Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Aggie
While I agree that some expect it to happen more quickly than it should, you shouldn't have to wait 7 years to get a varsity game if you have even moderate ability. I wouldn't have stuck around that long for my first COLLEGE game, much less HS varsity. But I put in the work -- 100+ game years from year 2-6 or so and college camps starting after my second year. I went to those camps with my ears open and my mouth shut. I realize some younger officials don't do this or don't do enough of this.
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I'm curious to how old you are and when you got started.
Today I think 7 years is a long time. When I started it wasn't unusual and people weren't ready to throw in the towel just because they hadn't advanced to that level in 5-7 years. We worked in 2-person crews and there just weren't a ton of varsity slots available and, for the most part, those who held them were veterans who deserved them.
I'm not ashamed to say that I worked my first varsity game in year 7. I was a college student for 2 years, took 3 years off where I worked full time in another geography (and started again working the lowest level stuff -- and only sporadically), and then went back to college for 2 years and rejoined the same association. Not a lot of schools (rural area) and those who did the varsity games were established people, not temporary residents, like me.
It was year 9 before I worked a full varsity schedule, while I was in grad school in yet another geography.
After that I moved 4 more times in 6 years, concentrating on my day job and moving my career forward. I worked varsity schedules in those locations, but it's not like I established a foothold anywhere -- I worked one year in each of two locations, and then 3 years in another, before moving to my current home 14 years ago. Here we go out and get our own games and I worked about 20 varsity games my first season and haven't looked back, working at least 50-60 varsity dates annually.
It's not surprising to me that it took me 27 years in total to work my first state tournament. Next year is year 30 for me, but where I live they consider me a 15-year official.