I work for multiple assignors and this year I have shown up for my High School games at least 45 minutes prior to start time for every game. I have been fortunate that all of my games assigned this year were close to the Interstate and I could get to them quickly.
I always carry all of my gear and extra uniforms.
More than once this year my partner has shown up late, as in 5 or 10 minutes of start time. Once it was after the plate meeting (traffic held him up).
I still try to do some type of pre-game conference.
At least once I refused to go onto the field until my partner changed his shirt and I had to let him use one of my spares.
I have had partners that looked like they just came from a drinking binge and acted like it too.
I have reported these occurrences to the assignors along with the specifics.
More and more I am running across people who state they are only there for the money and don’t want to cause any problems and when the games start they constantly only make the ”safe” calls. I have had veteran officials state that they no longer care what they are doing and are only there for the money. This is occurring at top level games as well as the “REC” level.
I primarily do Varsity level with a couple of JV and one or two Freshmen games every year. I never complain about game assignments as I am usually having fun at every game I work.
I am at a loss as to why this is happening.
I have also noticed that as I get older, the average age of those officiating keeps increasing.
