Rinky Dink Officials Locker Rooms

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle

I went to a Jr. High to work a girls game, and asked where we were to dress. The coaches huddled, then decided to put us in the girls PE locker room, "since school is out and nobody will go in there." It just so happened to be parent teacher conference day, and just as I was about to begin stripping down, in walks some 12 yo girl and her mother.

That's nothing!

A few years ago I moved 1 hour away and joined the local association. I was doing something like my 10th V game for this association at a gym in a small town outside of the main town. It was around Hallowe'en, so there were decorations everywhere. I walk into the gym very early and a student tells me where the changeroom is. So I'm in there by myself and I'm changing - almost in my birthday suit, when in comes a female student! She sees me, I have the deer look, and she acts as if nothing is going on. Turns out I was in the female changeroom. Decorations were covering the doors and I took the word of the first student which room was which.

[rainmaker]

There's one small private school here in Portland where you actually have to duck down to get through one very short door, to walk into a sort of crawl space under the stairs, and stay ducking down as you then walk into the ref's changing room. It's not at all easy for anyone with claustrophobia. Once you get in there, you see a couple of sort of okay rooms with a shower.... and a door into the main dressing room!! They leave that door locked so that the players don't wander in on the refs.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

There's one small private school here in Portland where you actually have to duck down to get through one very short door, to walk into a sort of crawl space under the stairs, and stay ducking down as you then walk into the ref's changing room.

You sure that you weren't in RockyRoad's office?

[Mountaineer]

It's hit and miss here. I was at a school the other day that while I was in the brand-new shower (the shower head was literally at my chest) two girls walked in and went to the bathroom. Another school last night that was only about 7 yrs old and had a nice dressing room with lockers and a shower but was built for 2 officials. Now we have 3 varsity officials dressing in there and the 3 from the JV game came in while we were getting finished - they waited in the hall. We have another school that actually put some forethought into the officials locker room. It actually has nice furnature and looks like a country club locker room with several bathroom stalls and 2 showers, it has a clock inside that is sync'd to the floor clock and even has a sign on the door that says OFFICIALS and underneath has it written in braille!

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Mountaineer

We have another school that actually put some forethought into the officials locker room. It actually has nice furnature and looks like a country club locker room with several bathroom stalls and 2 showers, it has a clock inside that is sync'd to the floor clock and even has a sign on the door that says OFFICIALS and underneath has it written in braille!

Must have been an official on the committee that designed it; nice.
And braille? Now that's funny, even if it was meant to appease the ADA requirements.

[buckrog64]

We have found that schools with great traditions often (but not always) have classy systems in place when working with officials. One such school gives us our own locker room for our FB crew, a cooler full of pop and water, assorted snacks, a meat/cheese tray, etc. We also have a personal escort (not a cheerleader, you sick-os) who leads us to and from the field and makes sure we have what is needed. We sign that contract every time, in spite of the distance involved because that school makes the whole experience a lot of fun. We also have plenty of schools where we have to walk from the building to the field, and at the end of the game, the key holder is nowhere in sight.

[PIAA REF]

After reading this thread I really can't complain. Most of the schools have nice ref facilities at the varsity level. 10 of the schools have a ref room, 5 uses the AD's office, 2 use another room for the officials. All have showers for the officials. The biggest complaint is space when you have 5 refs in there (2 JV) 3 Varsity.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

There's one small private school here in Portland where you actually have to duck down to get through one very short door, to walk into a sort of crawl space under the stairs, and stay ducking down as you then walk into the ref's changing room. It's not at all easy for anyone with claustrophobia. Once you get in there, you see a couple of sort of okay rooms with a shower.... and a door into the main dressing room!! They leave that door locked so that the players don't wander in on the refs.

I worked a Christmas tournament last year -- 2 varsity games played back to back with 2 crews hired. We were given the room traditionally given to the JV officials -- a crawl space under a flight of stairs. Nice folks at the school, but the worst changing area I've had in 20 years. No shower nearby, either.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

I have the deer look

Here's a holiday joke on that subject. What did the other reindeer say to Rudolph after he landed on top of Santa?

You look like a deer caught in head lice.