[Indy_Ref]

2 Tournaments in Indiana: 1 boys & 1 girls

4 levels in each tournament: sectionals, regionals, semi-state, state

An official must get voted into the tournament via a YES/NO vote. "Yes" vote is worth 1 point "no" vote is -2 points. Every year there are a openings in each tournament. There are usually 10-20 openings in the girls' tournament and about 2-10 openings for the boys' tournament. Any official who is certified can apply to get into each tournament. There are usually 120+ new tournament officials who apply each year. You have to be in the top "X openings" number of rankings to get in (i.e. if there are 10 openings, you must rank 10th or better out of all the applying officials to get in!)

Once in, an official must do 3 sectionals before being eligible for a regional; 3 regionals to be eligible for semi-state; and 3 semi-states to be eligible for the state. These games do not have to come in successive years...just 3 total. Once an official does a state game, he/she must start over. HOWEVER, they only have to spend ONE year at each level the next time through. We used to limit officials to 3 states for each gender, but that has been revoked. Now, you can go as many times as you can make it.

So, there are usually 256 officials who work each tournament. After your first year, you must stay ranked higher than the bottom 5% or you go back into the "yes/no" pool. That means the bottom 12-14 officials get booted and go back onto the "yes/no" list.