Does anyone officiate in the ABA? I just attented a 'tryout' if you will and was wondering if anyone had any experience with the ABA.

Josh

Yes, there are numerous people that officiate in the ABA. Those people have experience with the ABA, along with officials who formerly officiated with the ABA.

Wait.

Oh, you mean here... umm, who knows? :)

Josh, where do you live?

josh, i'm in the aba...what do you want 2 know?

Is the ABA worth going to a lookout camp for. I got an email about a camp out in greenwood SC, for a camp at Lander University. Is the ABA worth paying money for a league that may or may not take off. Also what kind of fees are paid.

BTW Im in Baton Rouge.

The ABA.

I worked the 'league' as they like to call it, last year. Since it is a "new/re-organized" league with new teams, there are some growing pains that will be experienced.

The local team in this area had some difficulty meeting its financial obligations, and there were some instances where referees did not get paid at the site. This led to a premature cease of operations. I have several emails that indicated that people/players, host gyms, etc. were not getting paid, including those in the office. There were other teams that experienced similar problems.

The ABA has some good things and some bad things, but you will find that anywhere. There is a genleman that got a contract in the PAC-10 due to his affiliation with the ABA as the ABA uses NCAA rules and mechanics with some "league" specific rules that make the game entertaining. There are some former NBA, D1, D2, D3 players that participate.

As I am sure you know, it never hurts to go learn something that will help you with your officiating. If you like being involved in start up type of situations (as most teams are less than 2 years old and may not have everything managed perfectly), then this might be a great opportunity.

The league has been resurrected and in operation for the last 4 years, they are expanding to 90 teams prior to the start of the 05-06 season. The assignor has said that we should not turn down opportunities from other assignors to specifically work the ABA. This means that in each area, roughly 10-12 officials are needed to cover games in ABA cities.

As far as the fee's, last year the crew received $650/game. The split was determined by who was working and where they came from. If it was a local crew, split evenly, if one of the tenured ABA officials/evaluators came from out of town, they got $350.

Go check abalive.com and you can learn more. Check out the records of teams last season. Each team was supposed to play 28 games. Hope this helps.



[Edited by icallfouls on May 17th, 2005 at 03:16 PM]

I got that same email today as well. I went to the ABA website. They expect the league to field almost 60 teams this season. That alone sends up a red flag for me.

Well after careful thought Ive decided to go to the ABA camp in SC. I am wondering if anyone on this site is also going. Also is Coast to Coast Referee school more of a teaching camp or more of a tryout camp.

Thanks for any help in these matters.

Dave

Well after careful thought Ive decided to go to the ABA camp in SC. I am wondering if anyone on this site is also going. Also is Coast to Coast Referee school more of a teaching camp or more of a tryout camp.

Thanks for any help in these matters.

Dave