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Originally posted by ChuckElias
Quote:
originally written by Brian Watson
Plus, it makes me want to vomit when I hear people tell rookies to work as much rec ball as possible, what a better place to learn your mechanics...but that is a different soapbox altogether.
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Brian, this is advice that I often give to new officials, so I'm honestly curious as to the reasons that have triggered your reverse peristalsis. Rut has often voiced his disdain for rec leagues; but my understanding is that, for him, "rec league" is synonomous with "adult league". Around here, rec leagues are mostly kids' leagues. We try to encourage our newer guys to do a lot of 13U and 11U basketball. I really believe that it's a great way to work on mechanics and put your rules' knowledge to the test. I know that it helped me when I was starting out. (The adult leagues are a different matter.)
What has your experience been? And would you tell us why you would discourage officials from working these kinds of games?
Thanks.
Chuck
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I think the big misunderstanding that many have with my comments are the fact that most below HS ball that is played through out the state of Illinois is under the supervision of schools. So kids that play basketball and many other sports for that matter play with the same kids they will go to HS with and play on the varsity team. So by a kids Senior year they have already played probably 6-8 years with each other.
Having said that, we do not have a major distiction between officials that do HS and officials that do Junior High or Grammar School ball. The only distiction that is made is the fact that you either do varsity or college and those that do not.
I always encourage young officials to do anything that has a structure and has some set rules and regulations. So that you are not dealing with officials and coaches and players that do not have to answer for their actions if they get out of line. The Illinois Elementary School Association is the below HS faction of the Illinois Sports Association. It works very similar like the IHSA, but it sactions the games at the Junior High levels and below. Most officials outside of the Chicagoland area do these games all the time and enjoy doing these games. Now the Chicago area, now that is a different story all together.
Peace