Quote:
Originally posted by JRutledge
If it were me, all girls and women's games would be officiated by women. The problem is that there are not enough women to cover those games. Just like men are more inclined to be involved in sports, it filters into the officiating ranks too. I completely understand, I just feel that men should not be doing girls games for the most part. But that is just my opinion.
Quote:
Originally posted by LadyRef
My reply was to BigDave, not you. He questioned if the best officials were getting promoted because those promoted were African-American men and women. But since you mentioned a few things, let me say this. I, too, am an official in Chicago. I, too, am an African-American. As a matter of fact, I work a good deal of girls and boys varsity games in the Chicago Public League and just as many varsity games in the North Shore, Western Suburbs and Northwest Suburbs. The assignors (all two of them) who assign the Chicago Public League are contracted with Chicago Public Schools/Board of Education. They do not assign on behalf of the Association, rather they assign on behalf of Chicago Public Schools. There has been on occasion, white officials who have attended association meetings. In fact, it was this same association (predominantly African-American) that took a white man down state to work the girls state tournament. You also mentioned Women's basketball and women officials being considered over men. Which gender do you think is given preferential consideration in men's basketball?
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I might have met you. I am not sure but I did go to a couple of meetings of the MOA. Could you please email me so I can find out for sure?
[Edited by JRutledge on Nov 27th, 2000 at 11:40 PM]
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I can't say for sure if we met. I am a member of other associations as well. I won't go so far to say that only women officials should do girls and womens game. I agree, too, that the number of women officials is scarce. On the other hand, the competition among men officials to gain promotion is easier on the girls/womens side of b-ball as opposed to the boy/mens side. There are a number of male officials who prefer to work the boys/mens side, but have opted to work the other gender because the competition is either less competitive or at best, non-existent. This is my second year in obtaining a boys varsity schedule. I asked the assigner if my gender as a factor. He indicated to me that my work ethic, knowledge of the rules, dedication, professionalism, and my ability to get up and down the court, were factors he took into consideration. I am not the first woman to get a boys schedule--there are 5 of us women. We train in the off-season, go to camps, study game film, read, etc. Two of the five have already done state tournaments and hopefully, another one of us will be assigned. All of this is not to boast about how good I think we but rather to say we don't sluff-off. Every game to us is a big game.