I am getting too old.
 

I guess I did not ask this the right way. Are officials willing to do both? I could not stomach doing two different sports at the same time. That is why I have never signed up for volleyball (which the girls play in the fall). I would think that trying to do both would be a bit overwelming at times. I did one game on Thursday and Friday, a double header today, I will be doing a double header tommorrow and for some silly reason I am doing a game on Monday. I know for a fact by Sunday, I will be worn out. I am tired now. I could not see myself doing basketball, then turning around and doing a football game the next day. I am not getting any younger, but these kids stay the same age. ;)

Peace

Re: I am getting too old.
 

Rut,
Football officiating, unless yer the white hat seems, like a stroll in the park; in fact it usually is in the park.
...Let the coaches be verbal, can't hear the fans, a minute or more rest between plays, call a violation... or not. The hardest part has to be finding your bean bag!

Quite a few guys cross-dress U.P. here. Some guys work an afternoon JV football game and stay in that town to work the girls varsity game.

...And it ain't your age that's making you tired, buddy. It's the hours you're keepin'. Priorities are priorities.

mick

Mick,

I was really not talking about the difficulty, but the wear and tear on someone's body to do both. Football really is not that easy. The game is a lot harder on your mind. Many more rules to understand and to think about. And being a white hat, my job is not the hardest on the field. I just report fouls most of the time, I do not always have something myself. But I would think guys would not want to run around on a football field and do the same on a basketball court a day or hours later on a regular basis.

Actually sometimes dealing with coaches can be much harder in football than it ever is in basketball. There are times in a football game you cannot get away from them. So in order to cope and not have hankys flying all over the place, you have to develop your communication skills and your people skills. You can take a lot of heat as a wing for things you do not understand or you did not see. It is not a cake walk by any means.

Peace

JRutledge
 

I agree with you. I had a football rec league game yesterday and was on the winning team's sideline and STILL caught hell all game long. That team was winning 46-0.


The Coaches are right there and you can't get away. Lots of rules and lots of things happening. The Coaches think they have an advantage because they know the key parts (i.e. blocks, movements etc. ) of their plays, so they concentrate on that, while we look at everything. When that key aspect doesn't happen as plan "Hey Ref he's holding, clipping, blocking in the back on and on and on".


Side Note: I had to work a flag game (6-8 yr olds) ALONE for the first half. (First time, so A Fish out of Water) I act like I knew what I was doing and it worked. No penalties the first half, lets get this over.

Typical Michigan Schedule..
 

Here is (what I believe) could be a typical August-November schedule for many Michigan officials in my area, that do 2 sports during the same season. Please remember that these days are all available, but most that I know would be hard pressed to work it all. FED only here.
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday - girls basketball (middle school, JV, varsity)
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - football (same as above)
Saturday (could be either.)
Typical December - March.
Monday, Wednesday - Volleyball
Tuesday,Thursday, Friday - boys basketball
Saturday - either.
Not everyone can do all of this. It would be way too much for me. This is just what is available.
Mick.. any comments?

Re: Typical Michigan Schedule..
 

Lotsa officials U.P. here.

Wednesdays are open for those interested in religious evenings.
Saturdays are not used except for football.

You forgot XC! ...I'm goin' to Brooklyn in November. ;)
You forgot Hockey nights opposite Boys hoops.
We have <s>cross</s> happy-dressers in each of those.
mick

Re: Re: Typical Michigan Schedule..
 

Oops.. I knew I missed a couple of sports.
We are a little low on football numbers 'round here.

The reason I asked......
 

We have guys that do volleyball as well as football. But in volleyball you are not running constantly and the games go by much faster. But that is still rather rare to see an official commit so much time to both sports. We even have soccer in the fall for the boys, but I hardly know anyone that does both. The time committment is one thing, but the running around several days a week has to be torture at times. And we have not even talked about the mental strain you go thru getting yelled at for several days. Even during the basketball season, I can usually only stand working 3 days a week. One of the reasons I try to only do boys games. Most boy's games are on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. And that is all varsity. I could work Mondays and Saturday mornings doing JV and Freshman games, but I cannot do that ever week. With all my work committments and officiating schedule, you are exhausted when Sunday comes around. Now during the baseball season I can work 6 days a week and do, but I can almost guarantee half of those games will be cancelled due to weather. And at least in baseball I am not willing to do the same travel as the other sports. Our baseball season starts really in late March, when many the games are cancelled and goes thru the middle of May. The season is really not that long and if you do a lot of games it does not seem that long before it is over. Almost like the football season, short and sweet. But in baseball, half the time you might be on the bases and you are just getting a pay check and not calling or doing much of anything.

I am sure an official can do both on a regular, it just seems harder considering all the factors. But I do not think it would be hard at all for officials to do the same sport for the same amount of time, but split between girl's and boy's games. When I did a baskeball game about a week ago, I had to put my mind back in a basketball state of mind. It took me a couple of minutes to do that in my first game after watching one basketball game. It is such a different mentality because of when you blow the whistle and even your signal mechanics. Had to make sure that I called a block instead of an encroachment foul. ;)

Peace