I am in my 5th year as an official and will be most likely moving to one of these areas next spring(Wife in Med school and is interviewing for Residency in these cities). I was looking for information on how to get registered in these states and the good Officials Associations in those areas.

Also looking for how games are scheduled in the areas as well as do most officials do one game(varsity) or 2 games(JV/Var) a night.

Thanks for your help.

In Ohio, you can go to http://www.ohsaa.org web site. They have an officials section there that talks about registration. It also list all the assigners.

In Indianapolis, http://www.ioaofficials.com. There are 2 other associations in this area, Crossroads (http://www.crossroadsofficials.org) & Fall Creek. If I discover their websites, I'll post them for you.

If you are also a football official, you definitely want to be in the IOA.

[Edited by Indy_Ref on Oct 31st, 2003 at 09:04 AM]

Scheduling games?
 

How are the games scheduled?

Indy-ref - Are refs scheduled by an association assignor or do the schools or conferences have assignors that do this?
Asking you specifically because right now Indianapolis is the highest on my wife's list.

Thanks.

Re: Scheduling games?
 

Jerry,

Scheduling is quite different here...not only in Indianapolis, but statewide. Officials, by directly calling AD's, schedule most of their own games. Only a few assignors exist here. The conference with the largest schools, the North Central Conference, uses a conference assignor. I believe a few areas up north use assignors too. However, I would guess that less than 15% of all games are assigned.

Some associations also have their own assignors. These schedulers usually only assign for a small number of area schools. The majority of an official's schedule is done by himself. In my earlier years, I spent LOTS of time on the phone trying to convince AD's to give me varsity games. Now that my name is out and I officiate in both the boys' and girls' state tournament, I don't have to do that as much.

There are also a few schools who use veteran officials to assign their school's varsity games. The AD's of these schools develope close relationships with veteran officials as the years go by...so much so that they might turn over some of their schedule to that particular official for him to fill.

Lastly, I only know of a few schools who schedule an official to work both the JV & V games.

So, an official's schedule depends on how aggressive he/she wants to be.

I found Ohio to be similar to IN
 

Jerry,
I was in Athens Ohio for a year and found it to be similar to IndyRef's descripition of his state. I moved in and had to find the local official who assigned all JV and middle school games for the local high schools. There was no chance for varsity that year because crews get the games a year in advance. It was very strange to walk in the lockerroom after the game and hear him ask the crew, "So, when do you want to come back next year?" Luckily (for me at least) I am now in Maryland where assignors are independent from the schools.

In NC, you must first register with the NCHSAA through a local booking association. In Raleigh/Durham, it's the Triangle Officials Association. Bill Kelley is the booking agent and can be reached at (919)772-6575.

JV officials may do 1 or 2 games. They generally start around 4:30.

Varsity officials generally work a girls/boys doubleheader for $70, flat fee, no travel.

Check out http://www.leboa.org for Cleveland officials. Lists local assigners 'n' such. Games fill up quickly around here, and it would be tough to find too many open games for this year at this point of the season

All officials work only one game unless working a Frosh/JV double header. JV's are usually all $35 and all Varsity are three-person crews paying $50.

Thanks for the help guys. I will most likely ask for help again when it is decided where we are heading.

Ouch, this is bad news to Central Missouri. Jerry, you will be a tremendous loss. You progressed so quickly and becoming a super official. I hope that you learned something during the few times that we chatted. It is always a pleasure to work with great attitudes as yours. There is no doubt that you will be a valuable official where ever you end up. Please use me a as a reference, if necessary.
regards,
John

Thanks John I will definetly use you as a reference. Hopefully we will run in to each sometime this season. I always appreciate your feedback and advice.

Good luck to your wife in getting matched!