Camps this Offseason

[ilyazhito]

Fellow Officials! Many of us have registered for camps this offseason hoping to improve our skills, get exposure to assigners, and/or get hired at a higher level. Unfortunately, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many camps have been postponed or cancelled. What do assigners do if their camps get cancelled?

I'm curious, because I'd like to know what will happen. I've registered for 2 teaching camps and 3 tryout camps. One tryout camp is cancelled, one teaching camp is cancelled, and the rest are undetermined. I've also been invited by one of my high school associations into an evaluation and promotion program, but I'm waiting on if that will actually happen. If camps don't happen, how do assigners assess new officials to hire them?

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

If camps don't happen, how do assigners assess new officials to hire them?

At the college level, they don't. And they don't need to in most cases. The majority of college assigners have more officials on their rosters than they truly need to cover their games. The camps are merely money-makers under the guise of training and evaluation, and normally a handful of newbies get picked up. No camp just means they likely won't hire new guys this offseason (and, of course, will miss out on the profits of camp).

But, if an assigner truly does need or wants to hire additional officials, he/she will have "trusted advisers" who can attest to a prospective official's ability (or lack thereof). I know one guy who is getting in a league by word of mouth for 2020-21, and I would assume the expectation will be that he attends camp in 2021.

Maybe this pandemic will blow up the camp racket. I won't hold my breath though.

[JRutledge]

It is going to be very difficult for any college assignor to hire people he or she has never seen before. They might be able to take the word of some people that are on staff or they respect or ask for some recommendations, but that is a very hard thing to expect because there is so much at stake and that applies to all levels of college. Now a high school situation might be a little different as there are likely people that you would work for that have seen you work on some level. But not sure how that is going. Heck we are still trying to figure out if we are going to have a season, so it might not even matter at this point.

Peace

[Raymond]

Staffs are going to be reduced. Also there's talk of rolling back game fees because of financial strains on the colleges and universities.

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[SC Official]

Originally Posted by Raymond

Staffs are going to be reduced. Also there's talk of rolling back game fees because of financial strains on the colleges and universities.

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Not to mention the possibility that schools will cut basketball altogether.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Raymond

Staffs are going to be reduced. Also there's talk of rolling back game fees because of financial strains on the colleges and universities.

Do you mean D1 staffs? Or staffs in general?

Peace

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Do you mean D1 staffs? Or staffs in general?



Peace

I know my D1 supervisor is dropping more than he'll hire, that's if he hires anybody. I'll probably be on the cut list because of my age and recent injury.

I have my thoughts on what's going to go on but I don't want to get into all the politics.

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[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Raymond

Staffs are going to be reduced. Also there's talk of rolling back game fees because of financial strains on the colleges and universities.

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Officials should only be okay with that if the assignors/conference supervisors, university athletic directors, and coaches all take the same pay cut.

[crosscountry55]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Officials should only be okay with that if the assignors/conference supervisors, university athletic directors, and coaches all take the same pay cut.

I agree in principle, but it’s a principle we don’t have the leverage to stand on. Whether we like to admit it or not, the price point for our service is pretty low.

That said, I don’t see the D3/D2 arena with much wiggle room. Those game fees coupled with the travel and time commitments are already rock bottom. If you lower them any more you might retain the D1 dreamers but you’ll lose your veterans. And as NASO data readily show, there aren’t many dreamers left coming up through the HS level to replace them.


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[SC Official]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

I agree in principle, but it’s a principle we don’t have the leverage to stand on. Whether we like to admit it or not, the price point for our service is pretty low.

That said, I don’t see the D3/D2 arena with much wiggle room. Those game fees coupled with the travel and time commitments are already rock bottom. If you lower them any more you might retain the D1 dreamers but you’ll lose your veterans. And as NASO data readily show, there aren’t many dreamers left coming up through the HS level to replace them.


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I disagree. There will always be enough officials who will do whatever it takes to call themselves "college officials" and get as many games as possible. There's nothing wrong with that necessarily, but it does mean that a decrease in game fees likely isn't going to affect the makeup of an overall staff for a particular league.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by SC Official

I disagree. There will always be enough officials who will do whatever it takes to call themselves "college officials" and get as many games as possible. There's nothing wrong with that necessarily, but it does mean that a decrease in game fees likely isn't going to affect the makeup of an overall staff for a particular league.

There are certainly fewer slots. And working a single college game does not make you a college official. Working multiple weekends and likely multiple conferences really makes you a college official. But again this is very much subjected to where you are in the country. Some areas like my area has several schools all over the place at different levels. You might live in an area where you only have a D2 conference and it is spread out all over the place.

Peace

[Player989random]

So far all of my camps have been cancelled, except for one in Texas which was rescheduled to late June. That ticked me off, because D1 extended the dead period to July, and DII can only recruit on-campus. I'm not so naive to believe that some college coaches won't be there, but I have friends who coach AAU on the East Coast, and they've told me they've cancelled all events for their players until July/August. This is clearly so the assignor can collect a check, and the people hosting the tournament don't have to issue a refund.

I also have another assignor who keeps sending us emails saying that "Our camps will be rescheduled to the late summer/early fall." Sure.

Originally Posted by Raymond

Staffs are going to be reduced. Also there's talk of rolling back game fees because of financial strains on the colleges and universities.

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I do college soccer, and one of the leagues sent our assignor an email requesting that we hold off on bumping up our pay, and it included the details for all sports in that conference. It totals to an extra $20 a game; not per person, but per game. Basketball was adding an additional $5 per person, and they're asking for that to be suspended. Tough times.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Player989random

...



I also have another assignor who keeps sending us emails saying that "Our camps will be rescheduled to the late summer/early fall." Sure.





...

I'm pretty sure we're both receiving that email from the same person.

But since I'm coming off a season where I injured my knee and had surgery and lost about 80-90% of my season, I'm looking forward to opportunities to get on the court....assuming that I want to get on the court in a Covid-19 environment.



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[SC Official]

No surprise that assigners want you to believe they will have camp later this summer. The damage to their pocketbooks should they not get to have camp would be significant.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Fellow Officials! Many of us have registered for camps this offseason hoping to improve our skills, get exposure to assigners, and/or get hired at a higher level. Unfortunately, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many camps have been postponed or cancelled. What do assigners do if their camps get cancelled?

I'm curious, because I'd like to know what will happen. I've registered for 2 teaching camps and 3 tryout camps. One tryout camp is cancelled, one teaching camp is cancelled, and the rest are undetermined. I've also been invited by one of my high school associations into an evaluation and promotion program, but I'm waiting on if that will actually happen. If camps don't happen, how do assigners assess new officials to hire them?

Camps are not necessary for hiring. Recommendations to a supervisor or that person or his designee observing the official elsewhere can suffice. Camps are simply a way for supervisors to make money and if it could be demonstrated that they are essentially a kickback to the person doing the hiring, then the system would be illegal under federal law.