How Much Has Your Apearence Hurt You,Or Helped You As A Referee

[Love2ref4Ever]

First thing,Seasons Greetings To Everyone!
For the last 9 years as a official I have been over weight!
At the end of the summer I finally did some hard work on myself,And the results have been excellent.For the first time since becoming a official,I have started the season in shape.To my surprise I have been getting very nice compliments from my fellow officials. And believe it or not even coaches and players have said they see a difference in my apearence.Since loosing the weight, I have had the opportunity to work games and not even sweat! My outlook as a official has changed so much,I have always went to camp out of shape, And now I can't wait to go to camp for the first time honestly in shape.The question I would like to present is " How Much Has Your Apearence Hurt You,Or Helped You As A Referee?

[JRutledge]

I am very slim and athletic and it has seemed to help me. In all my evaluations in camp, I get complemented about my look. I am one of the few officials that do not have a bear belly or look like they struggle to get up and down the court.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by JRutledge
I am one of the few officials that do not have a bear belly or look like they struggle to get up and down the court.

I certainly don't have a beer belly, since I don't drink. I prefer to call it a baby belly, but I don't have any trouble getting up and down the court. But I have had people point out my appearance in my evals usually politely such as, "Needs to lose weight" "looks a little heavy". Last year I lost 50 lbs from Jan to June and I could tell the difference! My mentor also notices and told me I might be able to get some varsity games next year, but only if I lose weight. So apparently it is affecting my progress, at least a little.

[BigDave]

Originally posted by JRutledge
I am very slim and athletic and it has seemed to help me. In all my evaluations in camp, I get complemented about my look. I am one of the few officials that do not have a bear belly or look like they struggle to get up and down the court.

Rut,

The original question was "how has your appearance helped or hurt YOU?". Your last comment about "other officials" may rub some people wrong. Just an observation.

[JRutledge]

If that rubs them the wrong way, so be it. Assignors tell you flat out (at least where I am from) that officials could afford to lose weight. At a HS and college evaluation camp, the evaluators told several people to lose 10 pounds or more. I was at an association meeting, and where an assignor for college told the entire room, that certain individuals that would try to go to his camp this upcoming summer, needed to lose weight if they wanted to do college games for him.

The reality we are judged on our apperance, that is a fact. Coaches and players judge us on how much we weigh and other features. I wore my glasses one time for an evaluation session I had with one assignor, and he flat out asked me did I have contacts. Now ask me if I ever have my glasses on during a game?

I say this not to offend anyone, but the beer belly look will hurt you. I may not stay in the gym year round, but with all my sports that I officiate and the working out I do during some off time is vital to the way I look. And I am still not satified with everything and the way I look (this really is not about officiating). But if you look like you cannot keep up, no matter how good your calls are, it will be assumed that you were not in position or had trouble to get into position. That is just the facts, and aske any college assignor, and they will tell you much of the same.

Originally posted by BigDave

Rut,

The original question was "how has your appearance helped or hurt YOU?". Your last comment about "other officials" may rub some people wrong. Just an observation.

[Peter Devana]

Unfortunately, I strongly believe Rut is absolutely correct on this one . I know some officials who can stay with anyone at any level who are in great shape but don't look good and they are held back for that reason . It's a shame but that's the way it is. What does the Commish have to say on this one???

[williebfree]

It appears that this topic has "hit a nerve" with a few of the "regulars."

I would tend to agree with Rut on this... Just as in all other aspects of life, appearance is a sizeable portion of the "judgement." I know that I am one of the guys who don't "look the part" and accept that I have two choices: 1.) lose the weight, or 2.) accept that I will be passed over for upper level assignments. That is indeed a fact of life.

What do you do about it?

Determine your priorities and react accordingly.

Your responses are welcome, and encouraged!

[BigDave]

Originally posted by JRutledge
I am very slim and athletic... I get complemented about my look...

I never questioned the fact that an overweight official is definitely behind the curve (pun intended) when we are talking about career progression. My post was to point out that I thought you turned the question around a bit to toot your own horn.

Now let's rumble.

[Tim Roden]

I don't care what you do in life. If you are healthy and a reasonable weight, you have an advantage on everyone else. This is especially true when you are around atheletes. There is nothing uglier then a fat, overweight person, judging trim inshape, atheletes. I resented them when I ran track in HS and as a basketball official, I would rather work a game with a man who looks like he belongs there and not someone who looks like he just rolled off the sofa. Saying that, I could stand to lose two inches around my waist and add sum bulk to the arms. We had one man from our associatioin go Div 1 three years ago and the comment was that it was the way he always looked like an athelete that got him the job.

[JRutledge]

If you feel that is tooting my own horn, then you need to be clearer on the question you asked. What are you talking about then? Appearence has helped me greatly. Ever game I go to it is one of the main things the evaluators make about me. They do not talk about judgement as much or even my mechnics, they talk about I am agile, slim and athletic looking. I even had an assignor tell me that he needed more Black officials, which I am. Now did that help me in that case, yes. So what are you getting at. If you are talking about uniform then you need to be a little more specific than saying just appearence. I think everyone else was thinking the same thing I was.

Originally posted by BigDave

I never questioned the fact that an overweight official is definitely behind the curve (pun intended) when we are talking about career progression. My post was to point out that I thought you turned the question around a bit to toot your own horn.

Now let's rumble.

[BigDave]

Originally posted by JRutledge
If you feel that is tooting my own horn, then you need to be clearer on the question you asked.

I never asked a question...

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by BigDave

I never asked a question...

[BigDave]

My point was...

...it seemed that you were putting others down to make yourself appear better. I'm sure you are slim and I'm sure you are athletic, I don't doubt that at all. But saying that "you are one of the few officials that do not have a beer belly or look like they struggle to get up and down the court" was a poor choice of words. Would you stand in front of your peers, your friends, your co-officials and say this?

Not everyone desires to work the NBA/WNBA. They realize they'll never be slim or athletic. A lot of guys/gals officiate to "give something back" or help out a kid's league.

Be proud of your conditioning. It is a great quality to have, but try to shy away from the comments that may offend others.

Now gimme some love, JR

[JRutledge]

If you have known anything about me, I have no desire to do the NBA or WNBA. What I am talking about, believe it or not is HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL!!!!! Many of the assignors that I come in contact with are college officials and assignors themselves. They hold some of the same values that they hold at the college level. The camps that I am telling you about are strictly HS level camps. I am in no way trying to rub that in your face, personally I really do not care, I am telling you what the powers that be want and that was the question that was asked. "How much has your appearance hurt you, or helped you as an referee?" If that is the question that was asked, then I am telling you and others that it helped me.

Believe it or not, coaches have much to do with this. They ask the assignors to find what is acceptable, and they do not want officials that have bellys sticking way out officiating their games. They do not want someone that is having trouble following the play or keeping up. Now that might hurt some feelings, but it is the truth. And if you are one of those people, then maybe you need to evaluate what kind of shape that you are in, because believe it or not, it does make a difference.

Originally posted by BigDave
My point was...

...it seemed that you were putting others down to make yourself appear better. I'm sure you are slim and I'm sure you are athletic, I don't doubt that at all. But saying that "you are one of the few officials that do not have a beer belly or look like they struggle to get up and down the court" was a poor choice of words. Would you stand in front of your peers, your friends, your co-officials and say this?

Not everyone desires to work the NBA/WNBA. They realize they'll never be slim or athletic. A lot of guys/gals officiate to "give something back" or help out a kid's league.

Be proud of your conditioning. It is a great quality to have, but try to shy away from the comments that may offend others.

Now gimme some love, JR

[BigDave]

Rut,

I GET THE POINT ABOUT THE BELLY THING. By the way, I'm 6'2", 185, so not a problem here.

My point was not about the bellies. LOL, that sounds funny!