Female Officials Officiating Boys Basketball

[crosscountry55]

This is a sticky subject. That said, I can't speak for the VHSL state tournament this year because I didn't go. Locally, there have been only 2-3 women working boys varsity games in the last couple of years, and only a few games per season at that. This is a little disappointing to me, to be honest. I think more have the desire and ability; our board has a healthy number of female officials (I don't know the percentage but overall I think it's about 10%).

That said, I also have to think of this from the mindset of the assignor. Some obstacles will always be there....athleticism, poise, conviction to handle the ever-present sexism of some coaches, etc. Some women (many of them good officials) leave before they advance to varsity because other life priorities take precedence. And frankly some women move into the college women's ranks, and a college paycheck is better than a HS paycheck any day. Once you're doing a nice D3 or D2 women's schedule....and rightfully feeling validated by that....the desire to be validated by doing HS boys basketball may not be as strong anymore.

I don't think we have too many female officials in this forum (perhaps underscoring the issue), but if we do I'd love to hear if my thoughts are accurate or way off base.

[Camron Rust]

Oregon has had a female official work a boys state final at the 5A level (6A is the top).

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

This is a sticky subject. That said, I can't speak for the VHSL state tournament this year because I didn't go. Locally, there have been only 2-3 women working boys varsity games in the last couple of years, and only a few games per season at that. This is a little disappointing to me, to be honest. I think more have the desire and ability; our board has a healthy number of female officials (I don't know the percentage but overall I think it's about 10%).

That said, I also have to think of this from the mindset of the assignor. Some obstacles will always be there....athleticism, poise, conviction to handle the ever-present sexism of some coaches, etc. Some women (many of them good officials) leave before they advance to varsity because other life priorities take precedence. And frankly some women move into the college women's ranks, and a college paycheck is better than a HS paycheck any day. Once you're doing a nice D3 or D2 women's schedule....and rightfully feeling validated by that....the desire to be validated by doing HS boys basketball may not be as strong anymore.

I don't think we have too many female officials in this forum (perhaps underscoring the issue), but if we do I'd love to hear if my thoughts are accurate or way off base.

My association up in Central VA sent 17 or 18 officials to the Final Four, and 7 crews to the quarter-finals, but not a single one of them was a woman.

Your association easily sent the most female officials to the quarter-final super sites.

[Rich]

I assign women to work boys games. If coaches have a complaint they have to be really careful how they present it to me, that's for certain.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Rich

I assign women to work boys games. If coaches have a complaint they have to be really careful how they present it to me, that's for certain.

What would you do if a coach or school told you that they didn't want any female officials for their boys contests?

What would you do if a coach or school told you that they didn't want any male officials for their girls contests?

[Hugh Refner]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

What would you do if a coach or school told you that they didn't want any female officials for their boys contests?

What would you do if a coach or school told you that they didn't want any male officials for their girls contests?

I would tell them I didn't want any male coaches for girls contests and no female coaches for male contests.

[Adam]

Locally, it's a regular occurrence, even in the playoffs.

[packersowner]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

What would you do if a coach or school told you that they didn't want any female officials for their boys contests?

What would you do if a coach or school told you that they didn't want any male officials for their girls contests?

I'd mention they might want to speak to their district attorney. This has lawsuit written all over it.

I kind of find it hard to believe that anyone would ask this and not understand the ramifications. I can't think of one thing that would prevent a woman from officiating a boys game. Conventional thought might say it's physical but If you feel a woman can't officiate a boys game for physical reasons, I can show you a roster full of fat men that can't either.

[johnny d]

Even with stricter enforcement and new emphasis on reducing physicality to promote freedom of movement, there is a big difference in how the boys and girls games are played, and the expectations for how much physicality is expected and/or accepted. Around here, you do not have to work both boys and girls games, even at the HS level. In fact most officials do not work both. I wouldn't say there would be a problem with a female working a boys game here, it happens, although very rarely, the problem would be with a girls official, female or male, working a boys game. The perception, and most often the reality is that it is very difficult to move back and forth between both. Many officials, regardless of sex, would have a hard time adjusting to the speed and physicality of the boys game, if the overwhelming majority of their games were girls games.

It wasn't a female trying to officiate a boys game, but we had a similar situation a few years ago in the IL 2A state championship game. A school from the Chicago Catholic League, that played up tempo, physical basketball, and who normally competed against and was competitive with much larger schools, was in that game. The officials were three men from an area of the state where they would hardly, if ever, see basketball at that speed, athleticism, and physicality. The officials were completely overmatched and rapidly lost control of the game. Many videos from that game were posted on this site.

Bottom line, for most officials, it isn't a matter of how good you may be, like most people, one is going to be a creature of habit. Through them into a radically new environment, and most are going to sink.

Could a female work boys games consistently around here. Of course she could, but she would have to commit to working almost exclusively boys games from early in her career. If she was good, she would move up the ranks, but much slower on the boys side. We have more officials interested in working boys games than girls games, so she would have more competition. Because she could move up much faster on the girls side, most female officials in this area choose working girls games.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by johnny d

Even with stricter enforcement and new emphasis on reducing physicality to promote freedom of movement, there is a big difference in how the boys and girls games are played, and the expectations for how much physicality is expected and/or accepted. Around here, you do not have to work both boys and girls games, even at the HS level. In fact most officials do not work both. I wouldn't say there would be a problem with a female working a boys game here, it happens, although very rarely, the problem would be with a girls official, female or male, working a boys game. The perception, and most often the reality is that it is very difficult to move back and forth between both. Many officials, regardless of sex, would have a hard time adjusting to the speed and physicality of the boys game, if the overwhelming majority of their games were girls games.

It wasn't a female trying to officiate a boys game, but we had a similar situation a few years ago in the IL 2A state championship game. A school from the Chicago Catholic League, that played up tempo, physical basketball, and who normally competed against and was competitive with much larger schools, was in that game. The officials were three men from an area of the state where they would hardly, if ever, see basketball at that speed, athleticism, and physicality. The officials were completely overmatched and rapidly lost control of the game. Many videos from that game were posted on this site.

Bottom line, for most officials, it isn't a matter of how good you may be, like most people, one is going to be a creature of habit. Through them into a radically new environment, and most are going to sink.

Could a female work boys games consistently around here. Of course she could, but she would have to commit to working almost exclusively boys games from early in her career. If she was good, she would move up the ranks, but much slower on the boys side. We have more officials interested in working boys games than girls games, so she would have more competition. Because she could move up much faster on the girls side, most female officials in this area choose working girls games.

Not surprising, you said this better than me.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by johnny d

... there is a big difference in how the boys and girls games are played ... it is very difficult to move back and forth between both ...

I sometimes have a tough time adjusting from a girls game on a Thursday night to a boys game on a Friday night. Yet, I have absolutely no problem doing the opposite (a girls game the next night after a boys game).

[Dad]

Originally Posted by johnny d

Even with stricter enforcement and new emphasis on reducing physicality to promote freedom of movement, there is a big difference in how the boys and girls games are played, and the expectations for how much physicality is expected and/or accepted. Around here, you do not have to work both boys and girls games, even at the HS level. In fact most officials do not work both. I wouldn't say there would be a problem with a female working a boys game here, it happens, although very rarely, the problem would be with a girls official, female or male, working a boys game. The perception, and most often the reality is that it is very difficult to move back and forth between both. Many officials, regardless of sex, would have a hard time adjusting to the speed and physicality of the boys game, if the overwhelming majority of their games were girls games.

It wasn't a female trying to officiate a boys game, but we had a similar situation a few years ago in the IL 2A state championship game. A school from the Chicago Catholic League, that played up tempo, physical basketball, and who normally competed against and was competitive with much larger schools, was in that game. The officials were three men from an area of the state where they would hardly, if ever, see basketball at that speed, athleticism, and physicality. The officials were completely overmatched and rapidly lost control of the game. Many videos from that game were posted on this site.

Bottom line, for most officials, it isn't a matter of how good you may be, like most people, one is going to be a creature of habit. Through them into a radically new environment, and most are going to sink.

Could a female work boys games consistently around here. Of course she could, but she would have to commit to working almost exclusively boys games from early in her career. If she was good, she would move up the ranks, but much slower on the boys side. We have more officials interested in working boys games than girls games, so she would have more competition. Because she could move up much faster on the girls side, most female officials in this area choose working girls games.

Great post, but I think the bold text could be over-looked or skimmed over. While the majority of my games are mens, I have no problem switching back and forth. As long as you're used to the tempo then I really see no problem, but it's why I think good officials should get a taste of it, even if they want to solely do women's basketball. Then again, I love watching games in 1.5x-2x and attempting to officiate.

BNR's post is an opinion held by many officials and I have no problem with it. Personally, I enjoy doing both, usually, but there's probably some bias because over the last two years we've had an abnormal amount of D1 players on the women's side.

[crosscountry55]

Originally Posted by packersowner

I can't think of one thing that would prevent a woman from officiating a boys game. Conventional thought might say it's physical but If you feel a woman can't officiate a boys game for physical reasons, I can show you a roster full of fat men that can't either.

Not to take away from the seriousness of this conversation, but I doubled over laughing when I read this.

Excellent (and funny) point.

[jTheUmp]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Some obstacles will always be there....athleticism, poise, conviction to handle the ever-present sexism of some coaches, etc.

Something about this statement really rubs me the wrong way. Concerns related to athleticism, poise, and handling coaches are something that can be a true for ANY official, regardless of the officials gender or the gender of the players.

[JRutledge]

It happens here, but not very often at all. Part of it is because it is clear that many will not give females a chance, they just never put in the effort. But it has happen a few rare times, but never in the playoffs that I can tell yet. And one reason it does not happen in the playoffs, is because they do not get assigned during the regular season. Again the path for a female official to the state finals is a lot quicker and easier on the girls side. So I do not see a lot of women even wasting their time trying to get those games.

Peace