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Originally Posted by JRutledge
One of the problems in our area is that officials often put all their eggs in one basket. They only want to work for a couple of guys that are close to them. If they tried to look at a broader area, they might not work more of a varsity schedule than they currently do. The best examples are guys directly inside of Chicago. Many of these guys only want to work one of the two leagues in the city limits. If they were willing to go outside of the city limits, they could easily work other games. But in many of their minds working 10 miles outside of the city is "too far" and they do not get games they would ordinarily be available for. Many times it is self-inflected on what they can or cannot do. And let us face it; all officials are not qualified to work a freshman game, let alone a varsity contest. And many of those officials are almost never realistic with what they can or cannot do.
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This is exactly my experience. When I started, I worked "exclusively" for one assignor. It seemed fine...he had a lot of leagues and a lot of games and I got a lot of assignments. Then I found I could never advance with him because he had a huge need for officials who could work the freshmen/JV doubleheaders that started at 3:30. When I asked for varsity games, he said he had none. He had never seen me work and he made it clear he was not interested in how many camps I attended or even in seeing me work.
We had a falling out three years ago because I pushed for varsity games. It forced me to find other assignors. One gave me varsity games immediately; another a mixed schedule; and the third a JV schedule with a promise that he would see me work to consider me for varsity. I now have a full varsity schedule...which is what I wanted. I have four assignors instead of one and I have to travel more than I would like some nights. But the trade-off has been worth it.