[JRutledge]

Let me give you a football analogy for a second (let us take gender out of it for a minute).

In my state we have 8 football classes. Class 8A is the largest class with the largest schools involved. It is widely thought of in football that if you are used to working the lower classes if football, that it is a bigger adjustment to move to the higher classes and call the game appropriately. Also the higher the class, the more likely you are going to see players that will become the Division 1 players. So the higher the level, the better the ball, and the better the officials need to be. In basketball we have two classes (that will change to 4 in 2007-2008). Even in on the boy's side, the better officials are seen to be the Class AA officials, largely because the players that are going to get recruited and play at the Division 1 level. When I started my basketball career, it was easier to work a Class A boy's schedule and much easier to work a girl's varsity schedule than it ever was to work Class AA Boy's. Even within Class AA Boy's there is a tier system and working certain conferences have more prestige than working others. No different than it is at the college level. Working the Big Ten or ACC brings more attention and accomplishment than working the Missouri Valley, Horizon or Sun Belt Conferences. Fair or not, we are always going to make these distinctions and the levels we work will help judge our abilities as officials whether we like it or not.

Peace