Letter to youth sports officials

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

You did not do it where I live or in the same association.

Oh, we're back to that again. Illinois is the only place in the world that counts. So sorry, but there are 49 other states which have people who work and play.

Originally Posted by JRutledge

If you were such a good official, why are you talking about youth sports?

How nice of you to crap on all youth officials everywhere.
Perhaps it is because I enjoy giving some time to youngsters. Perhaps I have kids involved the league or a friend's kids are involved and they need a ref. Whatever the reasons are that people officiate youth sports, who the )^%#@ are you to judge them? I personally know three FIFA referees who despite working at the international and domestic professional level continue to officiate local youth soccer games.
These good people are out there doing something positive and you want to put them down. Once again you display your ignorance and lack of class.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Oh, we're back to that again. Illinois is the only place in the world that counts. So sorry, but there are 49 other states which have people who work and play.

I did not say anything about Illinois (or any state for that matter) at all. I just know that you cannot compare your state final opportunities to what I have accomplished or what anyone has accomplished in their respective states. We do not work in the same system or follow the same qualifications to work post-season. You sound like those LL umpires on the baseball site trying to convince everyone that the guys they saw in the LL World Series are just as good as umpires working major college and pro ball.

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

How nice of you to crap on all youth officials everywhere.
Perhaps it is because I enjoy giving some time to youngsters. Perhaps I have kids involved the league or a friend's kids are involved and they need a ref. Whatever the reasons are that people officiate youth sports, who the )^%#@ are you to judge them? I personally know three FIFA referees who despite working at the international and domestic professional level continue to officiate local youth soccer games.
These good people are out there doing something positive and you want to put them down. Once again you display your ignorance and lack of class.

Nevada, take a chill pill. I think you really need to get out of the hot sun. I work youth football and have worked in a youth league for many years. I also worked youth basketball and some baseball as well over my career. I also have never tried to fool myself into thinking that we are anymore than what we are to these kids than a "shirt." Most officials that work these games do so strictly for the money and could give a damn of much else. I played sports all my life and I cannot think of one time an official played some major role in my life. I could not even tell you how many officials were working our games at one time.

My role models were parents, teachers, my pastor and even a family friend that spent 20+ years in the military and I grew up with and went to school with his son who was my best friend. My girl-friend's oldest brother was Valedictorian at his HS in June and he did not even play sports. If you ask me you are putting too much emphasis on sports and the people in them. Of course sports can be a very important aspect of a kid’s growth, but that goes for any extra-curricular activity. No wonder why we have kids that think they are getting to the NBA or making the NFL with people like you. Maybe Maurice Clarrett had you as a role model.

Peace

[euby]

Well this whole post hits a real nerve for me as I am very much into youth sports for this very reason. Allot of parents are real idiots and I have to deal with them every year because a new crop will start with their little Jordans every year. I set the tone early in my clinic league (K and 1st grade) that parent behavior WILL be delt with and usually by 3rd grade most problems have been weeded out.

We have a board member at every gym during every game and they are responsible for game management. The officals are there to instruct and officiate not deal with parents. Thats my job as president of the league and I take it very seriously. At over 50 teams and 600 kids it is a constant challange to deal with parents without just telling them to grow up and get a life! But I treat everyone the same and fairly and over the years have gotten a reputation as being that way. Most of the time I just listen to their problems and that will do the trick.

To say that youth officals are there just for the money is a joke. All of my officals are registered and all but two are school coaches in the middle school or freshman level. They are there to promote our townships program and try to make our program better. They get paid sure...but I honestly think they would be there even if they weren't. I do what I do because of the kids and our program and put countless hours into running it and I don't get paid or even have a kid in the league...so why do I do it! So to make a blanket statement like that is just ignorant!

To say kids don't look up to sports volunteers is a joke also. Coaches always have an impact on kids as a role model and their behavior anytime they are around the kids is highly scrutinized. You act like role model or your gone...its that simple! For those of you who actually played youth sports tell me you can't name every coach you ever had...I rest my case. No you don't remember every game or its outcome and you sure don't remember any offical's but the coaches you do. So I hold them to a higher standard.

To say officals at the youth level aren't just as good and dedicated is also just ignorant. Believe it or not allot of officals like to do youth games because its fun and gives them a chance to interact with todays kids.

You are right...you can't compare state finals you officiate (I bow down to your presence)to a youth program because I actually have a positive impact in our community...and lets face it...you don't!

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by euby

Well this whole post hits a real nerve for me as I am very much into youth sports for this very reason. Allot of parents are real idiots and I have to deal with them every year because a new crop will start with their little Jordans every year. I set the tone early in my clinic league (K and 1st grade) that parent behavior WILL be delt with and usually by 3rd grade most problems have been weeded out.

We have a board member at every gym during every game and they are responsible for game management. The officals are there to instruct and officiate not deal with parents. Thats my job as president of the league and I take it very seriously. At over 50 teams and 600 kids it is a constant challange to deal with parents without just telling them to grow up and get a life! But I treat everyone the same and fairly and over the years have gotten a reputation as being that way. Most of the time I just listen to their problems and that will do the trick.

To say that youth officals are there just for the money is a joke. All of my officals are registered and all but two are school coaches in the middle school or freshman level. They are there to promote our townships program and try to make our program better. They get paid sure...but I honestly think they would be there even if they weren't. I do what I do because of the kids and our program and put countless hours into running it and I don't get paid or even have a kid in the league...so why do I do it! So to make a blanket statement like that is just ignorant!

To say kids don't look up to sports volunteers is a joke also. Coaches always have an impact on kids as a role model and their behavior anytime they are around the kids is highly scrutinized. You act like role model or your gone...its that simple! For those of you who actually played youth sports tell me you can't name every coach you ever had...I rest my case. No you don't remember every game or its outcome and you sure don't remember any offical's but the coaches you do. So I hold them to a higher standard.

To say officals at the youth level aren't just as good and dedicated is also just ignorant. Believe it or not allot of officals like to do youth games because its fun and gives them a chance to interact with todays kids.

You are right...you can't compare state finals you officiate (I bow down to your presence)to a youth program because I actually have a positive impact in our community...and lets face it...you don't!

Excellent post imo, Euby. Too bad all league administrators don't have their heads screwed on straight like you do. The problem is that there are a lot of leagues that aren't administered as well as your's is.

Keep up the good fight.

[refhoops]

As one who is involved with youth sports, I believe there are many very qualified officials who only officiated youth sports for a variety of reasons (not for the money), one being that their regular job and or family does not permit them the time to officiated anything but youth sports during weekends. I myself could not work anything except youth sports for a number of years due to the amount of travel required from my day job. About 5-6 years ago, this changed and allowed me the jump in the fray of HS BB. I feel very fortunate that I was given the opportunity to jump into HS BB and now have the passion to work hard and be given the opportunity to be assigned higher level games. Every year I have been my schedule has included a larger percentage of varsity level games and would hope within the next 2 seasons to make the playoff list. This does not make me any better that "youth officials". I know that working all those "youth games" prepared me to take the next level. I have tremendous respect for those youth officials because they expose themselves to more explosive situation than we will ever see. They rarely have game site administrators and deal coaches and parents think that they only reason they are working there teams or child's games is for revenge. Let's give thanks to those youth officials because if they do there job right, it will make our job that much easier when these players make it to high school!

[euby]

I didn't mean to go off on a long tirade but as you can tell I get alittle erked when youth volunteers get bashed.

Anyway there is one thing that should be mentioned that I have noticed is the difference between the youth leagues and HS aged games.

Youth officals need to be very careful not to drop into youth type situations when doing the higher level games. It can and does happen...for example.

Lets say at the third grade level you tend to be a little more forgiving in the 3second, travels, etc because you are in a learning enviorment and when you do 8 games in one day you tend to be alittle more lax in the mechanics due to fatigue.

Its very easy to develope bad habits and hard to break once you have them. An offical who does both types of games have to be very diligent in there separation of the two "types".

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by euby

I didn't mean to go off on a long tirade but as you can tell I get alittle erked when youth volunteers get bashed.

If they do not want to get bashed, then they should run their leagues better. It is not like people here or anywhere has not formed opinions on youth sports based on what they hear. Most officials that cannot stand youth sports and leagues are based on their personal experiences. Then it does not help when you have coaches that behave in such a way that are suspect at best. Remember there was a football coach just a few weeks ago that assaulted a child during a game because all because he felt "his" child was hit late on a play. So do not make it sound like all of these opinions about youth sports are in a vacuum and no one has knowledge of some pretty bad situations.

Originally Posted by euby

Its very easy to develope bad habits and hard to break once you have them. An offical who does both types of games have to be very diligent in there separation of the two "types".

This can happen in Men's Leagues too.

If it bothers you the attitudes of these leagues, then you need to go around the country and change the way leagues are run all over the country. The football league that I have worked for about 3 years and will work some this fall had many internal problems with the board and when they used specific rules that were outside of any rulebook, the league would give conflicting information to their coaches and the officials. Every week would be a fight over striper rules or procedures that were essential to playing the games fairly. I was never alone in my experiences and this is why many guys would quit officiating all together because of some of these very bad situations they were put into working youth sports. Youth sports is where many start on some level and this is why most officials leave these leagues when they get more HS games or they break into college ball.

Peace