Wanted, Reward, Dead Or Alive ...
 

Is this a problem in your area, local, or state?

Lori Riley: Recruiting, Retaining High School Athletics Officals In Connecticut Can Be A Challenge - Hartford Courant

https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.Y...=0&w=300&h=300

My district has some trouble with subvarsity games. Not to the extent that the assigner has to get ADs involved, but to the extent that he asks for people to open up dates or we have to get someone from a neighboring district. I'm sure the problem will become more dire in the future.

Subvarsity DHs never start before 5:30 around here, so guys getting off work normally isn't the issue (even if it means showing up at 5:15). Varsity DHs start at 6:00, and varsity assignments are state-controlled here; the booking office will go as far down the ranking list as it has to in order to fill all the varsity slots. It's extremely rare that there are conflicts between subvarsity and varsity games; varsity games are primarily Tuesday/Friday nights, and subvarsity games on the other days. Almost all assignments are doubleheaders, a girls game followed by a boys game.

Let It Snow ...
 

Happens here about three, or four, times a season. Usually when "snowed out" games get rescheduled to already busy nights (Tuesday, Friday) during influenza season when we're already "down" several officials.

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.k...=0&w=300&h=300

Of course things get much worse if it snows on a Tuesday, or a Friday, meaning tons of games to make up.

And this past season, Connecticut schools were closing due to "excessive cold", yeah, you heard me right, not for snow, but for cold.

Spoiled kids today. I had to walk to school, no shoes, in my bare feet, in several feet of snow, uphill both ways, wearing only a moth eaten sweater.

Guys around here like to go on three day ski weekends up north, making for another set of problems.

I had to work a junior varsity/varsity doubleheader a few years ago, not the norm here in my little corner of Connecticut. Coaches, and athletic directors, don't like these doubleheaders, they think that the officials get too tired in the junior varsity game to do a good job in the varsity game.

Freshman/junior varsity doubleheaders are fairly common around here.

Boys/girls varsity doubleheaders here? No such animal.

When in Rome ...

A combination of 3:30, 4:00, and 4:30 starting times for sub-varsity games and the opening of charter schools in previously-closed buildings appear to be the main reasons for a a crunch in filling game assignments here. Anyone who is available for the early games inevitably becomes an assignor's best friend. It's also meant the number of freshman/JV doubleheader assignments has increased. Last year, I think I had more such doubleheaders than the previous five years combined. I even had a doubleheader where the freshman boys played at home followed by the JV girls (with the varsity girls playing after we finished our doubleheader).

At last month's statewide officiating day meeting, it was announced that every association has been asked to add a position to its board with the purpose of recruiting and retaining officials. I'm not sure how this position will work in my association, but - I suppose like everyone else in the state - we'll see what happens.

The problem will only continue to get worse, no matter how many cheesy signs get posted throughout the nation.

That is true.

Until they figure out a way to reduce the toxicity of the environment that officials are subjected to, there will always be a problem. Unfortunately, society likes to treat us like villains and that is probably not going to change.

Magnet Schools ...
 

Same here, both charter schools, and magnet schools. They open up so fast it's hard to keep track. They multiply like rabbits.

https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.s...=0&w=247&h=185

Restaurant Gift Card ...
 

From the article, "And boards are becoming creative: one offered a gift card to a restaurant as incentive to apply".

Yeah. Right. A gift card to a restaurant will certainly entice many to give up time with their family, spend hours on ice, and snow covered, winter roads, and, as an extra added bonus, one gets to be yelled at by fans, and coaches. Yeah, that will do it.

You never know. Getting them to even consider the idea is often the hurdle. That gift card may even be all it takes to get some to give it a shot.

Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) ...
 

If it works, great.

Here in the Constitution State we're in dire need of officials in many sports, especially sports that traditionally play in the afternoon. I saw a basketball colleague of mine over the weekend who told me he took, and passed, the volleyball exam over the summer, and he's doing high level varsity volleyball games (state ranked teams) in his first year.

Of course, being the basketball official that I am, I kidded him that the hardest part of officiating volleyball was going up the ladder. He disagreed with me and said that hardest part of officiating volleyball was going down the ladder, one goes down backwards, and one can fall.

Don't Forget To Rewind The Tape ...
 

This photo reminds me of a scene (it was either the opening scene, or the closing scene) in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972)

Great movie. You young'uns should go down to your local Blockbuster Video and rent the videotape.

The number of officials in all sports at all levels is dropping.

Mark, Jr. and I belong to two H.S. baseball/softball umpiring associations. The two association run a combined umpiring class, one for baseball and one for softball, because we have one assignor that uses all of the members combines to cover all baseball and softball in three counties.

We had total of 8 umpires take and pass either the baseball or softball class and 6 of the new umpires blocked the entire Spring on Arbiter, :eek:!

Special Olympics Ohio requires only OhioHSAA registered basketball officials officiate S.O. Basketball. There are over 875 schools that sponsor both both and girls basketball programs from 7th grade through VAR: that is 10 teams per school. Add to that need: All 88 counties plus the 6 largest city school districts sponsor S.O. Basketball meaning there are 94 S.O. Basketball programs sponsoring at least two and sometimes as many as four teams. Each team plays as many as 12 games during the regular season.

Last year I added 2 more counties that I assign for S.O. to the 2 for which I already assign. I had 6 different dates for which I had no officials to officiate S.O. games, and I am sure that there were JrHS games on those dates that were probably not covered.

I have already told the 2 counties that I added last year that I will not be able assign their games because I just do not have the officials to cover all of the games.

Many of you know that Mark, Jr., was promoted to Div. I college softball last year besides the Div. II and III conferences. In all of the college games that Mark has umpired in the last four years, he has worked one DH with an umpire in his age group. In the over 80 college games he has worked all but one of his partners have been at least 25 years older than him.

The officiating shortage is creeping up into the college ranks now. Mark umpired in a softball college show case and I talked with some of the college coaches that were there evaluating players and they all said that they were concerned about a shortage of umpires in college softball and the lack of young umpires moving up to college softball.

I do not know what the answer is. Mark and I and have tried to his younger brother (my younger son) to give officiating and/or umpiring a try and his answer is: "Dad, I have watched you officiate and umpire since I was a young boy and both of you officiate and umpire since Mark started, and there is not enough money to pay me to put up with crap you guys deal with. I do not know how you do it." Out of the mouths of babes.

MTD, Sr.

:p

MTD, Sr.

The Be All, And End All ...
 

Haven't you been reading the thread?

Restaurant gift cards, the be all, and end all answer to all or our problems. They will get rid of warts, and are great for cleaning the white wall tires on your car.

The will even core a apple (with apologies to Ralph Kramden, a.k.a., Jackie Gleason).

https://youtu.be/22oCaiccz3w

There is a small group of basketball officials here who started doing volleyball, and they were all working play-offs matches by their 2nd season.

If I were to do another sport, it would be either field hockey or lacrosse. I need to be active and engaged while officiating, who I'll lose my concentration.

As it relates to officials not being able to get off work early enough for early start times, that's the schools' problem as far as I am concerned. Eventually they're going to have to spread out their schedules so that games aren't starting before 5:30-6:00. But of course, that would require administrators to work more and more transportation costs and other logistical challenges that schools don't want. But again, tell me why those should be the officials' problems.

No one should sacrifice his/her real job to work subvarsity basketball like so many of these schools seem to think. Not all positions have flexible hours for employees, and that's not going to change just because there's an officials shortage.

I totally agree with this. Later times would help in many situations for officials. It is easier for varsity officials when your game is the main focus.

Peace

Me too. And we wonder why we lose so many younger officials before they could possibly work varsity games. First, they often get mistreated at the middle school and subvarsity games that they do work. Second, the games they do work can be as early as 2:30 in the afternoon. This can be a problem for people who have jobs, because not everyone can work a job with flexible hours or use leave time to work early games. Students may be able to work early games, depending on class times, but not those who have real jobs.

If we can support newer officials for at least the first 3 years of their careers, give them training and development opportunities to prepare them for the varsity level (with occasional varsity assignments toward the end of the program), and ensure that games are scheduled at realistic times (not earlier than 4:30 PM for a subvarsity game), then we might see more young officials stay, and avert the shortages. And let's not forget the ladies, y'all. If we can have both men and women in stripes, we might go a long way to solving the problem of having enough officials. EBO is almost 1/5 female (7 women for ~55 officials).

Who the hell is starting games at 2:30 PM on a weekday? That's insane. That's before school lets out in most districts. We rarely have games before 5:30 here, and if we do it's more like 5:00 which is still reasonable. But schools are also only playing 2 games/night more often than not.

And I would never use PTO to work anything lower than an NCAA D1 game; I'd give back the game if I had no other choice. Using PTO for a subvarsity game is unthinkable to me.

Not all subvarsity officials are actually only working subvarsity. Many of the middle school games are done by veterans as they do not mind working those games. Many subvarsity only officials are also not going to work any varsity realistically in their career either. But you can schedule games that make it easier for those to work the games regardless of their position at that time. Unless someone has a flex schedule, works a different shift or in things like sales where you have access to change your schedule, many people are not available for a 4:00 game. And that does not include the people that have other issues with sportsmanship or putting up with the demands of officiating.

Peace

Bye Bye Birdie ...
 

I almost forgot one of my favorite quotable song lyrics:

Why can't they be like we were, perfect in every way?
What's the matter with kids today?

First Ever ...
 

I forgot to mention, my basketball/volleyball guy never played interscholastic, or intercollegiate, volleyball. Just in high school physical education class. The first live interscholastic volleyball game that he ever observed, was the first live interscholastic volleyball game that he officiated, a varsity game, between state ranked schools.

With apologies to George Bernard Shaw, “Those who can play, and those who can’t officiate”.

Just kidding.

My Assigners Favorite official ...
 

That's me, or it will be me soon. I just retired from my "day job" as a chemist. I've decided to make self available for 3:30 p.m. middle school games, and 4:00 p.m. freshman games. Not a full schedule, just between my varsity games, but enough to help my assigner out, and to work with inexperienced officials as an unofficial mentor/evaluator (I'm a retried teacher, it's in my blood).

Can't ignore this aspect, now that I'm on "fixed income", the extra cash will help a little.

I'm going to be one of my assigners favorite officials. I wonder what he'll get me for Christmas?

Baseball games have started as early as 2:30 in my experience. I have had to work a 2:45 private middle school basketball game, and public middle school basketball games in Montgomery County are scheduled to start at 3:15 PM (most usually start around 3:20). However, JV basketball games are at 4 PM (DCIAA) or later, with the varsity game (or games) following at 6:00 or later (MCPS does 5:30/7:15 for the JV/varsity schedule, DC has 4 PM JV/6 PM Girls Varsity/8 PM Boys Varsity. Private schools have Freshman/JV/Varsity with the 1st game starting around 4, or JV/Varsity with the first game at 5/5:30 PM).

Even though most subvarsity officials will never work varsity, I still believe that a valid approach for training would be to treat all officials in training as if they had varsity potential, and then choose the best of those in training to be added to the current varsity staff, with the next tier doing spot varsity assignments as needed. In this way, advancement would become more objective than subjective, because there would be evaluations of officials working, rules exams, practical tests, and other objective criteria to rank officials.

I wouldn't say that varsity officials do not work subvarsity games when available to do so, because their input would be very useful to the newer official that has a subvarsity schedule (I don't know how useful that would be to the veteran subvarsity official (5+ years with no varsity experience)). However, later start times would make sense for working officials, especially if the games are spread over a wide geographic area and travel is required.

For Whom The Bell Tolls ...
 

I thought same thing myself until I gave it more thought. In the school system in which I used to teach, the bell for end of the high school day rings at 2:05 p.m. Also, student athletes are often allowed to leave their last class early if they have a early afternoon road game.

Middle schools in my district often try to begin games at 3:15 p.m., when the final bell rings at 2:35 p.m.

No 2:30 p.m. starts, but it not very far fetched. Maybe possible, but highly improbable.

On the other hand, a few school systems here in Connecticut are contemplating the new scientific research (something about hormones and circadian rhythms) that says that teenagers don't function at full brain capacity until later in the morning (the high school in my district begins at 7:35 a.m.) no matter how many hours of sleep they get the night before. The research says to start high school later in the morning, thus ending the day later in the afternoon.

Problems for schools contemplating such a changes include transportation issues (high schoolers are normally picked up first, then the same buses pick up middle schoolers, and finally the same buses pick up elementary students), and the problems with interscholastic sports having to start later, with scheduling problems with other schools that have chosen not to start early, and problems with sunset interfering with spring/autumn outdoor sports that are not played under the lights.

Up The Ladder ...
 

Here, in my little corner of Connecticut, we used to have some strict local "years of service" rules regarding moving up the ladder. No matter how good an official was, they had to wait a minimum of seven years to get a full varsity schedule.

One year as an IAABO working "cadet". Three additional years as a subvarsity official. And three additional years as a "split' official, working both subvarsity, and varsity games. After waiting seven years, if one was evaluated as good enough, one would finally get a full varsity schedule in the eighth year.

No more. Our new local system involves observations by trained evaluators, so if one is good enough, one can work varsity games right away.

Now, fewer competent, proficient officials are "dropping out" after waiting for varsity games. It was a good change, a necessary change.

Billy:

Today is our (Bonnie Jean, my wonderful, smart, intelligent, and beautiful wife, and me) our 36th wedding anniversary. Please buy me a gift card to Applebee's for us for tonight. ;)

MTD, Sr.

Good Luck With That ...
 

Congratulations.

https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.w...=0&w=254&h=167

Here you go Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. Just print it, cut it out, and bring your better half out to dinner tonight, treat's on me.

True story. I took my daughter, son-in law, and grandson, out to Chili's a few weeks ago because I had a Chili's gift card. My treat (as always). After dinner I gave the waitress the gift card. She came back a few minutes later and said the card didn't work because it was an Outback gift card, for the restaurant across the street.

Now, where are my car keys?

Billy:

Join the old geezers club, LOL!

You can congratulate me but send your sympathy to Bonnie, 😂.

MTD, Sr.

Advancement is always going to be subjective to a certain extent. The majority of officials think they are better than they are, better than the evaluations they receive indicate. And that includes officials working primarily subvarsity basketball. There's no reason to opine about a Utopia of fairness because there will always be officials who think the deck is stacked against them.

Many varsity officials want nights off when they're not working varsity games. Completely reasonable; most of us have family, pets, jobs, etc. You can't force people to officiate.

Yes, later start times are very helpful, but ultimately it's up to the schools. For multiple reasons they don't want to do this; eventually they will be forced to.

I feel no sympathy for schools that can't find officials for ridiculously early start times. They need to realize that no one is making a living officiating basketball.

In South Carolina you get five "experience points" in your rating for each of your first five years of experience until you reach the full 25 points. And until a couple years ago, it was seven years until you got full experience credit. The current system is such that an official likely won't sniff a varsity game until at least his/her fourth year, and even that might be too optimistic. And all that is assuming the official performs well on the statewide exam. District directors can "accelerate" an official's experience but it's not done that often.

If he does not understand that more energy is required to ascend than is needed to descend the ladder then he needs to step up.:p

Many basketball, and some soccer, officials move straight to volleyball due to knee/hip wear and tear. Dozens of old officials doing volleyball around me.

I think many youth fear officiating because they think it is what they see, Varsity games. They see adults yelling at Varsity games and think that is what officiating is.They do not understand that there are many levels of officiating the younger crowds and that they can start there. Additionally, they do not realize the mentoring/training that is available to them.

Local associations have struggled for years recruiting younger officials. Definitely a shortage.

In my opinion behavior is much worse, on average, in subvarsity and wreck ball than it is in varsity games. Maybe that's because the nonsense tends to get drowned out more in varsity games when there are more people in the stands.

I didn't start officiating until I 37. When I was 18 I worked the table (sometimes doing both the clock and book at the same time) on a military base. The person who hired me asked if I wantED to become an official and said no for that very reason. I had seen how these grown men had treated the officials and I wanted no part of it. Biggest career/business regret of my life is turning down that opportunity.

At least you are a college official now. Maybe we might have been in the NBA together, but I digress.

There have been Washington Post articles about officiating shortages, and there have been days where I have been moved to cover other games (mostly in volleyball or other lower-profile sports), but no crises yet (fingers crossed).

My point was not about training. My point was that most will never become a varsity official largely because of their own doing. If you do not want to travel and like being done at 8:00 on a Friday, varsity is not going to be for many people in that category, let alone how much you train them. The point was that many officials like working at a certain level because they can get games close to their house or job and be home at a certain time. Varsity officials in my experience are much more likely to be asked to work in a larger area or for different conferences if they want a full schedule. Not the case in lower level games. When you add in all the mistreatment and problems with other issues, you make it harder to keep people as officials.

I belong to an association that I was asked to join because the leadership wanted to raise the level of officiating in that group. They wanted officials that worked the postseason and wanted to work the postseason. The association had a reputation of being the "Middle school officials association" because most of the membership really relished working middle school or junior high games. Even high school games for many was not a desire.

At least here, many veterans that work subvarsity games which usually are not on a varsity night are because they either cannot advance or they are doing it for the quick money. If you are a veteran at the varsity level in high demand and you take advantage of that demand, then you are likely not working a lot of subvarsity contests. It is hard to do multiple days a week outside of the varsity contests when you have other obligations than high school sports.

Be It Ever So Humble ...
 

Great point. Connecticut is a small state, and I'm only in a little corner, so I'm not required to travel more than 55 miles (one way) for any of my varsity games.

Back in the day, when I did recreation, and travel, games, they were all in my hometown. Ten minute drives. Back when I was doing Catholic middle school games, they were all in towns adjacent to my hometown. Twenty minute drives. I worked these types of games both for the experience, and the money.

Back then, and now, I would never travel 55 miles (one way) to do a recreation, travel, or a Catholic middle school game. Especially when there were, and are, tons of these games available to work much closer to home.

I just choose not to work them. I've paid my dues. I've been around the block a few times. I've been to a few rodeos.

This begs the question, are you going to be in the NBA? You seem awfully sure of yourself for someone who asks so many trivial questions and conducts himself like a rookie.

We Didn't Know Any Better ...
 

Do you have trouble "keeping" officials, or do they get impatient and move on?

We didn't know of any other way (a long wait for varsity games) so nobody complained until we merged (it was actually a hostile takeover) with another competing local association. Then the shit hit the fan. The merger agreement stipulated that the guys moving over from the other association would receive the same level and number of games as with their old association. Most of these guys (not all) were horrible officials who were getting full varsity schedules, while our competent, proficient guys with a few years of experience under their belts, were only getting subvarsity games.

It took a few years, with some hiccups, but we eventually came up with a better system that rewards competence, and proficiency, rather than a certain number of years experience.

That sounds about right. 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.

Just depends on the area. We're certainly an "old" state overall and the shortage talk has come up, but the way varsity games are assigned prevents it from being too much of an issue as it relates to simply covering the games.

I know more than one official who got hired for college ball before getting his first varsity assignment. Say what you want, but in my state if you're competent enough for that level, there's no reason you can't handle a high school varsity game. I bet over half of the officials getting full varsity schedules statewide wouldn't get hired by a college assigner, if you just look at ability.

I haven't heard of a young official getting impatient and just quitting, but a lot of the college students end up moving out of state for their real jobs, or just deciding they don't like officiating. Thing is, most young officials getting into college ball don't have the luxury of just quitting high school altogether if they want a full schedule.
I'm torn. I understand "paying your dues" but think that has to be balanced with getting officials on varsity games when they are ready, if you really want to keep them and aren't just paying lip service. When 30-year veterans that haven't improved since their third year talk about how they've "earned" the right to work big games, that's an issue and discourages young officials who, quite frankly, are better. At the same time, I don't agree with pushing out the veterans who are competent and respected to make room for the "new generation."

So, somewhere there's a sweet spot but I'm not sure where that is. I think five years is too long as a general rule. I think being varsity-eligible in one's third year would be a good solution; if someone isn't ready then don't use him/her, but don't hold back the officials who are getting college schedules after two years (as I have seen).

People moving shouldn't be an issue since people move both ways. In general, for every person moving out, someone moves in.
Think about the effect of having a pipeline to put most new officials on varsity games in <5 years. To make room for them, you have to push people out the other end (those would mostly quit rather than step back to JV). Then, when the next generation of new officials wants those varsity games, you'll have to push the last group of "new" officials out too. You'll effectively force careers to be no more than about 10 years and will need an entirely new set of officials every 4-5 years. With as shorthanded as many groups are, you really can't afford to do things that reduce your numbers. You have to keep the older generation in just to cover your games. It is a balancing act. It is more of a problem with the younger generation expecting to shoot to the top fast. It isn't unique to officiating, it is a problem everywhere.

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

Move Up The Chart With A Bullet ...
 

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".

Well, both our perspectives are good arguments for why mandatory experience requirements are dumb. In a perfect world, assigners should be able to use their discretion to decide when officials are (not) ready for varsity, or whether certain officials need to move down or move on. Every situation is unique.

It would never work in my state. The rating structure is too ingrained in the culture.

I'm with you. Ideally there shouldn't be any "mandatory" experience years and it should be up to the assigner to use whatever criteria (s)he values (like college officiating). One-size-fits-all policies just don't work. But unfortunately with states/associations that have rating structures like mine, experience requirements are unlikely to go away.

We have a structure too. My point was that we are going to structure ourselves out of having officials to cover games and keeping officials. Or what should be the most important thing, get the very best on the games regardless of who they are or where they might come from. Now here any assignor or conference can hire anyone they want that is licensed. They do not have to use any criteria officials to hire someone for any level game. But for the playoffs we have a structure where the longer you have been in the game, they hire those with certain experience criteria. I do not have an issue with that policy to some extent, but waiting for people to get 20 years in before you assign them major tournament games should not be a standard. Telling official that they should only work so many state finals and now we move on from you is not the best way to have the best officials in the most high profile situations. Standards are great, but let us not have standards that automatically make the deck stacked against some people when they might be the most talented.

Peace

The difference between your rating structure and ours is that ours impacts regular season and postseason assignments.

I'm not focusing on the specifics of a system (yours or mine). I am talking about how we prevent officials from feeling like this is something they need to try. One of the reasons people stop officiating high school sports is the systems that are put into place to make roadblocks for their opportunity. When they get certain opportunities they go in those directions rather than stay with the high school game. Often that is the fault of the systems put into place that does not allow them to grow at that level. If you had not noticed, I was stating that our system had barriers to getting certain places and that has had officials say, "I will just work college." They might not get 50 college games, but if they work 25, that might be enough for them. Heck in some cases you get paid just as much for the fewer games.

Peace

I noticed completely what you were trying to say and agree with you. I was only pointing out the major difference between our two states' rating systems.

This makes sense, that there are artificial barriers in place to people moving up. If there are fewer officials, period, this is problematic, because it prevents games from being covered. There are several possibilities to get around this: take "ready-made" officials from college/university intramural programs, recruit downward by getting local college officials to work high school games on their days off and to mentor high school officials, or accelerate newer officials judiciously by providing targeted training (put subvarsity officials in a program to teach 3P mechanics and have them work rec/travel/adult games that would otherwise be 2P as 3P games for experience, with spot varsity assignments to the best trainees/those near the end of the program, or assign MS officials to work 8th/9th grade rec/travel games, with some freshman/JV assignments to get the best of them next-level exposure. Those with existing experience (transfers/dual members/intramural officials) can be evaluated and accelerated as needed).

Any other solutions to alleviate the numbers crunch and reduce artificial constraints? Recruiting college officials down might put experienced officials in the playoffs or on high-profile games, while allowing younger officials to work alongside and learn from them.

There are plenty of good ideas, none of them are going to work. I live in an area where 2 NBA refs are actively recruiting and assigning officials to work games from the lowest levels all the way up to 2 independent 4-year colleges. We are still struggling to:
#1 get officials on the roster
#2 get officials to take training seriously.

We are on a downward slide in officiating that I don't think we're ever going to recover from.

We have a lot of differences around the country. Not surprised by the multiple differences anymore I guess.

Peace

Living In A Vacuum ...
 

Nor am I. And I didn't realize it until I joined the Forum.

https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.q...=0&w=260&h=174

I have some experience with college intramural officials as one of my better friends runs an intermural program on a major college campus. One of the issues with officials from those programs is they often do not have the transportation or the time to work games all the way out. This is especially true if they do not have the desire or commitment to the craft yet. But those that get the bug often do very well, but it is getting those out of their comfort zone to officiate real games. The intermural environment is very different than a game where the bullet are really flying in an actual middle school or high school environment. My friend had done a lot to get those officials to work games and it often does not work for most. Again the behavior of the participants and fans often is the main deterrent to those getting into the profession.

I do feel we need to do a better job to recruit younger officials. The problem is again that younger people do not see the desire to get into officiating in any sport. They do not see the value in being apart of a sport that they played. We even have a harder time to get young women that played the sport. Often the people that officiate are men that never played the game at any significant level in the first place. Most of the people we get here are men that who watched a child play sports in high school or college and then they get into officiating to stay connected to the sport.

I run a "Beginning Officials Class" and almost all the new students are people in the classes are in their 40s and older.

Peace

The Great Recession ...
 

Maybe we need another recession? We got a lot of new officials back in 2009-2010. There was a waiting list to get trained. Turned many away.

https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.n...=0&w=300&h=300

I agree. I found it especially difficult to recruit in rural areas. The younger guys I know who actually have interest will not do it because they have young families. We drive 100+ miles to do games sometimes. That is a lot of time away from home. It is only going to get worse as older guys retire.

Crazy Town ...
 

That's crazy. My longest trip (one way) is 55 miles.

I hope that you get to work one of those boy/girl doubleheaders after such a long journey, and/or get mileage.

Wasn't there a Forum member a few years ago that used to take airplane trips to his games in Alaska? That's also crazy.

I worked a game a few years ago where the visiting team took the ferry from Fishers Island, a small island in Long Island Sound (between Connecticut and Long Island, New York) to Connecticut. Fishers Island School only has about 70 students total, from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Now that was also crazy. I wonder who works their home games and what teams take the ferry to play Fishers Island School?

Double header varsity games are nice but most nights they are not DH. Pay is about $90 for a jv/varsity game. One guy will usually get milage so we try to ride with each other most times. There are times when the officials come from different towns and some schools will pay us each milage. Our trips are 30-100+ miles (one way). The furthest I traveled last year was 180 miles (one way) for a DH. A friend of mine had a guy back out so I stepped up. That milage check was nice but my whole day was lost. I am not sure it was worth it. I don't think I would do it again.

Puddle Jumpers ...
 

That's insane. Connecticut is only 120 miles wide at it's widest.

Book a seat on one of those puddle jumpers, like they do in Alaska.

https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.e...=0&w=241&h=178

Please tell me that that's the pay for each game of the jv/varsity doubleheader, not the pay for both games.

No. The going rates that most schools in the area pay are $60 for a varsity game and $30 for a JV game. There are some schools that pay a little more because they realize guys have to travel farther to get to the games.

Throw In A Restaurant Gift Certificate ...
 

No wonder you have trouble recruiting new talent. From what you've told us, you couldn't recruit me if you promised me a state final my first year.

(Connecticut Game Fees for 2018-2019: Varsity Fee: $97.17, Subvarsity Fee: $63.05. No mileage. Fees per person for a two person game.)

At those rates, it probably costs you to work a game between all the expenses.

Serious Throw-Back
 

Nice reference!

Let's Misbehave ...
 

It's actually in both the opening and closing of Woody Allen's 1972 film, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask).

If you like lots of cute bunnies, or 1920's Cole Porter tunes, or 1970's Woody Allen films, click on the link.

It's not basketball related at all, so if you expect a basketball video, don't click on the link.

This comes from an earlier post where I stated that charter schools, and magnet schools, multiply like rabbits here in Connecticut.

https://youtu.be/BCT2NK0OFc8

Warning: The song is "catchy", it will stay in your head all day. You've been warned.

Enjoy.

Similar rates here, I had a thread prior to last season that tried to outline fees per state.

Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price ...
 

Having any problems recruiting new talent?

About travel issues, it probably depends on the quality of transportation options available. In the DC Metro Area, I am able to get around on a combination of public transportation and Uber, on days that I don't have access to a car. If there is reliable public transit (or at least Über, ridesharing, and/or taxi service available), then transportation is less of a problem. If not, associations might consider creating a carpool system to ensure that officials can ride to games together (this would help those officials without cars).

A carpool system would also be useful for associations with large coverage areas, because even officials with cars might find it easier to ride to a neutral area to meet partners, and then ride as a crew to their game from that neutral site, than to drive the 50+ or 100+ miles alone. Heck, part of the pregame conference might already be covered on the ride to the game site. Maybe multiple officials could be assigned to ride together from a subvarsity game to a varsity game (e.g. the U1 and U2 come to Boondocks High School from the City High School boys JV game to work the Boondocks boys varsity game with the R, who already had the Boondocks JV game).

For younger officials, I would conduct sales pitches not only with the potential officials themselves, but also with significant others and/or family. This way, the people important to potential officials' lives would understand the benefits and sacrifices that officiating entails early in the process, and would decide whether and how to support their loved ones in officiating. I would also pitch the opportunities for advancement and mobility in the officiating profession, opportunities for recognition and development, and the opportunity to earn better money than in most part-time jobs. This is an element that has appealed to officials historically (cf. Ed Hochuli and Pop Warner football officiating when he was a law school student).

All sounds wonderful, but no one is going through all of that to cover games. I get that some might need rides, but if I have to go out of my way to assign you a game, then that might be an issue. It is hard enough for an assignor to get people that can come to the game, now you want them to assign games for others to be the reason they get there? Then if that person for some reason cannot pick up the person, now you have to find another person to replace the two assignments.

That is a lot of work.

Peace

Extreme issues. I believe historically, at least around here, schools played most of their basketball games on Tuesdays and Fridays. About two years ago the association met with the athletic directors and governing body to equal out games per day. They now try to have about the same amount of games played all six available days of the week Mon-Sat.

In terms of recruitment around 09-12 the new officials class would have 40-60 people in it each year. Now I believe the numbers have been 10-15 the last 2-3 years. It is not sustainable with the numbers of officials we have retiring each year. Also, around here there are more schools being built and athletic programs being added. Each year as we have less officials and there are more and more games to cover.

I'm just surprised the ADs were willing to actually consider the officials in making their schedules.

One Person Mechanics ...
 

It probably came down to that, not playing games, or playing one-person games.

When athletic directors keep getting, "Sorry. Nobody available", from the assigner every time they schedule, or reschedule, a game, they'll eventually get the point.

Monster Magnet ...
 

Around here it's new magnet schools, and new charter schools.

We've seen a slight dip in subvarsity girls programs around here, a few schools couldn't field a girls junior varsity team last season, and very few schools have a freshman girls team.

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.i...=0&w=300&h=300

Why would that be surprising? Even here some conference games were played on "off nights" in order to get officials they might not get if they played all their games on a Friday. I know that in many cases that were made to have officials that worked boys games to be available. I am not talking about half the season, but certainly, a game on off nights was moved to get a better crowd and sometimes to get better crews for that night as well. Keep in mind we do not do two games in a night.

Do not get me wrong, we often not considered at all in any things schools do. But if they want officials, they better do something.

Peace

I believe prior to this a variety of schools received the answer that there were no officials to work the schools game on Friday. My understanding is that this happened to almost half of their games scheduled on Fridays. Then they had to do last minute changes generally which no one wants to deal with. Like others have said they really didn't have a choice in the matter the games were already being moved to off days during the season. At least working with the relevant parties on scheduling prior to the season allowed them to avoid all the changes.

I guess that was my point. Normally officials are an afterthought for schools until something goes wrong, but the shortage must be getting so dire in some places that schools have to be proactive in scheduling around when officials will be most available.

I wonder how your assigner decided which schools got officials and which ones had to reschedule.

The Old Fashioned Way ...
 

We have about 6 assignors for our area, it was mostly the smaller and charter schools that were left out. This is probably for two reasons.

1. Lower profile games which may make them theoretically easier to move
2. Our process is different from most as I understand it. We receive all of our games for the entire season from the draw on or about October 31st. Many of the smaller schools don't get their schedule in in time to be part of the process so the officials for these schools are assigned manually with what is left. All of the games and officials are ranked so the higher ranked games will be filled first till there is no qualified referees left.

Interesting. It certainly helps to have a degree of certainty as to who does what games, but how does your area deal with turnbacks, transfer officials, and dual-level officials (High School and College)? IMO, I might only know for sure what my availability is for the next month, unless there are set dates that I need to be present for (e.g. association/state meetings) or I cannot work on (e.g. the day before a final exam), and scheduling me for the entire season might lead to awkward situations in that regard. If the entire schedule is set in advance, then transfer officials might not have as much of a chance to get games compared to established officials, simply because the assigners have not seen them work, or may not know about them, other than through references from former associations.

Missed Christmas Parties ...
 

After being a Forum member for thirteen years, it is my understanding that some officials sign contracts anywhere from eighteen months, to twenty four months, in advance.

Rich is an assigner and official in one of those "18-24 month" states, I believe.

I don't get it, personally. Assigners are creating more work for themselves by giving games that far out because there certainly are a high number of turnbacks. It's unreasonable to expect an official to know what his/her availability will be on a specific date months/years in advance.

In my state there are many schools that probably don't even have their schedules finalized for the impending season. Getting varsity games 2-3 weeks out is the norm here, 1-2 weeks for subvarsity. I wouldn't want to get games much earlier than that; there are too many things that can change with respect to my availability.

When in Rome...

Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Heat Nor Gloom Of Night …
 

Same here in my little corner of Connecticut.

Now.

Back in the Ancient Days before computers, the internet, email, and Arbiter, we were assigned games through "snail mail" delivered by the United States Postal Service. We mailed (not email) in our availability calendar (it was an actual physical calendar) in September/October, and received our assignments for the entire season a few weeks before the season began. Turnbacks, and reschedules, were handled by Ma Bell's land line telephones, some with rotary dials (Goggle it young'uns). Somehow, it worked. It worked for our assigner, and it worked for us. Hard to believe, but it's true.

Now I have to go out shopping for a new buggy whip.

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=OIP.pNs...95&w=170&h=108

True, but he's sort of forced to do it that far out. If he doesn't, someone else will grab all the better officials and he'll be left with the leftovers. His schools will be unsatisfied with what he has and will find someone else.

That is one of the downsides of having multiple assignors in the same area. With just one, it doesn't matter how early the schools get their schedules out.

Right and I get that, but speaking from an official’s perspective I’d hate to have to commit to a Tuesday night in December months, if not years, in advance just to find out a few weeks before that I have to go on a business trip for my bill-paying job. Is the assigner really going to give me a hard time for giving that game back?

And I can only imagine how s*itty it would feel to be a transfer coming into a state like Wisconsin just to be told that games for the next two seasons are already given out and you’re basically just a fill-in.

Really it is the schools that ultimately force the assigners to schedule this way by making their game schedules so far in advance. Like I mentioned, in my state schools weren’t even thinking about 2018-19 basketball schedules until this past summer, and there are plenty that are still trying to get their last dates filled before practice starts.

It is easy whenever Friday is a premium date for all officials (at least on with boys games). Everybody works on Friday for the most part at all levels. Tuesday is another boys typical game night. If you work girls basketball, you likely get a combination with the other dates. If you are a college official, you likely will not working high school games on Saturday for the most part.

So yes you do know what you are doing here when that is the standard. My goal as an official early in my career was to work a varsity boys game every Tuesday and Friday during the week. I get it that it is different, but not hard to deal with when those are things that have been done since I was in high school which was in the 80s and 90s.

The games for the coming season I started to receive almost 14 months in advance in some cases.

Peace

$15.00 ...
 

Our local policy: Game Turn Back Due To Not Closing Date - Fine $15.00

You’re completely ignoring conflicts that come up in one’s personal life that can’t be foreseen from so far out. Officiating high school basketball is not most people’s first priority.

We’re supposed to lose a rating point each time it happens here. Not sure how strictly that’s actually enforced. But it’s not really comparable since we get games just a couple weeks out.

Counterproductive ...
 

Hopefully, most assigners realize that and act appropriately when their officials encounter such conflicts. To do otherwise could lead to a loss of officials who want to "work" for them.

We do not have this issue as you are making out to be. Again I know Fridays are a premium day to work basketball (and football). I tell people in my life, "I cannot do anything on Fridays and Saturdays until March." That pretty much holds up.

And everyone that has been doing this knows the days for their level during the week. I know Saturdays college assignors most of their staff to work (we get those months in advance as well). If you have a real conflict you either give back a game or you don't make yourself available. Most people that even have work issues know times and situations where they cannot work long before any game is assigned. They know that annual meeting or company trip they have to take. If it changes you address it when you know (assignors usually do not care if you did it the right way).

The funny thing I already know that basketball or officiating is not people's first priority. But what day are you going to all of a sudden know you will not work a couple weeks out? If there is a death you likely not know that until it happens. We know birthdays and anniversaries well in advance. I know people that know when their office Christmas Party is going to be held and do not work if need be that day. Our season starts around Thanksgiving, I know a year in advance how many games I am working after Thanksgiving or around Thanksgiving. I know when I am working after Christmas too. All big family events and if I do not want to take the chance I do not work.

This is about the culture of the area you work games. It is in our culture of this to get the games well in advance. If those do not want to work, they can not make themselves available. It is really that simple. But if you wait until a month out, you likely are not going to get any games on those days because the schedule was well finalized and made. At least that is the case at the varsity level.

Peace

That's simply not true. Most of us assign by crew. If one official turns a game back, the crew finds a replacement. If that person is good enough for the CREW (who has to work with him/her), that person's good enough for me. Unless I've been burned by that person and won't hire him/her, of course.

I have 350 games to assign. If I'm the only conference not assigning 15 months in advance, I am not getting ANY of the best crews.

It also ignores the fact that we don't get our most of our college assignments until October/early November.

We also do not get our college games until that time. But if you are really a college official, you know not to take any high school games on Saturdays or common conference days (which can vary). It is not necessarily common that you get an afternoon high school game. And anyone that assigns me or others know that if we get a college game, we are not working the high school game. I for the first time ever in my career had a game on Friday that was a college game. I told the assignor to take me off of the game and he did just that without any issues. If that is a problem then I will work for someone else that understands and most clearly do.

Peace

Things are just different in your area. We don't find subs here (or in other states I've worked in, or for college games) if we have to give a game back.

I also think the crew concept in basketball is dumb, and further excludes new/transfer officials. I get that that's not your problem as an assigner, but still. I'd hate to have to relocate to Wisconsin from an officiating perspective (and because of the weather).

I get why YOU assign 15 months out, in the context of the way things work in your state. My point was that overall, as a system, I would not be a fan and am glad games here don't generally go out more than 3 weeks ahead of time.

I didn't make it an issue. I simply think it's an unfavorable setup and am glad things don't work that way here.

As you always say, states can do things their own way.

I'd leave every high school date open, and give back however many games I had to based on the college games I get. Too many things can happen. What if you get removed from one of the college conferences you work for? Now there's no guarantee you'll be able to work on those dates you blocked thinking you'd have a college game.

On the other hand, I get paid to assign games once. Not assign, have a turn-back, assign again, etc. etc.

Note -- I don't work for the association or for the officials. I hire for the schools and they pay me.

We do assign singles for a few schools -- those 6 schools I outsource to an association who does do some assigning as part of what they do. Those assignments are usually done about 6 months in advance.

That's fine, but turnbacks are a price assigners pay for sending contracts that far in advance. It's not reasonable to expect officials to have 100% accurate availability so far out.

It's the culture here. If you take a game and sign a contract and need to get off it, the assigner decides how it's filled.

I have caught officials turning back games to work a better game or a closer game or one that pays more money. Unless it's a college game, that's not acceptable. If an official needs off a game and is then seen on TV highlights working elsewhere....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Variety Is The Spice Of Life ...
 

When in Rome ...

One of the things I like about officiating is the collegiality. With 325 guys on my local board, I seldom work with the same official more than once per season, but over a period of almost forty years I have worked a dozen times, or more, with many of them. I also work with guys that I've never worked with before. I enjoy both catching up with the veterans (kids out of college, how's the new job, how many grandchildren), and getting to know newer guys (what do you do for a living). In regard to the social aspect of officiating (important to a retired, divorced guy like myself who lives alone with his cat), it's never boring here in my little corner of Connecticut. With my recent orthopedic problems, I'm probably just a few years away from not actively working games, and I'm sure that I will miss the social aspect of officiating more than anything else.

When I work with a veteran whom I haven't worked with in a while, and they say, "It's been a few years", I usually reply, "That's because I told our assigner that I didn't want to work with you anymore". Yeah, our local veterans have "chain yanking" down to a science. That's what makes it so much fun. Yeah, the money's good, the game's challenging, but the fun is the best part of officiating for me. After all, basketball is still just a game, and games are supposed to be fun.

On the other hand, my crew is also 3/5 of our football crew and we're all close friends. I like that. I also like working with other people, but not all the time.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

With Eyes Wide Open ...
 

With all due respect, and I know little about assigning, other than I would never do it, aren't you paid to reschedule due to weather, illness, injuries, turnbacks, etc., not as a separate fee, but as part of the job that most assigners are expected to do.

It's like somebody saying that they don't pay local property taxes because they rent. They do pay property taxes, but not to the city, but to their landlord, it's part of the rent, the landlord then pays the property taxes. It would be foolish for a landlord not to consider property taxes when they determine the rent payment.

If an assigner goes into the job thinking that they won't have to make adjustments along the way, and they sign a contract for a certain fee with that impression, hasn't the assigner made a big mistake, both financially and in terms of time commitment?

I'm pretty sure that Rich knew this already, and was referring to excessive turnbacks that could have been avoided by adjusting one's availability (I forgot that I'm in a bowling league every Wednesday night).