[drothamel]

There has been some very good advice on this thread. I went to the Dale Kelley Camp in Dallas last year, and a camp in VA later that summer. They were very different camps. "Bring Pants," is very good advice. Perhaps even better is to find out from someone if you need pants or not.

The other, very valuable piece of advice that I will echo is "When in Rome. . ."

Take the Dale Kelley Camp, for instance. If you are a ref who wants to work in one of the MANY college conferences that Mr. Kelley assigns, you do whatever mechanics he wants you to do, period. If you have a major problem with the way he wants the game called, go find work in another conference. Besides getting hired, another good reason to try and incorporate different philosophies into your game is that it makes you a better official. Some of the things I heard at the Kelley Camp were completely opposite of what I heard in VA. While I was in Dallas, I tried to do what they wanted me to do, when I was in VA, I tried to do what they wanted me to do. Now, I can do either one, if I want. It helped make me a better official by opening my mind to different ideas and philosophies about officiating. This is important because I don't want to dismiss something out of hand just because it is something that I don't currently do. It also teaches you to be aware of what you are doing, and how to change some aspect of your game if you want.

One caveat, however, is that don't expect better assignments or more work just because you are doing what your supervisor says. It just isn't that simple; but I can assure you that if you don't do what those people want, you won't be doing anything.