[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

When I asked if the pool of grade school and high school officials should be kept separate, you said yes. I was just trying to determine how far you were willing to segregate officials.

I never said to "segregate" anyone. I said that you will have a different group working one level and a different group working another. Usually the very new officials start out at the grade school level and the veterans spend most of their time working. Now where I started officiating, the only reason officials were able to work because the IESA started in the fall and much of the season was over before the HS season had even got its legs. Now where I live where there are almost no IESA games and the JH seasons run with the HS seasons, you cannot do all levels unless you want to stay married or not piss off your children.

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

That's not entirely true. I've worked both girls and boys regionals, in the same season. Now, it is true once you are picked to move further, you cannot work both because they are happening simultaneously. But I know of several officials that have worked state championship games in both boys and girls, in different seasons.

M&M, I am not saying there are not people that work both, but there are many more officials in the area I live than in other parts of the state. Most officials do not work a full schedule of both. First of all they could not if they wanted to because officials have other obligations. Now in rural Illinois and where schools make the assignments, it is much more common and necessary to work both. Where I live, there are assignors that will not hire you on the Boy's side if you work Girl's games. Are there guys that work both? Yes, but they usually are not playoff Boy's officials or they work for the very few assignors that assign both (which is rare BTW) in a particular conference. I have even had assignors tip toe around the issue of asking me (and other officials) to work a girl's game and I have never made it know that I would never work a girl's game. They look at what I am already doing and come to a conclusion. Also when guys work the state finals, they do not do it in the same year (which is practically impossible with they way the games run). They do it years apart from each other and more and more this is become rare. If you look in the handbook, I can only remember one official that has worked a Class AA Boy's Final that has previously worked a Girl's Final. What you are saying might have been more common 10 years ago, but now it is very rare.

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

Well, I can't help but say the following: I'm not sure how it is where you live, but where I live (sorry ) that's not entirely the case. Many of the schools in our area hire their own officials, and many officials work both girls and boys varsity. Some AD's of the smaller schools almost require doing both. There are, of course, some officials that only work boys varsity by their own choice. There are also some class AA leagues that use an assignor, but I have seen officials that work both sides of those leagues as well.

Remember you asked what I feel it should be. You did not ask me what it is across the board. I gave you an opinion and I feel that way quite strongly. I also do not see many officials that can successfully make the transition.

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

I'm well aware of that. At least in college, there are different rules, mechanics and philosophies between the games. I suppose the prevailing thought is that in order to be good, you should concentrate on one or the other. As an official moves up in college, men's or women's, they are also encouraged to give up high school games for this reason.

Well I can tell you that many high level officials do not completely give up their roots in HS officiating if there are not major conflicts. Unless an official is working several D1 conferences and many still stick to HS ball on some level. All the D1 officials I know personally still work HS games. The only one I know that might not work a single HS game just worked his first NCAA Tournament game this year and is a HS assignor. Even he gets out and works a game or two to cover the schedule on his days off.

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

But, in HS, the rules and mechanics are the same; the only difference is the style of play. So, if you are a good official, shouldn't you be able to adjust to different styles of play? If you're only good enough to do the boys' style, and not the girls', maybe you're good enough to work the boys' game where they fast break and shoot 3's all night, but you're not good enough to adjust to the boy's game where they run set offenses all night, right? Is there any difference in how you interact with a boy's team's coach vs. a girl's team's coach? How specialized are you as an official? Or, are you just a good official? I'm not sure there are specific answers; each person might have different likes and dislikes - just something to think about.

Well the styles and expectations are a big factor if you ask me. I have found that a lot of girl's coaches expect little contact to be called and when you do not all hell break loose. If you call that kind of game in a boy's game (and conference factors as well) and will get run out of the entire league. Of course I could adjust, but many do not do it very well from my opinion. I hear that "adjust" point of view all the time but I do not see many successfully "adjust." I am also speaking from experience, because I worked both for several years. I cut back greatly on working girl's basketball not because it was hard to do, but the expectations that I had and the coaches wanted were not the same.

Here is another thing; we are never going to agree on this. If you feel you can do both you have a right to feel that way. I can tell you the people that are making decisions on who works what and when, do not agree with that point of view. I also do not go by what people say I go by what they do. Remember we have an assignor for girl's basketball and an assignor for boy's basketball. Robinson is not around anymore and the way things were done with Robby has changed. Unless something drastically changes in the current system, you will see fewer officials working both in this era. We must also make it clear that there is a huge difference between rural Illinois and metropolitan Illinois. Even in rural Illinois where some conferences have an assignor, I can tell you they do not just put anyone on the both sides very often. I still work games in some of those conferences and I have never been asked to ever work a girl's game and I never told anyone to not hire me on the girl's side.

Peace