State Level Shenanigans
 

The Virginia High School League has decided (during an officials shortage and crisis) to re-instate the in person MANDATORY Rules Clinic. They have selected just 8 dates at sites all at least 2 hours from each other. Officials must attend or they cannot work.

If one positive from COVID is evident, it was that we can do virtual options and get more participation for required rules clinic viewing.

What a joke. I bet the state loses 10-15% MORE officials that have to work on the date near their home and don't want to drive 2 hours one way to attend another clinic.

Why not ease back into in person and offer a virtual option for those that cannot attend with a fee?? If you want to make money .. THERE YA GO

There are 2 sites in my area that are about 40 minutes apart, one on the Peninsula, one on the Southside.

Honestly, my state got rid of in-person meetings as a requirement over 15 years ago. I wish they would go back to the in-person meetings honestly. It was nice to ask questions and hear a person respond.

Now what the state did here was have meetings in multiple areas where you often were not that far away. But when gas prices spiked after 9-11 this became the model. I think so much is lost just doing everything virtually. But that is my take. I would agree that 2-hour drives are not ideal for these things.

Peace

Great for you Raymond .. I assume Churchland and Jamestown

Out in the Western part of the state you have Abington .. 2 hours to Roanoke .. 2 hours to Harrisonburg

I like the in person as well, but one date or you are screwed is not cool.

You did not say it was one day. My state never did one-day rules meetings for the entire state. And in many cases, there were multiple options to attend different sites. But one day is a stretch.

Peace

Sorry they are all on different days

I meant officials basically have one date in their area .. if not they have to travel.

I really don't see a need for in-person if they plan on doing things they way they used to. There was really not much interaction, just Joyce reading off the slides, no different than her narrating the slides on-line.

Luckily, since I'm now retired, I don't have to attend. :D (Don't know why they chose Jamestown, since it's not even centrally located for the folks in James City County/Williamsburg...LOL; plus the roads to the school are no fun at night)

Mandatory In-Person Meeting ...
 

Same thing here in Connecticut. To be eligible to receive game assignments for the upcoming season, one must attend an in-person "new rules" meeting. Last two seasons (COVID) were Zoom meetings.

Good news is that we have six Connecticut meetings to choose from, on five different dates. As we approach these mandatory meeting dates, we will probably be offered to attend meetings just over the state borders in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, as we have in the past. And, of course, Connecticut is a small state, so no long drives.

And game assignment penalties for missing this mandatory "new rules" meeting are taken quite seriously here in my little corner of Connecticut. Had a buddy miss the mandatory "new rules" meeting because it slipped his mind. Just dumb forgot. By the time he figured it out, all the "new rules" meetings dates throughout Connecticut and nearby states had passed. Too late to attend. After paying his dues for the year, he was assigned zero games. Ouch.

Agree, but keep in mind that I live in a very small state with lots of available meetings to fulfill my mandatory requirement. I'm also retired from my day job and have few (empty nest) family responsibilities at home. Plus, I'm really getting sick of Zoom meetings. Zoom Christmas, Zoom Thanksgiving, and Zoom birthdays, were horrible, as was Zoom church.

My comment was not about your state. I was wishing that here. And the meetings are not on Zoom, they have recorded meetings presentation with constant clicks of the mouse to go to the next section. And often they put things in the meetings that mean nothing to officials like advertisements or things about filing schedules or other administrative things officials have nothing to do with. Many Rules Interpreters would just barely mention those things because the officials in the room could give a damn.

Peace

Fyi
 

My local board here in Virginia had its first meeting of the year on Sunday past. That question was asked. The answer given was that VHSL wanted to introduce the new executive director to the entire state. Who knows?

Mandatory In-Person Meetings ...
 

I was agreeing with you that, like you, I also like in-person meetings.

However, I can certainly understand why others would dislike such mandatory in-person meetings. Long drives. Inflexible day job work schedule. Family responsibilities. I have none of these concerns.

This does not sound very appealing. I certainly understand why you would prefer to go back to the in-person meetings.

It was sometime after the 2004-05 school year that the OhioHSAA went from mandatory In-person State Rules Meetings to mandatory Online State Rules Meetings.

The OhioHSAA is divided into six Districts and for Basketball there would be approximately six to ten State Meetings in each District held in a three week period starting in late October. These meetings lasted from 75 to 90 minutes in length and both Head Coaches and Officials were in attendance with many of the meetings having over 300 people in attendance. The HCs and many Officials did not want to be there especially, especially if the nearest meeting one wanted to attend was on a Monday and everyone wanted to be at home or a bar watching Monday Night Football, :p!

HCs never asked questions and those Officials who wanted to ask questions, many times did not get complete answers because of time constraints.

The nice thing about the Online Meetings is that one can complete when it at a time that is convenient for one and the Meeting can be paused and returned to at a later time to complete it. Also, one can save the URL and review the Meeting later in the season if one desires.

If one does have a question one can email our State Rules Interpreter; of course, I do not email him because I have had to correct him a few times on interpretations that he should know and now he will not return my email, LOL! And Mark, Jr. is more qualified to be the State Rules Interpreter and Mark would rather answer Baseball and Softball questions, but I digress, :D.

The biggest drawback to online meetings is that online meetings meant a mileage deduction and dinner and drinks deduction while watching MNF at the sports bar after the meeting as long as at least one basketball situation was discussed, ;).

MTD, Sr.

Will Not Return My Email ...
 

Sadly, been there, done that.

The baseball/softball rule meetinfs weee worse because you never knew if it was going to sbow the day of, while you were there, on the way home Seemed like those scenarios happened avout every year/other year.

For the most part they were wastes of time unless you needed some gear from Flemings or the other suppliers that would be setup there. Basketball was basically a meet and greet
Haven't heard if the interpreter meeting will be online or in person this be year or not. I imagine its online because usually we've gotten an email for it now.

The OhioHSAA has not sent out an email with the Basketball State Rules Meeting information yet, but the date is already listed on MyOHSAA. The starting date is 09:00amEDT on Wed., Oct. 12th and the last date before the $50 fine kicks in is 11:59pmEST, Fri., Nov. 18th. And the last date period is 11:59pmEST, Jan. 23, 2023.

MTD, Sr.