Recruitment and Retention of Officials

[crosscountry55]

Me three. Active duty military: 8 years officiating (when I'm not deployed), 6 different states. With one exception (kudos to Kansas!), I was pretty much relegated to the bottom or near bottom each time.

Assignors needing to observe officials via camps and scrimmages is fair. You don't buy a new car without test-driving it. But $250 for an association HS camp? Gimme a break. It should be free or at the very most have a nominal fee to cover expenses (pizza, handouts, and maybe a few bucks for the observers' time). If you left the game because a $250 straw of greed broke the camel's back, I can't really say I blame you.

[lewpert]

My point to the OP that I didn’t make succinctly is, once you get your younger crop cultivated work with the state association. It’s their high schools, they should be going to games & providing feedback to the officials & the assigners. Don’t let assigners that try to extort money for games ruin or frustrate kids working their way up. It does no good to recruit if you can’t retain.
As for me, I didn’t leave the game because of $250, I left the game when it became apparent that greasing the correct skids meant more than ability on the court. Integrity should still stand for something, especially in the officiating fraternity.

[johnny d]

Originally Posted by lewpert

My point to the OP that I didn’t make succinctly is, once you get your younger crop cultivated work with the state association. It’s their high schools, they should be going to games & providing feedback to the officials & the assigners. Don’t let assigners that try to extort money for games ruin or frustrate kids working their way up. It does no good to recruit if you can’t retain.
As for me, I didn’t leave the game because of $250, I left the game when it became apparent that greasing the correct skids meant more than ability on the court. Integrity should still stand for something, especially in the officiating fraternity.

Perhaps my experience has been different, but I wouldn't calling it greasing the right skids. When I was trying to work high school ball, I knew I was going to have to attend each assignors camp if I wanted to work games in their leagues, and that practice continued at the college level. Every level or conference I wanted to work in I knew what was involved and that the best and in many cases the only way to get in to that league or level was attend the right camps. Did you really expect to get games without going to the assignors or associations camp?

[Dad]

Originally Posted by johnny d

Perhaps my experience has been different, but I wouldn't calling it greasing the right skids. When I was trying to work high school ball, I knew I was going to have to attend each assignors camp if I wanted to work games in their leagues, and that practice continued at the college level. Every level or conference I wanted to work in I knew what was involved and that the best and in many cases the only way to get in to that league or level was attend the right camps. Did you really expect to get games without going to the assignors or associations camp?

I honestly hate this kind of system. I got D2 games before I had my first varsity game in my first association. I got lucky getting into an amazing association my second time around. Earning varsity games is a must, imo. Going through hoops that aren't good identifiers of good officials is silly.

[johnny d]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Me three. Active duty military: 8 years officiating (when I'm not deployed), 6 different states. With one exception (kudos to Kansas!), I was pretty much relegated to the bottom or near bottom each time.

Assignors needing to observe officials via camps and scrimmages is fair. You don't buy a new car without test-driving it. But $250 for an association HS camp? Gimme a break. It should be free or at the very most have a nominal fee to cover expenses (pizza, handouts, and maybe a few bucks for the observers' time). If you left the game because a $250 straw of greed broke the camel's back, I can't really say I blame you.

Are you serious? Perhaps $250 is a bit much for a high school camp, but why should they be free or nearly free? When you work a game you expect to get paid, why wouldn't the clinicians and camp organizers expect to get paid for their time and effort as well?

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by lewpert

...At the end of the season I was told by two assignors that I would need to attend their camps if I wanted to get better/more games from them. Really, pay upwards of $250 so I can get games in your conferences while they pocket the $$$ from the camps I’m doing games in. After 24 years that was more than I could tolerate. Now I pay my $5, sit in the stands & enjoy the games while those poor zebras, that paid good coin to attend the “good old boys” camps, struggle on the floor. Sorry, until the state associations step in & provide some modicum of sanity, good officials are going to walk away. I love the game; I played it, coached it & officiated it; now I just watch it.

Originally Posted by Dad

I hate to hear about this kind of stuff. Hope you continue to enjoy the game, bud.

Luckily for those that move here (Portland, OR), they can almost jump in where they left off. They'll have to do a half-dozen or so games at the JV level and do some paperwork to go through the process but, if they're truly capable, they'll be doing varsity, and even some pretty good varsity in some cases, within a few weeks. The only trouble for some is that the claims of their abilities are sometimes above reality or maybe they were a top official where they came from but they moved from somewhere with really weak officials.

[Dad]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

Luckily for those that move here (Portland, OR), they can almost jump in where they left off. They'll have to do a half-dozen or so games at the JV level and do some paperwork to go through the process but, if they're truly capable, they'll be doing varsity, and even some pretty good varsity in some cases, within a few weeks. The only trouble for some is that the claims of their abilities are sometimes above reality or maybe they were a top official where they came from but they moved from somewhere with really weak officials.

So if I ever move back to Portland I'll get good games. Good to know!

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Me three. Active duty military: 8 years officiating (when I'm not deployed), 6 different states. With one exception (kudos to Kansas!), I was pretty much relegated to the bottom or near bottom each time.

Assignors needing to observe officials via camps and scrimmages is fair. You don't buy a new car without test-driving it. But $250 for an association HS camp? Gimme a break. It should be free or at the very most have a nominal fee to cover expenses (pizza, handouts, and maybe a few bucks for the observers' time). If you left the game because a $250 straw of greed broke the camel's back, I can't really say I blame you.

If you move that much, you can't really expect too much. They have to have a chance go observe you before you can expect to move very high. Sounds like you kept moving before they had a chance to move you through their system. Moving up to where you belong can happen, and should in a reasonable time, but even 1 season in a new area isn't that out of line in order to qualify to move up. It isn't like they made you start over on a 5+ year process to move up....or did they tell you that?

[crosscountry55]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

If you move that much, you can't really expect too much. They have to have a chance go observe you before you can expect to move very high. Sounds like you kept moving before they had a chance to move you through their system. Moving up to where you belong can happen, and should in a reasonable time, but even 1 season in a new area isn't that out of line in order to qualify to move up. It isn't like they made you start over on a 5+ year process to move up....or did they tell you that?

First couple states/associations I was new, so no issues there. Of the subsequent four, two basically made me start the process from scratch and could have cared less about my résumé or what they saw from camps/clinics. Kansas....awesome. Went to camps, got fair evaluations over the summer, and got a full varsity schedule on year #1. The last state (the one I'm in now) was a little like what you described in Portland, except instead of six weeks of JV ball it was basically a whole season of it. I kind of felt like I was being "used" to cover the JV schedule because I was new and there weren't many JV officials to go around. Fortunately that problem has eased the last two years, but there is still a mix of JV games in my schedule that are hard to shake. On the bright side, I've had a chance to mentor some young officials which is rewarding. So all in all not a bad schedule; I'm not complaining.

I hope when I retire I can do like BNR and stay in jealousy-inducing physical shape while finally establishing solid roots somewhere.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

I hope when I retire I can do like BNR and stay in jealousy-inducing physical shape while finally establishing solid roots somewhere.

I wish my stomach was in as good of shape as my lungs Video is unforgiving. But thanks.

I contribute my late in life success to be willing to learn new tricks. I absorb game mgmt from the vets, but everything I do physically (running/positioning/movement/table presentation) on the court is emulating what I see the up and comers doing, especially the young D-League types.

And I know there is some controversy with the 2 most prominent officials who reside on the Southside, but those 2 know how to teach.

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[Lcubed48]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

I wish my stomach was in as good of shape as my lungs Video is unforgiving.

I agree. Yes, the camera doesn't like me either. I feel your pain. LOL!

FYI - make sure that you hit the hospitality room today. I left plenty.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Lcubed48

I agree. Yes, the camera doesn't like me either. I feel your pain. LOL!

FYI - make sure that you hit the hospitality room today. I left plenty.

Going up earlier than usual specifically for that

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