Summer Camp Games

[drinkeii]

Just a topic I bring up every now and then, always looking for other opinions on it.

When reffing ball games at the local summer camps, I seem to be partnered with a number of different types of officials:

1) The newbie.
a) Clueless newbie
b) Decent newbie
2) The official who doesn't care
3) Good partner who works

1a is sometimes hard to work with, and makes few calls, but does generally give it an honest effort, even if they are pretty much ineffective at keeping any control over the game.

1b is generally a good partner, because they know what they are doing, make an occasional mistake (IMHO, of course, but sometimes it is pretty obvious), but they hustle enough to make a good impression and work as a good partner.

2 is very difficult to work with. These guys are there to get their $10-$15 a game, and not put any effort into it whatsoever. They walk the entire time, putting them in poor positions most of the time. They rarely make calls even when contact has a definite effect on the play or a violation is blatant (2 and a half steps or more on shots or passes, etc, stepped on the sideline with their entire foot, etc). They sometimes make the comment "they expect me to do a good job when they're only paying me $10 a game? come on!".

3 is a good partner to have but the most rare. These guys do a good job officiating, and keep the game under control. In most cases, they're willing to switch at a minimum occasionally (as opposed to being glued to the same 20 foot long, 3 foot wide strip of floor for the entire game), and try to take the ball out of bounds reasonably where it is supposed to come back in (rather than always going to the spot next to the lane on their side because it requires them moving the least).

I had a game where I had the same partner for the past 2 days on a series of games, but he was replaced halfway through the first half with an official who called very little to nothing at all. I feel the one coach had a legitimate gripe when he complained that he was getting nothing called under his basket, because my partner refused to switch, and called maybe 1-2 fouls for the 3/4 of the game he was there. I forced a switch halfway through the second half, and that made the coach happy, but it was very frustrating to me to have an official who didn't want to work for the money he was getting paid, or to give the kids a good game, or for whatever reason. Why sign up to do these camps if you're not willing to give a decent effort. It is embarrassing to me to run down the court, and find that I have almost passed my partner, because in the time it took me to run half the court, he moved 3-4 steps. And I am not in the best of shape myself!

I know some people will respond "How can I be expected to give my best effort when 1) I have to do 8 games in a row, and 2) I'm only getting $$$ for the game". Why sign up to do it if you're not going to try to improve yourself, or at least give the kids a good effort as an official - they can play the games without officials and do just fine, if your presence on the court isn't even a step above that.

I have always felt I should give my best, or a decent effort at the least, if I am going to sign up for any games. I know this isn't a perfect world, but why should we shortchange the kids and the coaches by doing a poor job?