Agreed with the original post. I'm brand-new at basketball, and just worked my first scrimmage this morning. 12 teams, 6 courts, 28 officials. I ended up working with a one of the guys from my varsity football crew for awhile. We had enough officials so that we could rotate in and out, and our association's clinician spent the first half of the scrimmage observing me and the others on my court and giving me tips and pointers when I was rotated out. If I'm lucky, I'll remember at least half of the pointers he gave me.
I was a bit nervous about officiating basketball... I haven't played in years. But I'm a lot more confident now.
I have no idea if we get paid or not, and I honestly couldn't care less at this point. I was there for the experience and mentoring, the money is irrelevant to me at this point.