To the Virginia officials ...
 

A board colleague of mine in Mass. (which is an IAABO state, FWIW), says he just (as in the last few weeks) made a move to to your state and already has a varsity schedule.

This marks the beginning of his third season (possibly 2nd?) and he has never done a varsity game. In fact, he has done very few high school games in general (10-15 at best; more likely single digits).

He is in his 20s, looks the part and is a voracious camp/clinic attender as well as a prolific summer official, though college assignors have so far declined to pick him up. He has average talent.

I know Va. is a large state and customs can vary from board to board, county to county, but does this seem plausible?

"Anything is possible" of course, but it struck me as odd that someone could so easily slide into varsity games in another state (particularly someone so inexperienced).

Thanks!

If the powers that be didn't ask for references and just asked him what level he felt he was at and ran with it, I could see this happening.

And if you're in a small enough area and hard up for officials, I could see this happening.

But most places, this is HIGHLY unlikely in my opinion.

Long time lurker, first time poster

I'm in Central VA and just accepted my first varsity assignment today. I'm in my second year of high school ball and don't think I'm anything special (I'm mainly doing this to stay close to the game), but I'm glad that my assigners think highly of me. Last year my schedule was middle and 9th grade with a few JV sprinkled in.

I don't think my association is particularly hurting for guys, but maybe that's the case. I don't really know

Depends what part of VA he is in. In Northern VA they have a couple evaluation games and they see what you got. For mine, you ref a game and tell them how long you've been in. There are quite a few associations (13), so it really depends who he is with.

I live in NVA and am in a very large Association (I caveat my comments by stating I am not on the Board and am stating what I observe, not what I know as exact fact).

IMO, it's tough to crack then V ranks here as there are a great many seasoned HS/College Officials in our ranks and not many vacancies to fill annually. We have a good many eager, young, good officials waiting for their opportunity. It's competitive. No shortage of officials here.

We have an extensive evaluation process for the junior officials and a camp (based on evaluations) to allow the F/JV officials to work their way up the ranks. Once these officials move up, they become "swing officials" - getting a game here and there when an opening happens due to a lot of games, illness, turn-back, etc.

We do get transfers in who are evaluated in the annual scrimmages, and if capable, can move right on in. I don't know how often it happens though, depends on the amount of openings I suppose. One of my partners last Tues (opening night) was a transfer from Texas and he had a BV game right out of the shoot.

I believe our officials are brought along at a fair pace (I'm sure if you asked some jr officials they would say it's too slow), and are seldom over their heads or thrown to the dogs at the V level due to a lack of capable officials.

Need a location.

Seems plausible. I went from doing my first CYO game on Dec. 8, 2012 to having 61 varsity games this year in my fourth season, all from working tons of summer ball and attending every camp I could find. That and reading The Official Forum. :D

By that description ... doesnt sound like anyone we have here in the Shenandoah Valley

The real test will be to see his schedule next season.

In some of the rural more spread out areas, they have had a tough time getting quality refs over the last several years when the move from 2 man to 3 along with the fact that Class A and AA girls bball was moved from fall to winter, coinciding with boys seasons. Too many games on same nights depletes the roster. The "better" refs get the better games and the others are left with the less experienced officials. Travel costs can sometimes exceed game fees, so some of the older, more experienced have just called it quits. Getting into one of these areas with any kind of ability could land you some varsity assignments quickly, although as someone else said, it will be obvious if a person is not ready for that level and he might get bumped back to JV to clean up some stuff.

At our last association meeting we were being lectured by the assignor for our blocks and "cherry picking games" (seems quite a few members are members of multiple associations and are turning back games if they get a "better" game from someone else).

Since we are in our first heavy tournament period we have a lot of games to fill. One night there were so few officials available the assignor had to give someone their first varsity game...it was the 4th game he has ever called.

Just depends on the area, the number of games to fill and the pool of available talent.

What does a varsity schedule mean? There is a world of difference between varsity skill levels. I've seen varsity teams that would lose by 100 points to a strong freshman club. Just getting a varsity game really doesn't tell me anything.

+1

This is an interesting point. Happened a lot in the pre-internet era of assigning, but decreased when assignors gravitated to the monopoly that we know of as Arbiter. Now that Arbiter is experiencing some competition from other applications, it stands to reason that the "game-shopping" problem is on the rise again.

Integrity. If you accept an assignment, honor it. If you're lucky, your assignor has a policy where if you're offered an upgraded game, all you have to do is contact him/her to ask for relief. Good assignors are happy to provide relief if they have replacements available.

Game-shopping and turnbacks, without approval, are a reputation killer. Your short-term gain will turn into a long-term loss.

Some good points, especially reputations being at stake.

I'm wondering why this is such an issue. If you block a lot of people, you don't get games. If you send games back, you don't get games. If you're arbiter is up to date then take what you get.

I also don't believe in blocking partners. It's so rare for there to actually be a good reason. I guess some association may have a ton of people with freakishly horrible social skills who just block everyone. No games for you.

(Here's my rant for the week as an assigner who also has 5 games of his own this week as well as a full-time day job.)

Know what your assigner sees as an "upgrade."

I recognize all these things are local, but...

For me "varsity basketball game" is a class upon itself. Someone wanting to get off to work bigger schools, boys versus girls, or closer to home....is going to find themselves not working for me for long. Same for those who drop me for college games without asking me first or bringing me a qualified sub. I want you to work your college game, but don't expect me to assign the same game TWICE. I get paid to assign it ONCE.

I had a partner tell me "something came up" last year. I drove my hour plus to my game and on the way home stopped for a bite. Watching the highlights, I saw that original partner working at another school closer to home. When I assigned my conference last summer, one of my officials listed him as a preferred partner (I tend to hire crews when I can) and I said, "Find someone else."

Just this week I've dealt with:

(1) A crew on Monday saying, "Sorry for the short notice, but we have a college game on Thursday and won't be able to work your game..." No subs, no "is this OK" from them, nothing. Just...."here you go"

With most of the area working 3-person crews now, few good officials have nights off. It's harder to find subs than it was just a few years ago.

(2) A crew double-booked and dumped my game 2 days before it was due to be played. They signed my contract 9 months before the other one and "just realized" that they were double booked. Then they told me that the other assigner told them that he really needed them and since I didn't say anything, they were going with that game. How could I say anything? I found out they were double booked from OTHER PEOPLE who called me to let me know -- I didn't find out from them until the next day.

A small minority of officials think that their schedule is the only thing in the world and that I sit at their beckon call to find replacements when they feel like not working. People that are high maintenance like that could be the best damned officials in the world, and I am much better off without them.

As an assigner, I would rather have a reliable average official than a great one who gets rid of half my games.

Good rant Rich and well said!

I always feel badly for my Assignor when it snows and schools are closed, especially for multiple days, and he has to re-assign a lot of games - especially toward the end of the season when time gets compressed due to playoffs. Of course, that's why you get paid the BIG $$$!

Good luck the rest of the yr.

Well, I live in Virginia. It's about a $22-25/game difference and means you are working 3-man instead of 2-man.

A good reason not to have contracts for individual games signed 9 months in advanced. No way in the world would my personal schedule allow me to know that far in advance that I will be available on that particular date. That's especially impossible to do for anybody who works college games as we start getting our schedules in October and are still receiving games through November.

Weird payment system if 3man V gets 22-25 more per official than 2man JV

That's normal as far as I know. Don't know of any place that pays the same for JV as it does for Varsity.

I agree with Rich's views. In our area there are three high school associations. All have agreed that if an official has dual membership they must declare it to everyone. There are discussions going in with our board that we will not allow membership in another high school association and if it is discovered that a member turned back a game to work what they perceived to be a better game from someone else we will pull the remainder of their high school schedule.

Seems like it is becoming a significant problem.

I didn't say the same. It's 3man verse 2man

I second the comments of my colleague from another part of this great Commonwealth.

For my schools, the 2 JV officials get $20 less than the 3 varsity officials do. I would like to see that difference be *greater*, not smaller.

Except they picked a different varsity game over mine. No excuse for that at all.

Our system is just different here. I assigned 2016-17 this past July. I leave some openings for transfers and people I see at camps, etc. but not many.

I'm happy to work with college officials. I know what they bring to the table and most of them work a dual schedule. But a small minority want to accept games and then at the last minute dump them in my lap thinking that I'll just deal with it because they're too good to fire.

I have to get off games as my day job requires occasional travel. I always find a sub and give that name to the assigner with my apologies. Now, it's just a matter of sending out a replacement contract, updating my master schedule, and notifying the school -- something I can do in about a minute.

per official or overall cost?

Per official.

Around here, too many people are happy to work JV close to home (the schools assign those games themselves), never get better, never advance....make their money and be home by 7:30PM. I can't remember the last time I saw a JV official stay and even watch the first half of my game.

Wasn't thinking along this line, well said.

I've only blocked one person. It isn't because he is a bad official. In fact, he is one of our best. I blocked him because of some extremely unprofessional behavior he demonstrated in game where he went out to buy a bus, drove it onto the court, and proceeded to run it back and forth over me, then got out and threw the keys at me.

I had one of those moments once.

Why?

Our schools don't even have their games figured out until Sept/Oct just before the season. Even if they had then ready earlier, this isn't like scheduling astronauts for shuttle missions. 1-2 months ahead of the game should be plenty. I, as an official, would hate to have to commit to a specific Tuesday night for HS ball game 2 years away. That seems like it is skewed very much against the officials and very much for the assignors.

I'm not so sure you want to do that...unless you want to risk being classified as an employer. Controlling workers associations and putting limits and conditions like this are one of the tests the IRS uses to determine IC/employee status. Now would someone test it? Doubtful. But is it a risk you want to take?

Different sport...but I have two schools that sent me contracts for spring 2017 this past summer. I have several more that will send me contracts for the next year's corresponding date the week after I work a contest. I don't think it's that they are any more organized. Their preferred timeline in just different.

I never turn one back because I got something better. And I can't remember the last time I had to turn one back for any reason. I came close a couple years ago when I got called as an alternate for the grand jury and one of our court dates was the same as a contest. I told him the situation and he understood. Luckily, the "regulars" showed up for jury duty and I was able to go back to work.

To the Virginia officials ...
 

Your system is just different. It's not necessarily better.

And I do our sport schedules, not the schools, so the schedules are always 2 years in advance. It's what's expected here.

I'd be happy to schedule officials later. But when all the other assigners schedule in advance I lose the ability to hire the better officials.

BTW, I have a game scheduled for February 2018. I probably won't get to 17-18 till next summer.

We actually do that where I'm currently at....and yes, that same thought has crossed my mind. Independent contractors under union-like control are inherently dependent. Red flags all over if someone ever has the desire and resources to challenge it.

And that is the reason...a race to get them covered before others. It is really entirely unnecessary, but the way it is.

Our football schedules are generally not assigned. Schools contact directly with crews and usually do it as soon as they contract the games. That means it often starts 4-5 years out. Our crew already has three games scheduled for 2020.

Wow, 2-3 years out? We're lucky to get 2-3 days out for our first wave of games.

Hoop season around here starts THIS WEEK and we don't have our assignments yet!

This is just stupid. Your entire crew could be dead in 2020. There is no way anyone can reasonably be expected to make a commitment to a particular day 4+ years in advance, especially for something as trivial as officiating a high school sporting event.

This is freaking ridiculous as well. There is no way the assignor is still waiting to find out where and when the games for next week are going to be. The fact that he cannot get assignments out at this stage is just plain laziness.

I agree with that too. At least a month, but no more than 2-3 is about right.

I'll get my January schedule the week of Christmas....

My "regular" job is one that schedules week-to-week (hey, I'm only 23!). I have a relatively consistent schedule, but sometimes I have to work the odd shift that I'm not expecting because that's just how it is. So every week is a constant sweat between "can I work my job?" or "can I accept my games/what dates do I block on Arbiter this week?"

For football I got my assignments at least two weeks in advance. For baseball I got damn near my entire schedule before the season even started. Is basketball honestly that much more difficult? I'm not an assignor, so I really don't know.

And yet it sounds like they are.

My problem with some officials is this -- they know they have a conflict well in advance but wait till the last minute to address it. Surely those college officials knew they had a game on Thursday before they contacted me on Monday.

Is there a difference in the way those sports are "organized" in your area?

The farther out an assigner assigns, the more work s/he'll have to do twice (schedule changes /turnbacks).

The closer in an assigner assigns, the greater risk the the officials he wants will be busy.

Where the "sweet spot" is depends on the assigner and how many other assigners are working in the same area. For example, I think the three closest high schools to my house have three different boys assigners and three different girls assigners. The two closest colleges have different assigners. So I could work for eight different people and not travel more than about 4 miles each way.

In other areas, someone might work for only one assigner the entire season.

Unless they received a last minute assignment which happens to me at least once a year.

But I've never known college assignors to keep a HS crew together as a college crew. Of course, the concept of permanent crews is totally foreign around these parts

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I've not been a part of college basketball, but I did work college baseball the last 10 years. I'd simply tell my college assigner that I was already working. Then again, I didn't live for working college games, so I get that's probably just me.

I have other college officials -- they always find subs for themselves and offer those names to me when turning back dates. Around here, that's the polite thing to do. Especially if you wish to keep getting assignments.

Frankly, if I assign a college official 8 dates and they end up turning back 6 of them, I'm just better off not using that person at all. It's nothing personal, really.

I don't "live for college ball" and I hate that folks characterize good officials who strive to work a certain level with that negative connotation. I also do not live to be at the beck and call of any of my supervisors, and luckily I no longer have any supervisors who think an official should always be available no matter what. I work to be the best official I can be, and the benefits have been being hired by multiple supervisors to work college ball as well as having 2 HS supervisors who like having me work games for them.

Here assignors do not want officials volunteering names for replacement, some even get upset about it. Turn your game back as soon as you realize you need to do so, and the assignor will find the replacement.

Also, every supervisor I work for, 6 college/2 HS, allows officials to turn back games for higher level games without penalty or repercussion (college over HS; D3 and up over JuCo; D2 and up over D3; D1 over D2). They realize their better officials are the guys who are trying to move up and they have enough officials to fill slots. Also, 7 of my 8 supervisors work or have worked college ball in their careers and fully understand the concept of moving up, as they did it themselves. They only get upset when officials fail to close out their dates and then turn back games because "I forgot I had a previous commitment". That will cost officials games, and understandably so.

Don't get me wrong - I never hold back someone who wants to work at the next level. Unfortunately some think the "next level" includes a boys game over a girls game or a bigger HS conference than the one I assign.

All I'm saying is that if an official turns back 75% of his assignments because he's getting that many college dates, it becomes too much work for me, then. I can still use the person to pick up last minute stuff and changes on open nights, but I just won't put them on the schedule.

And here I want names of subs given to me -- although I reserve the right to use that sub or not. If I don't, then I'm on the hook to find a replacement.

Not My Cup Of Tea ...
 

Our local assignment commissioner gets $29,925.00 a season to assign regular season, and conference/league playoff games, for about seventy high schools; boys, and girls; varsity, junior varsity, freshman; and a few middle schools (assistant assignment commissioner gets an additional $2000.00 to assign scrimmages).

I don't think that I would do it for double the money, too many headaches trying to please athletic directors, and 320 officials. Rescheduled games, inclement weather, injured, or ill officials, turnbacks, Arbiter information not kept updated, availability issues (especially for late afternoon freshman, and middle school games), etc.

No thank you.

I've already got a full high school schedule for next year. I'll start getting contracts for 2017-18 around May of 2016

And that is probably the difference that drives the extreme early assigning.

Here, in Oregon, there is just 1 HS assignor per area. That is the way it is organized. A person can work for 2 or more but they will not be in the same metro area. A few work in adjacent towns.

There are not that many college assignors either. In the surrounding 100 miles, there are 2 f or men and 2 for women. With the much lower population density, there are simply fewer colleges to be assigned.

All of them, including the one I worked for assign in the fall for that season. They expect that if you have a HS game, you'll take their game over it. The HS assignor expects to lose officials to college assignments but also expects that he be notified as soon as you know about the college assignment.

All of them expect that if your calendar is open, you will take a game they offer you. If you have your calendar blocked, they don't expect you to take anything.

It would be absolutely impossible for me to work under that system. And it also causes super high percentage of turn backs by college officials who don't get their schedules until October/November of the impending season.

Rich,

Seems like such a headache to assign games so early. Around here for varsity they assign each month 1-2 months in advance. Never really been a problem and I've never swapped games. There are exceptions when an assigners work it out among themselves, "Can I borrow so and so for this varsity game; I have JV officials 1&2 I can give you."

How does that work? Officials can now be traded between associations/assignors?

You asked a question and answered it, not really sure what kind of answer you want. I can guess!

This situation happened to me so I'll use it.

On a Saturday we have high school games, men's league, YMCA kids who didn't make their team.

I blocked Saturday after getting assigned 5 nights in a row. YMCA assigner asked if I could work a couple games for him since he was having a hard time filling slots. "Sure"

Varsity official gets injured Friday night and the game starts early the next day. Head assigner calls the YMCA guy and asks if he can use me and he'll find him someone else. YMCA guy agrees.

I agree to swap, problem solved.

YMCA guy should have worked harder filling that slot he originally gave you since the HS guy was able to find someone to work YMCA.

Sounds those 2 assignors are part of the same association. Around here assignors assign games for their association. A rival association wouldn't know my schedule nor would they be able to utilize my services asking my assignor to loan me out.

They are part of an association and then also do their own stuff. So yeah, you're right.

Southern California:
Each association has a specific geographic area they are responsible for covering.Officials are allowed to cross associations by paying the appropriate fee and since everything here is done on Arbiter each assignor you work for can see your schedule