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I worked a lot of youth rec league/weekend tournaments when I first started officiating. It was good experience and I made a lot of contacts that led to getting better games. When starting out, you just need to get the work and experience on the floor. I cut way back on these types of games after a few years once I had a full organized public school schedule and last year I only worked one weekend tournament as a favor to a guy who has given me a lot of games in the past (ejected a coach three minutes into the championship game). I just don't enjoy doing them anymore, the poor behavior by coaches and fans just isn't worth the 15-20 bucks a game. I know some very experienced guys who still work a lot of these games, but it is strictly for the money and they certainly give less than their best effort. This contributes to the problem because guys just want to get the game over with and don't force the coaches to behave. They just ignore them to "keep the game moving".
I worked mens rec games one time. Our association was asked to provide officials last March for a mens tournament of teams composed of police officers, firefighters and correctional officers. Worst experience of my life. Worked three games, had two fistfights, a number of ejections and more T's than I can recall. The biggest bunch of jerks I have ever seen on a basketball court. The VP of basketball for our association was there evaluating the officials and he apologized to all of us for taking the games. To top it all off, they stiffed us for part of the game fees. Took us about two months to get all of the money owed to us. I would never, ever work another mens league game, but everyone has their own pain threshold.
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