and knocks someone out of a game unless they are BETTER than the other official...not just equal. This should apply to both men and women.
If the goal is to get more women official into the playoffs that is wrong. The goal should be to get the best officials into the playoffs.
The girls games deserves to be treated the same as do women official...not seperate but equal. The only fair way is to put everyone in the same pot for votes.
However, I'm not opposed to having officials work a minumum number of games in girls/boys to work the playoffs. However, the reason would not be for spreading around the tourney but for the teams to get officials who're familiar with the style of the game.
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"Familiar with the style of the game" is definitely the point. The girls' game and the boys' game are very different. There are several women who are highly qualified who won't get positions, even though they are quite comfortable with the girls' game, because they've not been seen by enough coaches to get the number of votes they need to make it into the "top 16." And every year, several male refs make it to the girls' tourneys even though they haven't done any girls' games in however many years.
I know I'm not completely familiar with all the ins and outs of our system, and I do think it is much better than many other associations', but this one issue needs addressing. It's not fair that with all the talent and ability our association represents, we can't come up with a more equitable system both for the players, and for the refs.
I'm not worried about my own future -- I'm nowhere near ready for state yet, and when the time comes, I can play politics as well as the next person. I'm just seeing that women really don't have the same chances in our association, and the choice isn't only based on ability and experience.
To answer some other questions about Oregon, yes there are a very few varsity boys games every year that use women refs. I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but I do know they are not in proportion to the number of women refs who are able and qualified to work those games. Women would be allowed to work the boys' tourneys on paper, but I don't think any ever have. And Barb, theoretically, a ref could work only boys all season and still work the final of the girls' tourney. I don't know if that has ever happened, but it's possible.