What season # is this for you? Retirement Looming?

[Raymond]

I started officiating late in life, at 37 years old. This is my 19th season of high school basketball, 17th season of junior college basketball with a few seasons missing, and 12th season of NCAA basketball.

I plan on eliminating high school basketball after this season so that my 20th season of officiating is only working college basketball.

I don't know what I'm going to do after that 20th season yet. My joints are taking a beating and I have it arthritic knee that I refuse to get a shot in. I'm 6 foot 5 and 260 lb, so that is a lot of pounding running up and down the court. I have a goal of making the national D3 tournament and/or my D2 conference tournament, but I won't hang around for that if my body can't handle it.

it is possible that after I retire from college basketball I may still do some high school basketball.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Lcubed48]

I'm an old fart (71 years young) who returned to officiating late. This will be my 15th season since returning. I won't be "that guy" who everyone can see should hang it up but doesn't. As long as my body says that it's okay and I'm enjoying the game, I'll continue.

[Player989random]

I'm in my 7th season of HS, and 3rd season of JUCO & NCAA. A lot of guys I entered the NCAA with are dropping it, and I'm asking myself is it worth it to keep going? I enjoy it, but are there better things in life than driving 3 hours to BFE, PA, waiting 1.5 hours till tip, reffing for 2 hours, and then driving 3 hours home? For $190?

Probably. But we'll see. I hope to hit 30 years overall, but who knows.

[ilyazhito]

I hope you get to Division 1, or the NBA, if that is what you aspire to. I'm in my 5th season overall, and 2nd season at the varsity level. I'll continue officiating for as long as God allows me to, and I also want to be able to go out on top (a championship assignment of some sort).

[grunewar]

Like several of the others here, I started later in life. I began after I coached my kids in all their sports, and they were pretty much done with school and I had some time to spare.

I'm older (59) and have been reffing for 15 yrs. I pick and choose my games and can do as many at whatever level as I want. I won't do more than three a day as I don't feel I can give 100% after that. I mostly do HS Var and older Church and Rec Leagues (18U and 16U). I seldom do AAU.

I average ~ 150 games a yr and have had my share of injuries over the yrs AND three surgeries! Last yr I developed a problem with my iliotibial band in my right knee which side-lined me for most of the HS season. I now where knee braces, stretch more, takes some meds, and actually feel pretty good. We'll see how it goes this Jan/Feb and if I can do my usual 50 games or so those two months.

I agree that when the players beat me down the court and I don't feel I can keep up, I'll stop doing the V games. Younger Rec ball I can keep going for a while more.

I still like the exercise, enjoy the camaraderie with my peers, and feel I can continue to teach and mentor junior officials for a while more.

[billyu2]

When I got to the point in my 30 years of officiating where I started to consider when to retire, I was working exclusively varsity basketball. Over the years I had collected these three principles to guide my final decision.
1. It's better to go out a little too early than too late regarding your health,
attitude and level of competency.
2. Be honest with yourself so you can make the call. Not a doctor or assigners.
Knew of guys who thought they could still do it. Assigners thought
otherwise and either had to tell them or, worse yet, phased them out
with no explanation. The guys couldn't understand it.
3. If possible, try to make or hope your final game is unique and memorable.

[ilyazhito]

Billy, so are you already retired, or are you just considering retiring now. That might influence what you have to say. If you're still active, may the Force be with you, and may you get a playoff game on the way out. If you are retired, congratulations on a long and successful.career, and may you enjoy retirement.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by billyu2

If possible, try to make or hope your final game is unique and memorable.

Even though I gave back my entire varsity schedule last year, there was one late afternoon vocational technical school varsity game that my assigner left on my schedule, a game between two rival vocational technical schools that generated enough interest for a local television station to assign a camera crew to the game. During a timeout I mentioned to the reporter that this was going to be my last varsity game due to a chronic medical condition. The game turned out to be one-sided so the story on the late night news, weather, and sports featured me as a retiring veteran. "Let's go to the videotape" meant let's go to BillyMac.