Nights of the Week

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by IowaMike

I often work 4 days a week during basketball season. Of course unlike some guys I'll work any level if I'm free; Tues/Friday varsity games are fun and exciting but I enjoy the low key lower level games too.

If I work that many nights a week, it is because I am working 2 or 3 college games as well. Mostly 3 nights including Saturday is what is typical outside of a Christmas or Thanksgiving Tournament week, which can be every day and multiple games a day. And I can tell you that that is often too much over the course of a season if I worked every week with 4 games.

Originally Posted by IowaMike

Also there are plenty of guys available to work varsity games around here; the big problem is filling those lower level games because so many guys will only work varsity.

Not our problem here at all. Plenty of officials that can
work at all levels, but not as many qualified officials at the varsity level, but many think they are qualified when they are not.

Originally Posted by IowaMike

How are new guys supposed to learn if they never get a chance to work with veteran officials at the lower level? I'll always work some of those Jr High/Freshman games.

They can do the very same thing I did. I worked as many games as I could and often did not work with varsity officials in the process. I went to clinics, attended meetings and talked to my mentors. Sometimes the best way to learn is work with someone that is on a similar level you are so that you do not just defer or assume that the veteran will bail you out. Not to say that is not part of the process to work with veterans, but it should not be the default position for every lower level games. I know two young officials that can handle a game just fine if trained properly.

Peace