This opinion article appeared in my school's paper today:

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Campus Recreation in need of better-trained referees for intramural sports.
Posted: 02.16.2005
Trevor Behar
It's a never-ending struggle during the life of a referee. He's trained to call it as he sees it -- not making calls favoring one team or the other, being completely unbiased in all ways.

Now, how many people have you met in your lifetime that don't favor at least one side of a conversation, those that don't side with one friend or the other, they remain completely neutral. Sound like a fairy tale? That's probably because it is.

Though there are a few people out there, every single official in a sporting event is not going to be this kind of person. They are going to focus more on one type of penalty or call over another. Some will focus their attention to popular calls they have experience noticing, whereas others may have the guts to go out on a limb.

Regardless of this fact, most officials will end up making calls that are questionable or even dead wrong.

I realized a dilemma last week during one of the men's intramural basketball games held at Carmichael Gymnasium. While the game was going on, it seemed as if the referee was calling a few too many calls on our team compared to the other team. We did lose the game, but I have no room to say the outcome was dependent upon its officiating.

My opinion isn't based on one basketball game but several, including my observations of friends' intramural football games. My argument is with the type officiating going on in these games. In an intramural game things are expected to be less serious -- there shouldn't be a hundred calls per game unless, of course, the teams are playing too rough.

The point of these intramural sports is to encourage teamwork and athleticism to those of us lacking the skills nurtured by Julius Hodge. If we lack the skill and training to reach that level of play, this doesn't mean we still want to play under the same high level of scrutiny.

At a college-level basketball game, everything is expected to be serious, non-biased and 100 percent correct -- granted there are always going to be a few argument-worthy decisions. However, overall, you will usually only end up with one or two bad officials per season.

Officials need to cut a little slack to the intramural teams that are participating just have some fun. For those that go out to the courts every once in a while, pick-up games are one of the most fun ways to play because there are no officials and the rules are left to the discretion of the players. The rules are only taken into account when serious fouls are evident to all. These games are merely as games and should be treated as such.

On the other hand, there are also officials who make few or no calls at all. While I realize we were doing things that deserved penalties in the game, I also realize that quite a few fouls weren't called. Now on this court, there happened to be two officials, and not catching fouls that are left to the judgment of the official is also something that needs to be fixed.

This issue deals with a lack of confidence in the official that usually comes with time and experience. This factor of officiating is still very relevant in the fact that we are playing in a league and a standard needs to be set.

In competition, there always needs to be a middle man capable of making unbiased calls. At the same time, there also needs to be someone in control of players, making sure sports are played safely and players aren't playing in a way that causes harm to others.

The struggle in our intramural sports is that there is no common ground for referees. Some judge too harshly while others don't recognize major fouls. As a whole, intramural sports just aren't any fun when you get called out for every minor detail or when the other team is getting away with fouls.

Both can be fixed with a better training program, one that trains officials to be neither too shy nor too strict. We need trained referees to allow fun games and make the obvious calls, not officials who pick out the tiniest of details or who allow players to be trampled during game play.

It almost seems that Campus Recreation is in such a need for officials that they aren't spending enough time training the officials adequately.

Now on that note I will end my opinions with hope that at least you may take a second notice of the officials next time you're watching an intramural sport. Are they doing a good job, are they making the right calls, are they allowing everyone to have fun and yet still keeping them safe? If you're not seeing what you want, that little office downstairs in Carmichael is the perfect place to speak your opinions about game officials, which just so happens to be one of their responsibilities.

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Apparently because we call the games tight, they aren't fun. We should only focus on the "serious" foul, like they do in pickup games in the gym.
I was suprised when I read this...I didn't know howler monkeys could write.

So many problems with this....where do I begin?

I will agree, however, that intramural officials aren't trained well and often do a pretty poor job.

How about the author gets off his a$$ and grabs a whistle before writing his next opinion column denigrating college students who are just getting started officiating.

[Edited by Snaqwells on Feb 16th, 2005 at 11:58 AM]

This one gets my vote!

Mine too

Not mine. He has already admitted that he probably can't be impartial.

another reason
 

The other reason his intramural league can't get more experienced oficials is that most of those leagues are used to playing their own way and cry everytime a foul gets called on them.

Most of your experienced refs will not touch rec leagues with a 20 foot pole.

For $15 or $20 it is not worth the amount of money I have to spend on pain killers and Tylenol after the game from all of the headaches it caused me.

Try paying an official an appropriate amount for their time and you may get better officials.

Most writers will end up making statements that are questionable or even dead wrong.

I guess that writer's team lost their game last night.

Where the dexter has Dexter been?

I was 'volunteered' to work the 30 and over rec league games for their 'playoffs'. My first night there the other official failed to show so I worked solo the first game and the first part of the second one until my 'volunteerer' - a ref and head of the rec dept. - came in to help me.

There were old Juco and HS players and many of them were seriously overweight but still thought they could ball. What a night....

Make a call and they cried "too tight". Let one go and they cried "He was all over me!".

After I finish up this playoff deal I agreed to I'll never work one again. I hate the Al Bundy League.

great name!

As a coach and sometime rec ball player here is my take...

If you want "fun", play pick up ball at lunch...
If you want a "league" with "rules" and real refs...the players should shut up and "quit ur *****in'"

coach g
(My rec ball days are about over with the torn rotator cuffs in both arms and looming surgery- yikes!)

What the heck!
 

What in the world does this last clause mean. There was so much off-base stuff in this drivel, that the last clasue probably went unnoticed.

"If you're not seeing what you want, that little office downstairs in Carmichael is the perfect place to speak your opinions about game officials, which just so happens to be one of their responsibilities."

Whose responsibility? And what is the 'responsibility?'

In my opinion (ha-ha-ha) this is one of the major problems in our society today - everyone thinks they should be allowed to evaluate and that their opinion should count... but in general, they have no basis/foundation/ability to perform an unbiased, valid evaluation. Why should that count or have any bearing in life?

No, there was not a baby in the bathwater; I just threw it out.:D

I have to reply
 

If this is what collega academia is producing, I fear for our Country. It was a whine from the get-go. Unfortunately, it was not well researched. The writer is an expert on officiating without being an official. As Bugs would say "What a Maroon!"

You kno what happens if we cut a little slack? The teams complain.

Secondly, I bet they don't get paid a whole lot. And you know how the saying goes "You get what you pay for."

Maybe a good follow up story would be to have the writer take the test or work a game with an experienced official? Maybe they'd have a better idea of what is supposed to be going on during a game.

Re: What the heck!
 

And the basis for your unbiased, valid evaluation is what?

;)

I actually volunteered a couple years ago to take over the training of the "in house" officials for the school district that my kids go to (this is sort of like intermurals). The program includes games at 3rd through 9th grade. The officials are high school athletes.

We actually take the training seriously, and less than half the high schoolers who try, make it through the program. (It warms the cockles of my heart when I see the vasity coach ask one of "my people" for an explanation of a call or a rules interpretation during a vasity game.)

Nonetheless, the single most important activity leading to a huge recognized "improvement" in the quality of my officials was the instigation of a mandatory rules meeting that the coaches must attend at the begining of the season.

I believe that ignorance of the rules on the part of the players and coaches (I don't much care about the fans) is the cause of the vast majority of disputes. As such, I believe that the system needs to be thinking about how to reduce this ignorance.

Re: What the heck!
 

I think he's talking about the intramural sports authorities who hire and train the referees.

CaptStevenM, I am going to guess this is NC State. As someone who runs an IM program and trains officials, this stuff usually burns me a bit. I know the staff at NC State and they do a good job.

We do a four day, 8 hour training with our student officials. Our kids get paid $6.35 an hour. They work for us as an official instead of slinging hash at the dining hall. Kids like the writer appear in the paper every other year or so. Complaining about how they lost, got screwed, or worse by our staff of untrained officials. Funny thing is, it is usually the games with my best officials on them that they have the problem with.

Sorry...I'll get down off the soap box now.

Re: Re: What the heck!
 

You apparently missed the (ha-ha-ha) :D

You are correct Axe Man. I do goto NC State and couldn't ask for better staff to learn from. Our starting officials get $6.50 an hour, with raises coming if you get certified or work year after year. I am surprised that he wrote it this year. This year we have one of the best crop of first year officals I've seen in my four years here. As to our training program. Its 4 days long, where the first two days are in the classroom/court talking about the rules, getting practice on positioning, calling fouls, etc. The second two days are scrimmages where the new refs are shadowed by experienced ones and everyone watches the games and talk about what happens.

It does seem the games where people complain the most are the close ones with the experienced refs.

If I had a nickle for everytime some yelled about over the back or when people flop and then want a player control foul.

From the Horse's Mouth
 

As I've stated in a previous thread, I am both a student (senior) and the director of intramural basketball officials at my university (which I will leave nameless). My duties for this include being a Teaching Assistant for the Basketball Officiating class that my university offers. This is the only way that my university's Intramural Dept. can get referees for its basketball games (the same goes on for football in the fall). We currently have 118 teams, spread out over 23 divisions, and I have a total of 24 officials for all of this. Out of these 24 officials, 22 of them have never before put a whistle in their mouth. My job, along with the professor of the class, is to try to teach these students the very basics of officiating so that by 3 weeks into the spring semester, they can begin to work games. The class is held once a week for 1 hour. That means that I have 3 hours to attempt to show 22 people who have never heard of the trail position before how to officiate basically the equivalent of a high school varsity game. Besides the one credit that they get for taking the class, they get paid 6 dollars a game. That's right...6. Although none of this are in it for the money, I'm sure that many of us would have second thoughts about working a game for 6 dollars. Further, about half of these students are freshmen or sophomores, which means that the majority of the games they officiate are with fellow students who are older than them. That can be a tad intimidating at times.

In 3 years of being the head official/supervisor of officials, sure I've had my problems. Who wouldn't when 90% of the class has never put a whistle in their mouth before (btw, I am the only state licensed official to ever come through the program at my university, which is now 15 years in the making)? So I take great offense when someone who does not know the processes and hardships of training officials criticizes those same processes and people who do them.

http://technicianonline.com/


Email Trevor at [email protected]

Same thing in intramural leagues . . .

Re: I have to reply
 

I fear even more after my grad-league games last night.

How is it that I haven't gotten into a grad program yet, yet people who consider it completely appropriate to call people "fat f**ks" are in such programs? :rolleyes:

Having worked with officials from NC State, I can say that the "columnist" is probably off his rocker.

Re: Re: I have to reply
 

Hmmm, perhaps because they are the ones most in need of the education? :rolleyes:

I primarily referee at the HS level and got playoff assignments this year, but I still officiate frequently at my university for intramurals because the university contracts with my local association for officials. The pay is decent (30) and the proximity to home (across the street)make it easy to do those games, especially when I want to work on aspects of communication and game management. It's the same as rec ball with the constant griping, even with trained, certified officials calling the games.

This writer's completely off base in many ways. Nobody else pointed out that he's evaluating D1 refs in addition to the IM refs, plus he said it's impossible to be completely impartial, which is ridiculous to anyone who's called a game. He longs for pickup games with no officials, let him have them. Instead of a "more intensive" training program for IM officials, they should institute some sort of fine system for technical fouls to keep jerks from popping off, and use the funds to develop an enhanced "training center."

All right another Youngstown State University football fan. Go Penguins!!

MTD, Sr.

My reply to Trevor
 

Dear Trevor Behar:

I am sending this response to a recent article you wrote and circulated, “Campus Recreation in need of better-trained referees for intramural sports.” A few of my friends made me aware of your commentary. I assume your article was written in a tongue-in-cheek tone; however, it is unduly critical of a group of individuals who for the most part passionately apply their skills to provide a fair game within the rules of the game.

I have never written an article for a newspaper, but I have read many articles and columns. I mentioned this fact to offer my qualifications to judge your work as a writer. It appears that you feel these “qualifications” are sufficient enough to provide a basis for judgment of basketball officials.

Let’s take a look at your first paragraph…
It's a never-ending struggle during the life of a referee. He's trained to call it as he sees it – (C’mon Writer!!! Write it both ways!!! Women officiate too!! How can you make a statement like that? You Suck!!! ) - not making calls favoring one team or the other, being completely unbiased in all ways.


Having re-read your paragraph with my inserted comments might allow you to understand the abuse an official tolerates during the course of their work. Additionally, keep in mind, as a writer, you are afforded the opportunity to proofread your work before it is presented to the public. This is not an option for an official.

I am interested in what you think of my observations. By the way, I have a few follow-up story suggestions…. Interview (as impartially as you can) some of the IM referees, or volunteer to participate in a training session. I can tell you, without reservation, that it will be an eye-opener.


Respectfully,

State-certified sports official, 7 years

Re: My reply to Trevor
 

If you want to send him an email, you might find it on our campus directory. http://www.ncsu.edu
Then click on directories in the upper right corner.

Actually, these are YSU's cheerleaders. :D

IM Basketball officials
 

I have a slightly different perspective on this. I run an intramural program within my high school. We have approximately 960 students, and I run four sports - Volleyball, Basketball, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, and Flag Football. Most seasons, I have approximately 230 students from the school involved in that particular sport that is in season.

I'll confine my comments to basketball, since that is what this thread started with. I have 8 officials this year for my league, which contains 22 teams and a total of around 180 full length games (not bad, for a high school intramural program), and involves 240 students. I train the officials myself, being a PIAA official for 4 years in basketball, and a few more years in a couple of other sports. I usually have most of the refs stick around after they start for the remainder of their high school career. This year, I had 3 veteran refs, and 5 newbies.

In general, I am able to control complaints about the officiating, which is mainly due to the fact that I am in attendance at probably 85-90% of the games (we only have one game running at a time), and a trusted colleague is present at the rest. However, the kids do complain, and the officials do mess things up occasionally. They do not get paid - we have snacks for them after the games, and they receive a half a credit for community service from the school for the amount of time they put into their work.

I do training over the summer before the season, by having them come in, discuss rules, practice mechanics, and then do some officiating of the open gym kids that come in during the summer when I do open it up for our students. In general, some of them pick it up quickly, and some struggle throughout the season. I have our assignor assign the officials reasonably carefully, not putting two newbies on a game until late in the season, and putting two veterans (or myself and a veteran) on the games which would be more likely to be higher levels of competition.

I will admit that the officials, for the most part, are not as good as some of the newer officials in our chapter. However, some of them are better than many of the officials in our chapter - they're able to get into position, they're able to recognise the difference between minor things to let go and things that need to be called, and they are trained in the real rules. I do agree with the previous poster that indicated that a lack of rules knowledge ("He's Reachin! or He's over the back!) generates a lot of the conflicts. Oftentimes, certified officials seem to want to call a game they wrote, by ignoring certain concepts like reffing the defense (where you would actually get a decent number of PC calls, as opposed to almost always calling blocks) or hand checks (which seems to be a lost call in many leagues I watch). There are several officials I have had in running this program for 5 years that I would put up against many of the veterans in our area, and expect them to do just as well as they do.

I don't feel you get what you pay for in this case. I feel that you get some people who are good, and some who are not destined to be officials, but as long as they have control of the game, and are "enforcing" (for lack of a better word) the rules, they are doing a good job.

I am an intramural official.

I am also the sports editor of my university's newspaper.

Looking at this column from both ends, this guy is a moron — he doesn't understand officiating and his journalistic skills leave much to be desired. He is correct about a good number of intramural officials being relatively incompetent, but he didn't make a very strong argument in his column. He didn't bother to take the time to go see how officials are trained, what the pay is, the crap they put up with every night...and he never mentions that there are a few decent officials on the floor.

At my university, beginning pay for a referee is $5.50 per game, usually 3 games per night in basketball (4 per night in flag football). I think it goes up a little depending on how many years you work, not completely sure.

Basketball training included — a 1-hour rules meeting on Monday, a 1-hour mechanics clinic on Tuesday, and a preseason tournament on Friday. The season started the following Monday. It is nearly impossible for new officials that have never put a whistle in their mouths to become the best in the world in that time span.

So yeah, Mr. NC State columnist. There are some lemons out there officiating intramurals. But it looks like there's at least one on the campus newspaper staff, too.

That said — I have worked with some officials this year that still have no clue. Just last night, I worked with a guy that doesn't understand that you have to blow your whistle any time there is a foul, violation, time-out, etc. And when he did blow it, I couldn't hear it. And it's not like it was some loud arena, either. I told him about it at halftime, and he said "My whistle has a crack in it." Yeah, so does mine. But you can still hear it if you blow hard!

Got me in trouble on a play last night. Apparently he called a foul on the defense near the top of the key, but no one — the players or me — heard the whistle. Kid drives to the basket, runs over the defender, I call the charge. He runs over to me, saying, "I already called a foul." Really? I didn't hear a whistle or see a fist in the air.

Night before, same guy. I look up one time, and he's on the same side of the court as me (2-man). How, after four weeks, did this guy not understand that you are always opposite your partner? "I felt like I needed to be on the side the ball was on." Wow.

I know he was trained better than this because I went through the same training. But what can you do about a guy that simply doesn't get it and doesn't care? We're hurting for officials anyway, so firing him really isn't an option. You try to tell him what he's doing wrong, but he doesn't care. And the players are all over you because it's so bad. Not good times.

Only one more week of regular season, then the playoffs start (I have the men's championship game, 3-man crew for that). Soon it will all be over, thank the Good Lord.

I had a situation the other night that also led to problems. With 1.2 seconds left in a 1 point game, A1 drives baseline and there's a collision between A1 and B1 - the contact could have gone either way, or even been a no-call - one of my partners blows his whistle, waits, waits, then signals a player control foul.

A is obviously upset with the call, but probably would have accepted it a bit more easily had the L come up with a preliminary just a *bit* faster. I ended up having to T a rather well-respected former varsity player . . .

Thing is, this guy has pretty good calls, and will be a good ref - he just needs experience in making (and selling) the calls.

UPDATE
 

At work tonight my supervisor said that two people in campus recreation, the department that runs intramurals, are going to put out some letters in response to the column; after the letters are approved from by boss. I'll be sure to post them when they are published in the paper.

Re: My reply to Trevor
 

Your letter made today's paper. The published it in the letter's to the editor section. I'll let you guys know if any other letters make the paper.