Officially taking early retirement from Adult Men's Wreck League

[frezer11]

Originally Posted by UNIgiantslayers

This was my first year with a full varsity slate, and I earned a post season game from the state which tells me I can't be as terrible of an official as this league makes me feel. Last night was the nail in the coffin for adult men's wreck league. The following events made me send an email to the coordinator telling him I was done and he'd have to find someone to fill my remaining games:

Every situation is different, and I'm not trying to say I know what yours is, but if you can manage to finish your season out, I would recommend you try to do that, and then resign from your position. By turning down accepted games, you might run the risk of losing respect from your peers who get stuck either without a partner, or with a much lower quality official, and some may hold grudges.

That's an easy opinion for someone like me to have, who doesn't work wreck league though, but just some advice for what its worth-

[UNIgiantslayers]

Appreciate the words of advice, guys. A couple things about those-

I would say maybe 5-10% of the guys in this league played past high school. In fact, it would surprise me if 75% even played varsity based on their skillsets today. The quality of basketball is very poor, which makes it less fun.

I'm not going to let F bombs go. I guess I should have specified that they were directed at me (you've got to be f'ing kidding me, and that's a f'ing joke of a call). Sorry, just not going to do it.

Not letting shoving go. I'm not big enough to stop a fight, so I'm going to put an end to it fast and let their teams deal with it.

I had every intention of finishing out the season, but without the support of the league coordinator, I have no reason to. The guys that ref it are mostly weekend 5th-8th AAU tourney guys. None that I've worked with work any varsity, so to be honest, that's the league coordinator's problem.

As far as staying in shape, I run 55-70 miles a week so I'm not worried about that part.

I don't mean to come off as a prick, I honestly appreciate the feedback. Just giving you my reasons for why I'm doing what I'm doing.

[Da Official]

Congrats on your Adult Rec League Retirement!!! I got out 5 years ago....NEVER looked back!

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by frezer11

Every situation is different, and I'm not trying to say I know what yours is, but if you can manage to finish your season out, I would recommend you try to do that, and then resign from your position. By turning down accepted games, you might run the risk of losing respect from your peers who get stuck either without a partner, or with a much lower quality official, and some may hold grudges.

That's an easy opinion for someone like me to have, who doesn't work wreck league though, but just some advice for what its worth-

I disagree. Doing it visibly makes a statement that the league needs to clean up its act. Not taking new assignments next year will never be noticed.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I disagree. Doing it visibly makes a statement that the league needs to clean up its act. Not taking new assignments next year will never be noticed.

Exactly.

This is in addition to the fact that the assigner basically asked him to resign when he told him to have a thicker skin. I would have been tempted to write him back and advise him to grow a pair and stick up for his officials.

I think I letter of resignation works better.

[BigCat]

I think it's rec league and a statement or resignation letter to the coordinator might make him feel bad ...for a minute or two. They want to fill their leagues. They want players etc to be happy. They won't crack down because you're leaving.
Just like many things, send your letter to other zebras and have a unified front:clean it up or call your own. That might get their attention.

[JRutledge]

I do not think you need to make a major statement, just do what is best for you and your career. If make a statement you highlight something that might not be known, but it might also get twisted. Just do not accept games anymore. And if you are that bothered, give back the rest of your games. But either way this train will move on without you. I know we all think that we will make a difference, but the reality is they will play the league with or without you and someone else will be convinced that either the money is worth it or will help their career. We have many leagues around here and every time someone works them. I do not hear anything about the quality of officiating, even if it is some travel league. They do not care, we are just a prop.

Peace

[frezer11]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I disagree. Doing it visibly makes a statement that the league needs to clean up its act. Not taking new assignments next year will never be noticed.

That's fair, but I also don't know if the OPer was trying to make a change in the officiating world, or just wanting to be done. Again without knowing the full story, I would lean toward finishing out what I had committed to, and being done from there.

We're stretched pretty thin around here right now, so if I were to do this, I can see the games not getting filled, which I don't care about the problem this might create for an assigner who isn't going to back me up, but I would care about my reputation with fellow officials, who I might be hanging out to dry. Now if there were plenty of officials that could fill in? Then I think it depends on just how bad things were.

[Jay R]

It's clear that there are a wide variety of rec leagues. Generally the worst the players are, the more they think that the officiating is what is holding them back. I work one rec league. It is good quality for the most part. I encourage young officials to work that league as a way of developing their game management skills. You're dealing with players and not one coach. We have a lot of former college players who are strong, skilled and know a lot of tricks (trying to fool officials etc...). For me, it has been an excellent avenue to develop as an official. We have another rec league (35 and over) where the skill level is considerably worse. I rarely work that league since the cons seem to outweigh the pros.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by frezer11

That's fair, but I also don't know if the OPer was trying to make a change in the officiating world, or just wanting to be done. Again without knowing the full story, I would lean toward finishing out what I had committed to, and being done from there.

We're stretched pretty thin around here right now, so if I were to do this, I can see the games not getting filled, which I don't care about the problem this might create for an assigner who isn't going to back me up, but I would care about my reputation with fellow officials, who I might be hanging out to dry. Now if there were plenty of officials that could fill in? Then I think it depends on just how bad things were.

If the assigner is telling me to get a thicker skin, I'm going to assume he thinks he can get officials willing to accommodate. If he can't, he should have been more willing to show the league some backbone.