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Originally Posted by rainmaker
Could someone please bring these enlightened attitudes down here to our Neanderthal neck of the woods? We're lucky to have women refs working even the playoff games on the girls side. In fact, the way things go, we're lucky to have any women refs in high school at all.
Eeekk. Sorry, folks. This one pushed my buttons. It's been a very unpleasant summer politically. I promise not to rant again for at least a week or two. And to think seriously about switching up to Washington.
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Juulie, I hope you're not completely serious (read all this before you pass judgement on my statements).
While there have been few women make it to the tourney, there have been few qualified to pick from (and I have voted for all of them). The best upcoming women officials I've seen don't stick around long enough to even get on the ballot, much less get in a tourney. Look at all the men who went to the tourney this year: every single one of them has been officiating 15-20+ YEARS....you don't get there quickly....even as a male. I think I can count on one hand the number of females that are in the PBOA that have been officiating that long. Even the next 20-30 officials on the list have worked 10-15+ years. The women that do continue officiating often moved on to college ball or have moved away.
The typical good official (male or female) will be working 4-7 years in the PBOA before getting a varsity game (of any kind) much less a playoff game. Many promising officials (male or female) I've seen don't stick it out long enough to get there. They all want it today. If you look at our association of 350 people and realize that the number of varisty games we do accounts for only ~15% of the games, it becomes pretty clear that there are a lot of people not getting varsity games. Unless there are varsity officials leaving, you've got to be clearly better to take their games away from them, not just as good.
Also, if you look at the percentages of females in the association, they get a larger % of varsity games than thier actual numbers suggest. A female official gets varisty games well before a similarly skilled male official. You'll also notice that the percentage of females drops as the experience level goes up (larger percentage of females among newer members as compared to the older members). Put simply, many women come in, see few women officials at the top, and give up...not sticking around long enough to get women to the top and not realizing they were getting there faster than thier male peers.
When I see a newer official that stands out, I'll often tell the commissioner/assignor about it. I've done so for several over the years including several women. Not one of those women that I gave very positive feedback on stuck around more than 2-3 years while several of the men have. Where'd they go? I don't know but there were not here long enough to get anywhere.
All that said, there is a stong belief around the association that there are several officials just out of the tourney votes that are just as qualified as the last few to get in...the way popular votes often go. There are going to be changes in the tourney selection system that will mix things things up. Several more officials will now get a shot. In fact, I think it will guarantee that you'll see more women and minorities from the PBOA in the playoffs. I can think of at least 2 women that have never been to the playoffs that, under the proposed system, will likely be there within 3 years...probably at the girls 5A. Those two are also officials that have been around for many years.