[BillyMac]

In the past, our local board provided officials for high school scrimmages at no cost to the schools. Maybe we got $10, or $20, or a T-shirt, or a slice of pizza, or a sandwich, but that was up to the individual school, athletic director, or coach. Those officials that didn't like working for free didn't sign up for scrimmages. That left a lot of scrimmages for officials like me, those of us that don't work between March and November, to get out onto the court, work out the kinks, and prepare for the season. I would sometimes work up to a dozen scrimmages before the "real" season started, and I felt that I was fully prepared for those "real" games.

This will be the first year that we will fully implement our new policy of working paid scrimmages that will be assigned by our commissioner. In the past we weren't assigned scrimmages, we simply signed up for the scrimmages that we wanted to work. We will get paid $50 per official for a six period scrimmage that lasts up to two hours. I have two concerns. One, is that some schools, in these tough economic times, will cut back on scrimmages. Many schools here in Connecticut have already cut back their freshman, and middle school, schedules to save money. My second concern is that all of our 300 members will be assigned scrimmages, which will cut down on the number that I will eventually be assigned. I don't know how many scrimmages I will eventually get, but I know it won't be anywhere near the number that I've worked in the past.