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Originally Posted by Robert Goodman
Youth football scrapes the bottom of the barrel for officials for several reasons, all related to money. One is that the scholastic programs outbid them money-wise for personnel. Another is that conditions are poor, with small crews, poorly marked fields, and uncertain times. By the latter I mean the start of games may be delayed because of a need to wait for the field to become available, but on the other hand forfeits are not uncommon. You may wind up with a game ending in near darkness, have to deal with people who wander thru the field because they don't realize a game is under way, be asked to enforce many local variant rules, all sorts of conditions that wouldn't come up often in scholastic ball.
Robert
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Fortunately for me, there is a huge youth league here that contacts with the association I belong to. The league is well managed, well funded and for the most part, is kept in control. We have the occasional issue, especially with teams from certain cities that are poorly managed but we have a great relationship with the league. In turn, the league provides a great place for newer officials to build and refine their officiating skills. Due to the quality of the league, there are many veteran officials that don't mind working there so we are able to facilitate a good learning experience and knowledge transfer. To top it off, the quality of play is actually pretty good with many of the teams from the oldest age group being better than quite a few high school freshman teams.