How to and how hard to push for games

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Multiple Sports

Hartsy -

I currently assign about 7,500 hs and youth softball and baseball games during the summer. Rut is 1000% correct about being prepared for the answer. Arguing will not do you any favors.

You said you work with 5 different assigners. Here is a question for you. Whom do you take first ???? IMO too many officials at the high school level will answer this question by saying I take first whoever gets me first. Again, IMO that is the wrong answer. Be honest and let all your assigners know where they stand. Every assigner wants HIS guys...by you taking whoever gets that date first, you become a secondary to most of your assigners. I'm not saying put all your eggs in one basket but try to be honest with them.

I actually work for more than 5 as we are apart of a consortium in the Chicago area that has about 15 different assignors that are members with Arbiter. We can get games from any of them theoretically.

Now that being said, whomever starts giving games. We get games usually about a year in advance. For example some assignors start giving games around early November for the following season. Most assignors start with the Fridays, which are generally conference games or dates schools know they will have scheduled. The non-conference games are usually coming out later, sometimes out in the summer before the coming season, those trickle out until the season in some cases. So whomever asks for my Fridays, that is where I start. Then they might ask for certain tournaments or shootouts, which might not be assigned by a conference assignor at all.

Originally Posted by Multiple Sports

The guys who work college basketball on here will tell you that that is what they do. My good friend BNR and I work in two leagues together and both of those guys know where each of us stand. This honesty will reward you in the long run. If you take an assigner 5th out of 5 that is OK as well...just realize regardless of your ability you can't take a guy last and expect to work his post season.

Hope this helps......

I also work college and I do not work and those are mostly Saturday dates initially. So I always block off my Saturdays to high school assignors until most of the college games come out. I always have a Saturday or two that is open or an opportunity to work a later game on Saturday after a college game if it is close enough. Also college assignors expect you to work their college game if you are on staff. So that might mean we have to give back a game on a weekday game if assigned.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

We get games usually about a year in advance.

Wow. Since our assigner started using Arbiter several years ago, we are lucky to get assignments two, to three, weeks in advance. We can often see "pending assignments" (light blue on "blocks" page) several weeks out, but they don't get to be "assigned games" until just a few weeks before the actual assignment date. Our assigner takes a lot of time matching up the best officials with the best games, and things change, especially with teams as the season progresses. Teams that are supposed to be good at the beginning of the season often don't pan out, and vice versa.

Back in the olden days of getting our assignments through the United States Postal Service, we would get all of our season assignments at the beginning of the season, with changes (through land line phones) mainly caused by bad weather, illness, and injuries.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Wow. Since our assigner started using Arbiter several years ago, we are lucky to get assignments two, to three, weeks in advance. We can often see "pending assignments" (light blue on "blocks" page) several weeks out, but they don't get to be "assigned games" until just a few weeks before the actual assignment date. Our assigner takes a lot of time matching up the best officials with the best games, and things change, especially with teams as the season progresses. Teams that are supposed to be good at the beginning of the season often don't pan out, and vice versa.

Back in the olden days of getting our assignments through the United States Postal Service, we would get all of our assignments at the beginning of the season, with changes (through land line phones) mainly caused by bad weather.

Conference schedules are pretty much a rotating schedule and they know the conference games pretty much off the bat. The non-conference can change and so does some tournaments, which are only given to certain individuals anyway. And many conferences you know who is going to be good or not so good. And the rivalries never really change.

And even back in the days, the games given in mail were still given a year or more in advance. The contracts would come a few months before the season.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

And the rivalries never really change.

Amen.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Conference schedules are pretty much a rotating schedule and they know the conference games pretty much off the bat. The non-conference can change and so does some tournaments, which are only given to certain individuals anyway. And many conferences you know who is going to be good or not so good. And the rivalries never really change.

And even back in the days, the games given in mail were still given a year or more in advance. The contracts would come a few months before the season.

Peace

We don't even register with our state board (and consequentially, officially with our associations) until July of every year, so it's impossible to assign games prior to that, of which I am glad. With my college games rolling in from August through November, there is no way I can provide availability to my HS assignors until November.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

We don't even register with our state board (and consequentially, official with our associations) until July of every year,

Same here, although it might be in late spring, or early summer. Our annual dues are always due March 1, so it can't be earlier than that.

[LRZ]

Hartsy, how does that work, being assigned to one crew? Just one crew (of two or three) all season, or are you assigned to several steady, regular crews? What happens if one member of the crew is not available for an offered assignment?

If your assigners use Arbiter, can you block partners?

[Hartsy]

Originally Posted by LRZ

Hartsy, how does that work, being assigned to one crew? Just one crew (of two or three) all season, or are you assigned to several steady, regular crews? What happens if one member of the crew is not available for an offered assignment?

If your assigners use Arbiter, can you block partners?

One of my assignors uses the crew concept for varsity games. He asks each crew to assign a crew chief to handle all communications with him. Crew chief submits names of members. Assignor then looks at crews available dates, the coaches ratings for those crew members, and the predicted 'significance' of games open to that crew. This significance factor is based rivalries and predictions as to the impact the game could have on league schedules. The higher rated crews get the more significant games. Sometimes we get games where 1 of 3 members has a block. Crew gets to choose a replacement or leave it up to assignor. Some assignors in my area will use a crew for some of their games and mix and match the rest.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

We don't even register with our state board (and consequentially, official with our associations) until July of every year, so it's impossible to assign games prior to that, of which I am glad. With my college games rolling in from August through November, there is no way I can provide availability to my HS assignors until November.

If you mean have a license, we do not renew our licenses until May to July. It only matters when the game is played if we have a license.

Also unless you are doing D1 and flying out all, then having a Friday game in January is not much that is going to be an issue around here. And if someone like you got those kind of games, they are probably not working much high school. We have many guys around here that do not work high school anymore after they have a certain level of college schedule. Not a big deal as that is what many of them want to do anyway.

Peace