Likewise....I thought I knew something at a time long ago. It was only after I learned a lot more that I realized what I didn't know. I'm sure I still have things to learn but now I know that with clarity. It took me several years to get my first regular season girls varsity game (7 IIRC), then a few more to get some at the top classification (boys 4A at the time), but only a few and not the good games. In my 15th year, I finally got a state tournament assignment at the lower levels. Now, 23 years in, I've done quite well, but it didn't come overnight.

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.

With that said, experienced officials are doing a huge disservice to their younger brethren (ladies included) by taking a "our turn" view and all but shutting them out of quality assignments. I'm not talking about deep playoff rounds but regular season and early playoff games that these guys probably won't ever work because they'll quit before given the chance. You, Cameron, as a quality 23 year guy may be a guy who can now work any game your state assigns, you didn't get there by continuously working JV and lower level games. You had to be thrown in the fire at some point.

Every organization worth its salt should have a growth or expectations plan. If gives officials a view of how things, on average, should go and what they need to do to progress within the plan. It won't be absolute and there won't be any guarantees, but if they don't see ANYONE getting the benefit of that person following the plan, you might as well not bother.

That's not the relationship that an official has with an assigner they've already worked games for. I do expect to be able to have a similar conversation about my abilities, workload and what I can do to improve with my boss at work. That is not unlike the conversation the OP wishes to have with their assigner.

Missing Component
 

From most who complain about not getting better games or rising to a higher level there exists a telling hesitancy to offer video to establish the allegation that the assigner isn't being fair to them personally. Most times there is a reason. And it's detectable by objective observation or video critique and in many, though not all, cases correctable, but those who prove the injustice seem quite few.
Do I have a point here?

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.

But if you are working with someone before, they may or may not tell you why you are getting certain games in detail as opposed to the 100 other officials they have assigned games to. Again this might be area specific, but I know assignors that do not give detailed answers to those kinds of questions. For one they do not want to kill their motivation to work for them on some level and secondly they are not going to tell them, "You are not good enough to work because....." Again, you are not the only one they assign. You should figure out on some level why you are not at the top or working what you are working. My main point you can ask all you like, but they do not and often will not tell you the reason you are looking for. If you do not like what you are getting, then do not accept the games. You are an independent contractor.

But once again, this might be very area specific. Where I live if one guy does not like me, I have many others to turn to for games. Or I suck it up and pay my dues to get to where I want to be with that assignor.

Peace

I am not sure I agree with that overall. It would depend on the staff you are working with or competing against. If no one has retired or died, you very much might not be getting those opportunities. This could be area specific as well, but where I am you might not get a varsity boys game in that time even if you are moderately decent in your ability. Those are harder assignments to get and where most officials I know want to work. Girls basketball honestly they will give those to someone with a pulse much of the time.

I think it is much more about ability than anything. I do not subscribe to the "waiting your turn" position. I think you have to at the very least have the ability to handle the level. The term I heard best is "We are looking for Referees not U2s." If you can display that you can handle the situations in some of the most difficult circumstances, you will get those opportunities in my experience. But sometimes that takes time because working a prelim game or a freshman game is very different than working a varsity game that the outcome determines the conference. Coaches are not as forgiving for mistakes at the varsity level as they might be at the freshman level. And what are assignors trying to do ultimately? Keep their jobs. So they are not going to just take a risk on someone to handle themselves over someone that has proven their mettle.

At least here organizations do not assign varsity games. Our job is only to train you and lead you to the right people. It is ultimately up to you do what the assignors want and accept what they give you or decide what you do not want to work. Some organizations do a better job, but ultimately it is on you as an official to take the knowledge and run with it.

Peace

Putting a time limit on when officials should or should not do certain games is a recipe for disaster. The assigner would be fired in a nano-second for someone more competent, at least in a decent area. I'm aware there are horrible, even worthless, assigners out there, but I've yet to meet one so I assume they are rare. Just because your ears are open doesn't mean your retaining the good information and dumping the bad. I also, from my very first game, have never kept my mouth shut. Social skills play a massive role, but questioning clinicians, assigners, vets, fellow officials, etc, is a major part of how I grew so fast. As far as how many games you've worked, I can learn more in one game then others can in 100. Officials improvement and better games is far more reliant on them then they realize, especially the officials who complain why they aren't doing a, b, and c games. This mind-set is backwards and is probably an annoyance to almost any assigner.

I've never understood the concept of throwing an official into the fire. Either you're ready or you're not and I'm not going to risk a game blowing up in my face for assigning an official who thinks they're ready because on paper they've been around forever and done a lot of games. I don't care if you've been around for three years or twenty, some are ready and some aren't. Some officials mature after a few years and are ready for NCAA games and some won't be ready after thirty years.

While I think it's important for associations to have plans to improve officials, I entirely disagree with your final paragraph. I didn't care for my associations plan and just did my own. This shouldn't be some awkward parenting system and people can either learn to succeed or not. Who should be worth their salt is an official, not the association. Taking it backwards is why the vast majority of officials just aren't any good. If I had to rely on someone else' program I would never have started officiating in the first place. There are ways to boost your career forward, and blaming everyone else isn't it. In fact, it's the very reason people never move or start to move in the wrong direction.

So you work college but haven't worked a Varsity HS game yet?

So what? It's not uncommon at all, especially in states like mine where you pretty much can't get a single varsity game until your fifth year.

Then why do you do it?

?

No, I am asking to clarify because the way he wrote it is ambiguous whether he actually works college or not.

That's Right, We're Allowed To Wear Black Belts ...
 

Here, in my little corner of Connecticut, under our old rating/ranking system, it was impossible to work a high school varsity game until one's fifth year, with no chance of getting a full varsity schedule until one's eighth year. That changed with our new rating system, with no minimum experience requirements. If the observation team believes that one is good enough to move up, one moves up, whether it's one's second year, or twentieth year.

We've had several college officials (mostly D-III), with no high school varsity games under their belts.

I started out because I needed money when I divorced my first wife. Now I do it cuz I like refereeing and I want to see how far I can advance. I've never done it for the players or the game.

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