I'm curious on what everyone suggests as training for officiating middle school/freshman ball?

I just tried to join a local association to work these games but can't because I'm over the weight maxiumum for their officials.

I'm curious what people use as a conditioning tool, I'm thinking of using a treadmill for 1.5/2 miles a session in addition to a weight loss regime.

I'm hoping to call another year of rec ball because that can be less demanding physically.

What distance is typically run by an official in a middle school game?

I'm disappointed about not working upper level ball this year but hopefully next year.

Thanks for the help

I personally cannot answer your specific questions with a specific answer. I think any training to lose weight you need to check with a doctor and possibly a personal trainer.

I have no idea how much running you will have to do for a middle school game. I really do not think anyone can definitively answer that question here. I am sure it varies based on the style of play and the ability of the kids.

It sounds like you need to get yourself physically ready to work games and not worry so much about what specifics you will do as an official. The bottom line any officiating can be physically demanding on the body and you have to be prepared to handle it. Once again talk to a doctor so that they can address your personal physical challenges. It is hard to know without knowing if you have knee, back or even heart issues.

Peace

Newref - don't get in shape to work MS games. Get in shape because you'll feel better, think better, be better.

See a doctor before undertaking any weight loss/excersize program.

Generally speaking you should be able to do 30 minutes (minimum) on a treadmill at a pace that sustains a heart rate of 75% to 80% of your max rate. Max rate is 220 - your age. If your age is 20 you need to sustain a heart rate of 160 for a half hour, 3 to 4 days per week. When you can do this working MS will be nothing. For you this might seem impossible, work up to it slowly, it's not gonna come in a day.

While you're at it: pushups, situps & pullups. Do them with good form, a few to begin with & go from there.

Diet: if you put sugar in your coffee or drink non-diet soda stop. Stop eating bread. Have a few handfuls of veggies and/or nuts for lunch.

Good luck

My 2 cents
 

I agree with most of the advice given above. But one comment did trigger a reaction in me. The don't eat bread comment. This reeks of the low carb/Adkins diets.
I think even better than not eating bread would be don't eat the crap between the bread. I play lots of competive tennis so fitness is an issue in the world I play in. Last year everybody and i mean everybody at my tennis club was on the no bread kick. This year they are still overweight and looking for the next fix-it.
I have a friend who is 75 lbs overweight and with a straight face gave me the whole bread spiel, as he devoured the meat from 3 double-doubles from In-Out . the logic disconnect fascinates and frustrates me.
See a doctor and a nutrionist. Eat moderately-don't deprieve yourself. Join a gym and GO EVERYDAY. Go slow and Go often. i have lost 30 lbs this last year. I eat piazza, chocolate and I love sandwiches, bread included. I swim 20 -30 minutes a day 3x a week. Do spin classes 2x a week and never,ever drive thru for my meals. Rant and rave over

PS St johns wart doesn't do anything for depression.

Can I still have a brownpop every Thursday?

Please?

Only once a week? Remarkable restraint!

Brownpop and little chocolate donuts. Breakfast of Champions! :D

That sounds suspiciously like a John Belushi bit on SNL. . .

http://snl.jt.org/arc/epskit/77-03-12-7.jpg

He's my hero!

(Except I don't smoke...)

Ugh
 

Ugh what's a brownpop ?

Re: Ugh
 

It's the kind of pop whose main ingredients are Barley and Hops.

Speaking of pop, a quick way to get rid of some calories from your diet is to get of drinking soda (and brownpop, but I've never even attempted to do that). I personally go in streak where I will drink no soda, but then I always get pulled back in (I need my caffine in the morning and hate coffee). I usually start by switching to diet, then gradually reducing the amount of soda I drink during the day. Eventually I end up at natural juices and water.

Another way to lose weight, and the only way that works for me, is to increase your metabolic needs by building muscle. It's easy to work this into the corners of your day, by having a couple of 5 or 7 pound weights laying around your living room, and doing weight things while you watch a little TV. The sit ups and push-ups help build muscle too, but spending money on weights makes them more important, somehow.

As far as dieting, I think the best thing I ever did was to declare a day off about every 10 days. If you're exercising regularly, even if it's not much, and eating reasonably the rst of the time, you can afford a certain amount of over-indulgence once in a while, and it helps prevent that deprived feeling.

Also, if you can keep your over-all caloric rate steady, it's better to eat a little at a time but more often, than to have two or three full meals a day. The general advice against snacking is becuase that's usually a good way to increase your calorie count. But if you split your breakfast in half, eat half at 6:30 and half at 9:30, and then split your lunch in half and eat half at noon, and half at 3, and then split your dinner in half and eat half at 6 and half at 9, you will actually lose a little weight.

One thing that has worked for me sometimes is to just spend a month losing 5 pounds and then try to hold steady for a month. Then try to lose 5 more, then hold for a while. That's still 30 pounds over a year, which isn't bad.

The most important thing is to not gain something back once you've lost it. That's where I fail miserably. If anyone has any secrets in this regard, let me know.

Is it legal to have this type of provision? I don't know I'm just asking. There are NFL lineman that would be over the weight maximum (I would guess) that would beat 99% of the officials down the court. You might not look good in stripes but what does weight have to do with it if you can get up and down the court?

Sure it is. It doesn't exclude any gender or race. It's a physical job and the hiring parties can have minimum physical requirements if they're properly documented. They can't just pull them out of a hat to keep a new applicant out if they've not already had the requirements.

Like I alluded to above there are 300 lb. plus NFL lineman that can beat my *ss and yours down the court and by definition would be considered obese you mean to tell me that they're unable to ref a basketball game? That's bull**** and absolutely wrong IMO. I'm by no means an expert, but that organization is on a slippery slope and they better make sure that there insurance is paid up to date.

The day any 300 pound person can beat me down the court is the day I retire from officiating. If a 300 pound guy can beat you in an 80 ft sprint, you should not be on the court. I can't believe anybody would even argue against that.

Re: My 2 cents
 

Nope, definitely NOT low carb advice...although I know someone who lost 70 lbs on it but was a lot of work for him.

But in terms of dropping calories there are a ton of them in those 2 slices of wonder bread. I might as well have just said stop eating french fries, ice cream, whatever.

These things are the easy steps to take to see quick improvement without a signficant change in diet right off the bat.

We're not talking about just ANY 300 lbers.

The guys we're talking about specialize in sprinting.

You're missing the whole point of the post. No way should an organiztion impose a weight limit to determine the ability to officiate a game. There are obese guys that can do it and there are those that can't. When you impose such restrictions you are opening yourself to litigation. If I were on that board I would immediately resign so that I wouldn't be sued.

I'll match Larks against you in a race any day of the week.
http://www.sodamnfunny.com/Picture/People/ballerina.jpg

The dude is agile, mobile and maybe a l'il hostile. I think the hostile part maybe comes from wearing that tutu to work.

Ummm... so, Chuck, when's the retirement party?

Is it BYObp?

Is Larks the entertainment for the evening?

I'm not missing the point. I'm a very good reader, thank you. I was simply making a different point. Sorry to have let you down.

I disagree. There comes a point where a person is unable to move sufficiently to get proper position to see the play. How are you going to officiate rebounding action if you're still in the backcourt? How can you officiate a drive to the basket on a fast break if you're the Lead official and you can only make it to the 28' line?

It's absurd to say that obesity doesn't hinder a person's ability to officiate well. I could ref a whole game by myself by standing at midcourt -- but I couldn't do it well.

If you're too fat to get into position, you shouldn't be on the court for two reasons. 1) You can't do your best job of officiating; and 2) The health risk that you're putting yourself in. JMO.

Someone's in a pissy mood. Must have seen the score of the NY-Baltimore game.

Quote:

Quote: No way should an organiztion impose a weight limit to determine the ability to officiate a game. I disagree. There comes a point where a person is unable to move sufficiently to get proper position to see the play. How are you going to officiate rebounding action if you're still in the backcourt? How can you officiate a drive to the basket on a fast break if you're the Lead official and you can only make it to the 28' line? It's absurd to say that obesity doesn't hinder a person's ability to officiate well. I could ref a whole game by myself by standing at midcourt -- but I couldn't do it well. If you're too fat to get into position, you shouldn't be on the court for two reasons. 1) You can't do your best job of officiating; and 2) The health risk that you're putting yourself in. JMO.

Hey Chuck, go back & read the original post. We aint talking working 2 man D2 games. The guy wants to start working middle school games.

You know, 12 year olds? Running up & down 70 foot courts? Think back to those games...

I know. And I remember working with guys that were too heavy. But gordon's point is that it is unreasonable and perhaps illegal to set a weight standard for an official's association, and I simply disagree with that.

It's not unreasonable to have some non-arbitrary figure at which the association says, "You know what, we just don't think you can help us". I don't think that's unreasonable. What's the figure? I don't know. 30% above the AMA's recommended ideal weight? 40%? 50%? I don't know. But to dismiss such an idea as unreasonable is, I think, unreasonable.

And for M&M, the retirement party is definitely BYObp, b/c you won't find any at my house. Blech. I'll supply the Diet Coke -- as soon as any 300 pounder can beat me from endline to endline.

[Edited by ChuckElias on Sep 29th, 2005 at 08:26 PM]

My Story
 

I referee Football and Basketball.

When Football season ended last October, I was a whopping 273 lbs. I decided it was time to start doing something about it.

Weight loss is really quite simple. Reduce your caloric intake and/or increase what you burn. For me, that meant a couple things. I started eating less at meals. I quit buying soda pop altogether. Cutting out those 1-2 or so 12 packs a week did wonders. Haven't bought a 12 pack since then. Do occasionally enjoy one with lunch, but that's about it.

I was getting a pretty good amount of exercise on the court, but knew I needed more. $300 of one of my fee checks in January went for a new treadmill. Great addition to the bedroom.

Once BB season ended, I knew I had to keep the exercise regimen up. The treadmill was great, but I needed more. I started bicycling just about everywhere I could, including work. Been doing that all summer long.

11 months and 58 lbs later, I'm down to 215. I still haven't hit my goal, but I know that I will. I'll be 200 by December 31st, and 185-190 by the end of the basketball season.

It's all about wanting to change your life and change yourself. I look back now and can't believe I ever let my weight soar to where it was. Want a little motivation--turn on NBC on Tuesday nights and check out The Biggest Loser. Massive weight loss is doable. Just don't expect it to happen overnight.

[Edited by Whistles & Stripes on Sep 29th, 2005 at 08:30 PM]

Hey I've seen Chuck run & let me tell you all he can beat most 300 lb guys in a 100 foot dash!

btw...good job Whistle & Stripes!

Blech.

Diet Pepsi, please.

Oh, and btw - I do agree with you. It's probably not fair to arbitrarily pick a number and say you can't referee if you weigh more than that. But it certainly is fair to look at the "whole package" to determine if they can do the job. I believe UPS, for example, has a test to determine if package handlers can lift 50 pounds as part of their interview process. If they can't, they don't get the job. Does that mean UPS is discriminating against the weak? Or, perhaps they're discriminating against people without arms? Not hardly, because companies can still set basic standards for a specific job.

I've worked with a referee who was well over 250 lbs., but not any taller than me. And he was sweating profusely by the third trip down the court in a varsity boys 3-person game. And it planted that little thought in the back of my mind - what are we going to do if he keels over? And I know he got a little extra flak from the coaches because I'm sure they felt he was missing things by being a little slower up and down the court. So an overweight partner can affect the game in many different ways.

So, W&S - keep up the good work.

Chuck, 2 things:

1. Unless you run a 4.8/40 or better, I can line up a dozen or more 300 pounders, just from one or two area high schools, and likely 50 from Texas (age 17-25) easy that can beat you up and down the court. Not a slap at you; they can beat me too!

2. Forget 300 pounds. Most people think 250 is overweight for anyone under about 6'9". 8 years ago, at my peak physical state since about 18, I was 6 foot even (barely) and 230. 15% bodyfat, 46-7 inch chest, 36 inch waist, and I could touch the rim in basketball. I'm working now to get back to that area, only with about 12% bf (lots of running, which I didn't do any of then), but I'll likely be a little lighter -- say around 215. Anyway, that's still a high BMI, according to the charts. The only thing is, I'll run a 5K in 25 minutes. There are hundreds of thousands of 6 foot guys that are 210 or less (with BF %s in the high 20s or low 30s) that couldn't come close to that.

As one coach I had once said, it isn't what you weigh, its how you play.

Now, if you want to discuss a waist/chest size deficit in terms of guidelines, I'm all ears. But the scale is all but useless.

There are exceptions to every standard but the typical 300# person is not going run fast or far. They present a poor image that reflects on the association.

Sure there are "large" atheletes that are very fit but they're not what we're talking about.

Bring 'em on, Aggie. :D I seriously doubt they could beat me from endline to endline, but now that there's more than one voice out there proclaiming the virtues of 300 pounders, I'm actually kind of curious as to whether they could.

I think you're just showing off a little of that big Texas-sized pride in your national sport. :)

Big hat, no cattle! :D

You're trying to tell us that you've got 12 or more 300 pounders from just 1 or 2 high schools in your area that can run a 4.8/40? Nothing personal, but that's just an immense load of Texas doo-doo. In the 2005 NFL Draft Combine for projected draft picks-- graduating college seniors iow-- the average time for the positions where you're gonna find the 300 pounders- i.e. offensive linemen and defensive tackles- the <b>average</b> times recorded in the 40 for offensive linemen was 5.2 to 5.3 seconds, and the average times for defensive tackles was 5.1 to 5.25 seconds. Any time under 5.0 seconds for an offensive lineman and 4.9 seconds for a defensive tackle was rated <b>SUPERB</B>. And you're trying to tell me that you've got a dozen local 300 pound high school players that can already run better times in the 40 than 99% of the drafted NFL players - college seniors- at that weight? Get serious.

Methinks maybe your local high school should apply for the next open NFL franchise available. It's probably got enough players now to give it one of the greatest lines ever in the NFL. :rolleyes:

http://www.geocities.com/epark/raide...l-combine.html

[Edited by Jurassic Referee on Sep 30th, 2005 at 09:57 AM]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jurassic Referee
[B]Big hat, no cattle! :D

You're trying to tell us that you've got 12 or more 300 pounders from just 1 or 2 high schools in your area that can run a 4.8/40? Nothing personal, but that's just an immense load of Texas doo-doo. In the 2005 NFL Draft Combine for projected draft picks-- graduating college seniors iow-- the average time for the positions where you're gonna find the 300 pounders- i.e. offensive linemen and defensive tackles- the <b>average</b> times recorded in the 40 for offensive linemen was 5.2 to 5.3 seconds, and the average times for defensive tackles was 5.1 to 5.25 seconds. Any time under 5.0 seconds for an offensive lineman and 4.9 seconds for a defensive tackle was rated <b>SUPERB</B>. And you're trying to tell me that you've got a dozen local 300 pound high school players that can already run better times in the 40 than 99% of the drafted NFL players - college seniors- at that weight? Get serious.

Methinks maybe your local high school should apply for the next open NFL franchise available. It's probably got enough players now to give it one of the greatest lines ever in the NFL. :rolleyes:

http://www.geocities.com/epark/raide...l-combine.html

[Edited by BBall_Junkie on Sep 30th, 2005 at 04:34 PM]

Lastly, the NBA has very strict requirements for their officiating staff and weight/ body fat ratios are individually established for each ref and monitored. How many overweight officials do you see calling NBA games. The answer is ZERO because they have these requirements. Obviously it is not illegal.

[/B][/QUOTE]NFL officials are constantly weighed and monitored too.

I think it's more the case of an employer having the right to set <b>reasonable</b> expectations and standards for their employees.

A good case in point might be the NBA currently talking about installing a dress code for their players when they're representing their teams. Do anybody have the absolute right to dress as they want to? Not on their employer's dime.

As long as no one is being unreasonable in their expectations, it shouldn't be a problem. A good example of this is the "aging" official. If an official can't keep up with the play any longer, your assignor/association has to have the right to keep that official away from games that they can no longer physically handle. That concept isn't that much different than keeping officials away from certain levels of games due to their not being able to keep up due to excess weight. If they <b>can</b> keep up, however.....

Excellent
 

Ah, isn't it interesting that good research beats good B.S. every time!

went to edit my post for the bad grammar and spelling and inadvertantly deleted the whole thing.

Luckily Rizzo was kind enough to quote my post thus safe guarding me from my own incompetance :D