The 3 versus 2 fallacies, a mini-rant - "Part deux"

[zebraman]

Originally Posted by imaref

Here goes.....

How did your state implement "3-Person" officiating? Did it just happen.....was there an experimental phase in....were college officials used initially at the tournament levels, to get the system rolling.....how are your officials "certified" for 3-Person mechanics.....are there any certification requirements to officiate 3-Person?

How are your "3-person" crews assigned? (mixed crew or regular crew)?

In states that are just starting out "3-Person" crews....how are the crews getting game experience when school districts and conferences aren't receptive.....for whatever the reason?

end of Rant 3 -

Washington State: Started requiring 3-person at the state tournaments 3 years ago. At the same time, required the officials working state tournaments to be "3-person WOA certified" which meant attending a WOA-certified 3-person camp in the off-season. Our state's best officials want to work state so they got certified real fast. College officials w/ many years of experience still had to attend a 3-person WOA-certified camp to work state.

The rest of our state's officials (the ones who cared about their performance anyway) quickly realized that 3-person was where we were headed and got certified soon after.

Our state's officials had to take a huge pay cut for the first 2 years (it was deemed "experimental" during that time) as the 3 officials split the same fee 3 ways that we were splitting 2 ways prior. What could the schools say when they were getting 3 officials for the price of 2? Not much. I don't think it would have been accepted otherwise as the schools were completely resistant to 3-person back then if it meant any fee increases for them. 3-person fees are going up each year now but the sacrifice was from the officials to get it done.

Next year, our state mandates 3-person crews for all varsity contests statewide.