[tmp44]

As I've stated in a previous thread, I am both a student (senior) and the director of intramural basketball officials at my university (which I will leave nameless). My duties for this include being a Teaching Assistant for the Basketball Officiating class that my university offers. This is the only way that my university's Intramural Dept. can get referees for its basketball games (the same goes on for football in the fall). We currently have 118 teams, spread out over 23 divisions, and I have a total of 24 officials for all of this. Out of these 24 officials, 22 of them have never before put a whistle in their mouth. My job, along with the professor of the class, is to try to teach these students the very basics of officiating so that by 3 weeks into the spring semester, they can begin to work games. The class is held once a week for 1 hour. That means that I have 3 hours to attempt to show 22 people who have never heard of the trail position before how to officiate basically the equivalent of a high school varsity game. Besides the one credit that they get for taking the class, they get paid 6 dollars a game. That's right...6. Although none of this are in it for the money, I'm sure that many of us would have second thoughts about working a game for 6 dollars. Further, about half of these students are freshmen or sophomores, which means that the majority of the games they officiate are with fellow students who are older than them. That can be a tad intimidating at times.

In 3 years of being the head official/supervisor of officials, sure I've had my problems. Who wouldn't when 90% of the class has never put a whistle in their mouth before (btw, I am the only state licensed official to ever come through the program at my university, which is now 15 years in the making)? So I take great offense when someone who does not know the processes and hardships of training officials criticizes those same processes and people who do them.