Rinky Dink Officials Locker Rooms

[Huskerblue]

We earlier had the Rinky Dink Gym thread. Let's take this a little further and discuss some of the rinky dink official's locker rooms. My partners and I worked at a small town Iowa town on Monday night. Our locker room had to have been the janitor's supply closet. We had shelves of cleaning supplies and mops and buckets and hoses and light bulbs and....Well you get the idea. We also had one of those 1970's stainless stell hot tubs right inthe middle of the floor as well as a toilet that gurgled and snorted everytime water was turned on inside the building. Plus it had to have been like 90 degrees in there. We nicknamed the room Dr. Kevorkian's closet. Anybody else have any lockerrooms that come close to this???

[JRutledge]

I have been to schools that have either done some renovation or are fairly new and they official's locker room is the size of a match book. Now it is one thing when you are dealing with 3 officials in one space, imagine the same room for 5 football officials who in some cases are all not the same size. Many schools that do not have a good "locker room" might put officials in a classroom or coach's office. Most places are never ideal and most are small. The main problem is officials are never thought of when these issues come up. It is that simple.

Peace

[ref2coach]

I went to a game from work and had a meeting to attend later in the evening. Met the game administrator and was taken to the Band Office. 10 x 14 office between two classrooms, a door on each side with glass windows. I asked where I could shower after the game and was told there were no showers in the entire building. School is only about 6 years old but even the locker rooms only have sinks and toilets.

[deecee]

i once had a very nice changing room -- with its own built in urinal and very po-mo wall art...everytime i had to lean over though the urinal flushed but it was very trendy

[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.

I went and changed in the restroom.

After the game, they moved us into the coaches office in the boys locker room so we could have a shower to use. I'm just about to start stripping down to take a shower, when somebody walks into the boys locker room and hollers for everybody to leave because the visiting team will be changing in there.

The good news is that the shower at home was completely unoccupied and there was plenty of hot water.

[Junker]

Husker, where were you that you had to dress in a Janitor's closet? I hope they're not on my schedule . The closest I've ever had was a place where we dressed in the kitchen and then there was a shower in the office off the kitchen. Kind of goofy.

[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.

[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.

[M&M Guy]

I was in a very similar room, except without the toilet and hot tub. So that made it an actual closet. And this was for a post-season HS assignment. Usually when I've worked at that school, they put us in one of the unused lockerooms, but since there were 4 teams there that night, all the lockerooms were being used, and that was the closest place they could find.

I've been in laundry rooms, while the uni's are being washed and dried. I've been in classrooms where there are no blinds on the windows. I've dressed in restrooms. I've been in all sorts of coaches' offices and teachers' lounges. I've come to appreciate the simple pleasures of our own locker room with a separate shower.

[Raymond]

Sh!t. JuCo facility in a very affluent county in Maryland. They shoved a couple of lockers and 3 chairs inside the athletic staff's private shower/bathroom. No privacy at all to lighten your load.

[Adam]

Coach's office in the boys locker room during an all-day girls tourney. The girls were using the locker room for team meetings. Luckily, there was a small bathroom attached to the office so I could go in and change there. After the game, I walked in and heard the showers running. Made me a bit nervous.

[Huskerblue]

Junker,

It was in George, Iowa. Way up here in the extreme NW part of the state. The good news is that they have a brand new facility opening up after the first of the year, and with that a new officials locker room. Sure going to miss all the AJAX and light bulbs the next time we go there.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Huskerblue

Junker,

It was in George, Iowa. Way up here in the extreme NW part of the state. The good news is that they have a brand new facility opening up after the first of the year, and with that a new officials locker room. Sure going to miss all the AJAX and light bulbs the next time we go there.

My first game as an official was in Orange City. Not too far.

[refnrev]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

I was in a very similar room, except without the toilet and hot tub. So that made it an actual closet. And this was for a post-season HS assignment. Usually when I've worked at that school, they put us in one of the unused lockerooms, but since there were 4 teams there that night, all the lockerooms were being used, and that was the closest place they could find.

I've been in laundry rooms, while the uni's are being washed and dried. I've been in classrooms where there are no blinds on the windows. I've dressed in restrooms. I've been in all sorts of coaches' offices and teachers' lounges. I've come to appreciate the simple pleasures of our own locker room with a separate shower.

_________________________________

M&M, Sounds like you and I have been in some very similar places. RR