Wanted, Reward, Dead Or Alive ...

[JRutledge]

I went to a camp on the East Coast for a college assignor and I was the oldest official when it came to years of experience. Most officials there had been officiating under 5 years and had college assignments. So we are either going to have to face the reality that some people progress faster or live in the world thinking it takes everyone more years than we once thought to get to those opportunities. All I am saying is be very careful what we assume as we move forward. There are more resources available for officials now than there was when many of us started. That does not mean that there are some unrealistic officials out there both newer and older. But some arbitrary year of experience for varsity is silly. I worked with a guy this year at a camp that was his first college camp and he was better than 90 percent of the guys I have worked with over the last 5 years. Now his downfall might be his youthful look and dealing with certain situations, but there are officials that have 15 years or more experience and are not as competent to deal with similar situations.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I've rarely seen a person that is ready for varsity in much less than that. Many think they are, but they're mistaken. There are, of course, exceptions, but they are just that exceptions.

One big exception is the "new" guy who is only new to the association (transfer) because he moved from another association. Locally, it used to be that such a guy, if he was not affiliated with IAABO in his previous association, would have to start at the bottom, waiting seven years to get full varsity schedule, even if he worked a state final while with his previous non-IAABO association. That can't happen now because now we use trained observers to place officials at the appropriate level.

I'm pretty sure that Camron Rust was referring to the first few years of a true rookie. He's right that experience is important, but sometimes somebody comes along who's just seems ready for the big time. Played in high school, and/or college. Coached at the interscholastic level (we have several guys who switched from coaching to officiating). Got their pizza money in college officiating basketball intramurals. Officiated other interscholastic sports (it's all about game management). Guys with some of these credentials on their resume may be able to "move up the chart with a bullet".