Officiating other sports
 

Basketball season is winding down...of the many HS BB officials I've gotten to know and have seen here in our Section, only a few ref other sports. I've bumped into a few doing baseball games, a couple have been caught umping softball, and even fewer (like 1 or none) officiating volleyball, soccer or rugby. Is this representative of most of you? If true, is this because most of you have an actual life?

I also do baseball and football. Basketball I do because I love it, the other two are for extra cash and socializing.

I also do soccer. That was my main sport in HS.

I ref other sports because I enjoy getting yelled at ALL YEAR instead of just a few months.




Mr. Motivation

I do a little softball, but in my area of the country, I can find basketball in some form 11 out of 12 months a year.

I do baseball. Illini_Ref will tell you that I'll soon be doing football...and he's right, just don't how soon.

I got talked into football last season. You'll like it. Its fun and easy money. Besides that, wearing knickers is cool!

I only ref basketball for 2 reasons:

1) I would get bored and lose focus ref'n softball, baseball, or football. Too much standing around and dead time. (if I were to ref another sport it would hockey because the officials are constantly on the move in that sport)

2) Basektball takes enough time away from my kids from November through February. I don't want spend that much time away from my kids the rest of the year. AAU, Rec Leagues, and camps keep me sufficiently occupied during the off-season.

Some of you brave souls should give rugby a try...the pay is good (although the weather usually isn't) and the sport itself very strongly abides by the advantage-disadvantage philosophy.

Don't have rugby in my area. Officials they are hurting for around here are wrestling.

tjones...too bad about no rugby...I got to be field judge for Women's 19U NIT this year and had a blast; rugby's pretty much a continuous sport (two 40 minute halves...stoppages are mostly for the occassional injury) and is rarely boring. For some reason, wrestling just doesn't do it for me; possibly because I sucked at it in HS.

I've done football slightly longer than basketball. Fun game to do. I dicked around a little with volleyball and baseball way back too. That was too much.

I work football also. I did girls lacrosse for 2 years and then decided to take the spring time off.

I also work HS volleyball in the fall. On top of the regular HS basketball season I also do spring and summer league HS games, but only a couple a week - typically runs from first of April to end of June. Might be a hair later for me this year though...just found out Wed. I need to have surgery on my shoulder - sched. for late March & it might set me back a week or two......my wife says its from calling too many fouls..:D :D

I do soccer, basketball, and volleyball. Most officials, but not all, that I know work more than one sport... except maybe a lot of ladies who do volleyball exclusively.

I'll bet I'm the only one on this board who has officiated croquet. And no...I'm not kidding.

Before you ask - I did not wear fishnets, but I did wear a straw "boater" hat. It didn't fit too well, however. You see, it has a flat top and my head is pointed.

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You've gotta be kidding. Where, how, and why did you officiate croquet? They didn't mention that in the newspaper article!

There's a town right next to mine that is a Senior community (I'll be moving there shortly :o ). One of the retirement homes challenged their local Lions Club to a match, with the money raised going to the Lions Club camp for blind kids. I was contacted to "officiate" and also to be a "roving announcer" with a portable megaphone. Some local dignitaries were invited to participate including our State Representative at the time, Max Williams (now head of the prison system in Oregon). Max is a personal friend of mine so I made sure I gave him a really bad time. In fact, he almost lost to a lady with a walker!

Everyone wore summer white clothes and had cucumber sandwiches and lemonaide (I am not kidding). They raised about $2000 for the charity by charging admission and selling food and drink. It was really a blast and I wish they would have it every summer.

I love softball also!

I do hoops and football, and after being gone 3-5 nights a week since August, I'm ready for a break!

Next year, I'm going a little lighter on both schedules.

I also do softball. Guys have been bugging me to do football but I don't really want a 3rd sport.

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People paid money for a cucumber sandwich? :eek: GAG!

The only part of your story that I found amazing, Mark, was that you needed a portable megaphone.:D I can just see ya sneaking up behind the l'il ol' lady with the walker(Juulie?) and bellowing "That's a foul, that's a foul..". Yup, see if her pacemaker is working the way it should.:D

Without crusts, yet! Not only that, they took a "tea and biscuits" break. It was all very "British", don't ya' know. BTW - "biscuits" is British for "cookies".

Maybe you need to learn to use the other arm for calling fouls for awhile. ;)

I also do football at the NCAA level. I find football more enjoyable because it is outside. About 3 years ago, I was approached after a football game to do local baseball; I declined to have a life outside of officiating. I also tried lacrosse for one season; I liked it, but there is little to no local training.

Three seasons
 

I've been officiating Football, Basketball and Lacrosse for four years. I took football off this past fall and don't know if I'll go back. I forgot how nice it was to have evenings off. Plus, I've gotten a tad bored with it.

Our Lacrosse season is just about to gear up. Training for rookies starts this week and veterens will be meeting next Sunday. Lax is a blast to officiate. It's an attacking game that seems to combine basketball and hockey. In fact we've found that basketball officials make the best transition to lacrosse.

I am a one sport official. Basketball. I don't even know a rule for another sport...But I have been seen on a soccer field refereeing my son's soccer game a time or 10. I went through the AYSO referee classes, it took all of 5 hours and we were done....no field experience required. But I don't do it by choice.

I work Football, Basketball and Baseball. The only season I like the least overall is baseball because it is usually much colder in the spring and the working games tend to be much more unpredictable. Football is the easiest sport to work mainly because of schedule. I only work games on the weekends and on Saturday nights I am usually home watching college football.

One of the biggest myths around about working multiple sports is the fact that people think you are always away from the house. I guess if sitting home and watching American Idol every night is your thing that might be too much. But I like being out of the house and having something outside of my professional life to be concerned with.

Peace

Ditto! I love basketball. I do Football tackle only. and this year HS softball.

Little League baseball! I love it. One year I did 100 games.

Basketball is because I played and I need motivation to run.

Rita

OK, let's see. I've done soccer, volleyball, and softball on the side. I've even done some full contact tiddlywinks and flat track roller derby. OK, well not the last two. But still.

I am a HS football crew chief and a high school and college baseball umpire.

I get a couple of weeks off from late-October to mid-November and usually get a couple of weeks off in March. This year I started basketball late cause I wanted a longer break and then ended early due to a knee injury. I only worked 25 games this season, all varsity high school.

Baseball and football overlap some, but otherwise I do no off-season officiating. Unless I hit a camp this summer, my next basketball game will be in November.

[QUOTE=Rita C]Little League baseball! I love it. One year I did 100 games.
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You MUST be a glutton for punishment!:eek: