[stripes]

Originally posted by WinterWillie

It is political and you all know it. The association I belong to moved a new official to a full varsity schedule after only two years on the board. He was the son of the president of the association. My advice to xxssmen, after you brush up on your writing skills, learn how to BN- that is, if you are as good as your evaluators say you are-which by the way will be the indivduals that you are "leap frogging" over.(Look at it this way, would you like somebody "leap frogging" over you?) My experience in this avocation has been that someone with alot of personality seems to do very well because of the social interaction it requires to be judgmental without it seeming to be. Or in other words, the "my way or the highway"
mentality, seems to work against you as you move up. But, as you intimated before, it does help to know someone (as in mentor).

I will not say that politics do not come into play because they definitely exist and can have a real role in what happens to any one person.

OTOH, I can tell you from my personal experience in two state that you can get opportunities based soley on ability. I moved to a new state this year, into an association with well over 400 officials, I worked a full varsity schedule and will officiate the State 5A boys quarter finals tomorrow night. This is not said to pat myself on the back, but I moved to the state right before the season started (literally) so I had no time to network or get to know anyone prior to the season and I still got what I was looking for out of my schedule. IMO, ability has the most to do with what happens to you. None of us (myself included) are as good as we think we are. Cream does rise to the top.