Dissappointed official

[JRutledge]

Why are you complaining? At least you got a post season game.

BTW, the Serenity Prayer works well.

Peace

[Camron Rust]

You've only got 7 years behind you and you worried about only 1 post season game???

I had the opportunity to hear from one of our top officials recently when the topic of state tourneys was being discussed. This is a guy that goes to the top tourney in any year he is eligible. I found out that he worked 17 years before making his first (lower level) tourney. He's now at around 30 years. Imagine if he bailed after 7.

It's quite pitiful that so many young officials expect to shoot to the top in just a very few years when many of the ones there now worked for a very long time just to get there.

Keep working on your game and your time will come. It has nothing to do with "good ole boys". It's called experience and all the things that come with it.

[SMEngmann]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

You've only got 7 years behind you and you worried about only 1 post season game???

I had the opportunity to hear from one of our top officials recently when the topic of state tourneys was being discussed. This is a guy that goes to the top tourney in any year he is eligible. I found out that he worked 17 years before making his first (lower level) tourney. He's now at around 30 years. Imagine if he bailed after 7.

It's quite pitiful that so many young officials expect to shoot to the top in just a very few years when many of the ones there now worked for a very long time just to get there.

Keep working on your game and your time will come. It has nothing to do with "good ole boys". It's called experience and all the things that come with it.

As a younger official I'm gonna have to take issue with some of the things that Camron said here. I think it is very good for officiating that young officials put the time and the effort required to get to the top and if they make it, they deserve to be there. I am fortunate to be in an area where there are plenty of opportunities for younger officials, but there are many others who aren't that fortunate and they are stuck in groups where it takes 5 years to just get a varsity game, and another 15 to have a shot at playoffs. Young officials are the future of officiating and the future caretakers of the game and the avocation, by refusing to give them games that they deserve, or by telling them to pay their dues, while inferior officials work the big games constantly only leads them to quit.

I don't know how it was in the past, but now I know a lot of young people dedicated to officiating who are students of the game, constantly attend camps, know the rules inside and out, are in great shape and learn from some of the top officials around, and do so 365 days a year, working many games to get better. Many of the older officials have stopped going to camps and have grown deficient in 3 person. The young guys pay their dues and should be so rewarded with games that they deserve, so it is baloney to say they haven't paid their dues just because they haven't toiled in the lower leagues for 15 years.

In regards to the OP, I don't think you should quit after 7 years or blame politics. If there's another venue in your area to pursue officiating (another association), try it, even if it means a longer drive. The playoffs are a different animal from the regular season, and experience plays more of a role in these games and how to manage them. If you earned your way onto the playoff list this year, be honored, learn from your game this year, and continue to work hard and you will move up. Give the assignor the benefit of the doubt in terms of him having your best interests at heart, it is always better to be a little late and ready than too early and in over your head.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by SMEngmann

As a younger official I'm gonna have to take issue with some of the things that Camron said here. I think it is very good for officiating that young officials put the time and the effort required to get to the top and if they make it, they deserve to be there. I am fortunate to be in an area where there are plenty of opportunities for younger officials, but there are many others who aren't that fortunate and they are stuck in groups where it takes 5 years to just get a varsity game, and another 15 to have a shot at playoffs. Young officials are the future of officiating and the future caretakers of the game and the avocation, by refusing to give them games that they deserve, or by telling them to pay their dues, while inferior officials work the big games constantly only leads them to quit.
.

Hold on now.

I'm not saying ALL younger officials should have to wait. There are some that should and do move up quicker. However, there are a lot more that think they should that just simply aren't as good (yet). I know. I used to think I should have been getting better games over other poeple. Only after I worked a few more years have I learned that I didn't know what I didn't know.

In our area, it does take an average 5+ years to get to the first varsity assignment. It can be and has been done faster and can take longer (and never for some). There ARE a handful of 20-25 year-olds working varsity and SOME even the top varsity games. But, even if the rest THINK they're just as good, they're simply not. (of course, that applies to all ages, but it's more prevalent with younger officials).

If the upcoming official is only equal and not better, they don't deserve to displace someone who is already there. Why should the person who was there first have to give up games? Yes, to move someone up, someone up must come down. Some do need to step down but is it as many as there are young officials that think they should be moving up? No.

Originally Posted by SMEngmann

I don't know how it was in the past, but now I know a lot of young people dedicated to officiating who are students of the game, constantly attend camps, know the rules inside and out, are in great shape and learn from some of the top officials around, and do so 365 days a year, working many games to get better. Many of the older officials have stopped going to camps and have grown deficient in 3 person. The young guys pay their dues and should be so rewarded with games that they deserve, so it is baloney to say they haven't paid their dues just because they haven't toiled in the lower leagues for 15 years.
.

A lot of those veterans spent many years learning the game and going to camps just the same. Just because they haven't been to camp in a few years doesn't mean they forgot everything. It really hasn't changed THAT much.

There is also a thing called loyalty. I know it's a tough thing for some young guys to understand. If the older official can still do the job, and have bailed the assingor out of bind after bind, year after year, they deserve to get and a good assignor will keep them the varsity games until they either can no longer do it or want to retire. You don't push people out just to make room for new people. Just like any venue, you've gotta be better than the guy there to knock him out of the spot...not just his peer.


Think about the numbers too. In our association of about 330 people, we cover from 7th grade through varsity and have, at most, ~30 boys 6A varsity games per week out of a total of about 600 games per week. Only about 25% of the games we cover in an average week are varity games (boys AND girls). That means only about the top 75 officials are going to get a varsity schedule on a regular basis with a few others (20-30) getting occassional assignments....and that is ALL varsity games from 1A to 6A, not just the big games. That means 75% get few, if any, varsity games. It's simply math, there are not a lot of the "good" games to go around.

I don't think anyone can devise a way to, on a broad scale, move young officials up fast without pushing older officials out. To make room for the new official, you'd have to push someone out. It would mean the career span of an average varsity official would be no more than about 5 years. So, you'd have to keep that recruiting and training pipeline humming like an assembly line. But, its a lot easier and more effective to use officials through their useful career life rather than ending it prematurely to make for for an impatient newcomer.