Dissappointed official

[REFVA]

I have had the best season of my short seven season career. This is my third year doing Varsity games. Post season games start on Monday 2/12. we have a voting among the association. I'm not sure why becuase we don't follow the results. I was voted in many catagories with 8 and 9's with 10 being the best and my assignor only chooses to assign me one post season game. I even recieved great votes from the coaches. I am dissapointed tremedously. I never turned down any assignments not matter where or what they were. I was jerked around from location to location last minute many times. I was always praising and giving confidence to all my partner for trying their hardest and giving all they had. I went to 3 camps this year to learn as much as I could. I felt more confidence in myself. All he had to say was you earned it, but you didn't prove yourself. Yet he was never out there evaluating me, not once in seven years. I am ready to shelf this association. This association is true good ole boy network. One of my partner two weeks ago never did a game till this year and he had a Varsity level boys game he was one of my partners. I had to wait my way and work hard for my opportunity. This is a downer. I am ready to hang my sneakers... Do all association work the same way??

[zebraman]

Originally Posted by REFVA

I have had the best season of my short seven season career. This is my third year doing Varsity games. Post season games start on Monday 2/12. we have a voting among the association. I'm not sure why becuase we don't follow the results. I was voted in many catagories with 8 and 9's with 10 being the best and my assignor only chooses to assign me one post season game. I even recieved great votes from the coaches. I am dissapointed tremedously. I never turned down any assignments not matter where or what they were. I was jerked around from location to location last minute many times. I was always praising and giving confidence to all my partner for trying their hardest and giving all they had. I went to 3 camps this year to learn as much as I could. I felt more confidence in myself. All he had to say was you earned it, but you didn't prove yourself. Yet he was never out there evaluating me, not once in seven years. I am ready to shelf this association. This association is true good ole boy network. One of my partner two weeks ago never did a game till this year and he had a Varsity level boys game he was one of my partners. I had to wait my way and work hard for my opportunity. This is a downer. I am ready to hang my sneakers... Do all association work the same way??

Do all associations work the same way as what? You only gave us your perception of your experience. I'm not going to jump to conclusions about your association based on that.

No association is perfect nor is any system. It sounds as if you are improving and advancing, even if it isn't as fast as you want. You got a playoff game this year. Congratulations.

If you love officiating, I don't think you should hang up your sneakers just because you did not get as many playoff games as you had hoped. But that is just me. You'll have to figure out that one for yourself.

[mplagrow]

Ask yourself why you got into officiating. Then ask yourself if you are getting out of it what you wanted to get out of it.

When all else fails, learn the serenity prayer.

[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.

[IREFU2]

Originally Posted by REFVA

I have had the best season of my short seven season career. This is my third year doing Varsity games. Post season games start on Monday 2/12. we have a voting among the association. I'm not sure why becuase we don't follow the results. I was voted in many catagories with 8 and 9's with 10 being the best and my assignor only chooses to assign me one post season game. I even recieved great votes from the coaches. I am dissapointed tremedously. I never turned down any assignments not matter where or what they were. I was jerked around from location to location last minute many times. I was always praising and giving confidence to all my partner for trying their hardest and giving all they had. I went to 3 camps this year to learn as much as I could. I felt more confidence in myself. All he had to say was you earned it, but you didn't prove yourself. Yet he was never out there evaluating me, not once in seven years. I am ready to shelf this association. This association is true good ole boy network. One of my partner two weeks ago never did a game till this year and he had a Varsity level boys game he was one of my partners. I had to wait my way and work hard for my opportunity. This is a downer. I am ready to hang my sneakers... Do all association work the same way??

Its seem to be the nature of the beast. Last year I got no post season and this year I got 4 games this week. I dont expect to get any regional or state games. I never go into a season expecting post season, so when I get it, it a surprise. Cheer up partner and hang in there.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by IREFU2

Its seem to be the nature of the beast. Last year I got no post season and this year I got 4 games this week. I dont expect to get any regional or state games. I never go into a season expecting post season, so when I get it, it a surprise. Cheer up partner and hang in there.

Well, Rob, I got a Regional last year but you might get whatever Regional game I may have received for next week now that I made that stink in the meeting about Rec League availability.

[Ignats75]

I am trying to make the jump to Varsity from JV ball. I took the Class 1 certification test last February. Its customary that it takes 2-3 years before your schedule even starts to contain more than a hit-or-miss Varsity game. I would like to think, and have been told by many referees that I respect that I am one of the top JV level officials in the two Associations to which I belong. The dreaded P word floats around referee locker rooms all the time. I would love to have a full varsity schedule now. I realize that I must pay my dues, so I accept the situation as it is. But sometimes the Politics does bug me, especially when assignors insist that there isn't any. There is a referee that took the Class 1 test with me. He came out of that test with a FULL Varsity schedule. I have worked with him a couple of times in the past, and he is a good official, but by no means one of the top 10 partners I have ever had. There are times it bugs me, until I realize that me grousing about the situation isn't going to help me be a better official or advance my career. So I too think of the serenity prayer.

[IREFU2]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

Well, Rob, I got a Regional last year but you might get whatever Regional game I may have received for next week now that made that stink in the meeting about Rec League availability.

I doubt it. Plus, you had a valid point. I never get any call from him about rec ball.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by REFVA

I had to wait my way and work hard for my opportunity. This is a downer. I am ready to hang my sneakers...

I don't know exactly what kind of feedback you're looking for, so let me just share my experience with you. I went 5 years without a single varsity game. Then I got a few varsity games. The next year I got enough varsity games to qualify for tournament work. I was lucky to get one crappy D3 game. The next two years, I got no postseason games. By this time, I was working varsity college ball -- but not high school playoffs. The next year, I got an early round game and was shocked to receive a regional semi-final (Sweet 16) game. It was girls and only D2, but I was happy to have it.

At our end-of-season banquet, our featured speaker happened to be the state high school tournament director. He talked about the job he does in assigning officials and stuff like that. During the talk, he said (and this is a direct quote, because I remember it like yesterday), "If you want to see how a high school game should be officiated, come watch (my name) work a game." In front of my whole association!! Obviously, I was thrilled.

Guess how many postseason games I got the following year. Zero. I was, quite frankly crushed. How did I go from getting pointed out by name, to getting shut out?

How many the year after that? Sqadoosh! At our banquet that year, I received our association's award for outstanding achievement on the court. I felt like puking, to be honest. It was a very nice gesture, but I felt that I did not deserve it if I wasn't even working one round of play-offs. What had I really achieved on the court? I had a really nice regular season. Whoop-dee-doo. To this day, I do not display the award.

The next year, I worked a prelim game and a regional semi-final. Why? I still have no idea. The last two years, I have worked the state semi-final game (Final Four). Why? I still have no idea.

So what's my point? After I got shut out a few years ago, I decided to stop worrying about the postseason. It was out of my control, anyway, so there was nothing I could do about it. I decided to control what I could control (my training, my rules knowledge, my performance on the court) and not worry about what I couldn't control. In my case, it has worked out -- but again, I have no idea why. Hopefully, you'll stick with it, keep doing an outstanding job, and force somebody to notice. I hope it doesn't take you as long as it took me. Good luck.

[ronny mulkey]

Originally Posted by REFVA

I have had the best season of my short seven season career. This is my third year doing Varsity games. Post season games start on Monday 2/12. we have a voting among the association. I'm not sure why becuase we don't follow the results. I was voted in many catagories with 8 and 9's with 10 being the best and my assignor only chooses to assign me one post season game. I even recieved great votes from the coaches. I am dissapointed tremedously. I never turned down any assignments not matter where or what they were. I was jerked around from location to location last minute many times. I was always praising and giving confidence to all my partner for trying their hardest and giving all they had. I went to 3 camps this year to learn as much as I could. I felt more confidence in myself. All he had to say was you earned it, but you didn't prove yourself. Yet he was never out there evaluating me, not once in seven years. I am ready to shelf this association. This association is true good ole boy network. One of my partner two weeks ago never did a game till this year and he had a Varsity level boys game he was one of my partners. I had to wait my way and work hard for my opportunity. This is a downer. I am ready to hang my sneakers... Do all association work the same way??

If you can referee, then no amount of politics or "good old boy" networks will keep you down forever. Keep working whatever system is in place in your area. Post season games only comprise a very small % of the games that anyone is going to do over the years, anyway. Enjoy the ones that come your way and don't let the lean year(s) affect your next game or season. There is a lot of good basketball to be officiated in the regular season. Those games are important, too.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

The next year, I worked a prelim game and a regional semi-final. Why? I still have no idea. The last two years, I have worked the state semi-final game (Final Four). Why? I still have no idea.

Why? Because you're a good official! Why didn't you work other years? Because you're not the only good official in your area/state.

[Nu1]

RefVA, I've had some similar feelings myself. Here's how I answered my own questions;
1. Some assignors are better than others (just like some refs are better than others)
2. If I have concerns about my current assignor, I can stay where I am and be unhappy...I can stay where I am and try to change things (executive committees, boards, talk to assignor, etc.)...I can move on to another association / chapter

Ultimately, your assignor assigns games based on whatever criteria they use - good, bad, fair, not fair, whatever. And I too saw some things that I thought were questionable. But I'm not an assignor. So, I have to choose #1 or #2 (assuming my choice is to continue to referee). Really good assignors (and by that I don't mean assignors who give me what I want - I haven't had any "top-notch" varsity games or playoffs yet) are a blessing...just like really good bosses...or really good partners. They make things more enjoyable.

I'm glad you have some place to vent and hear the opinions of others and possibly different view points. Ultimately, I think you'll need to decide to stay and let it be what it is...or move on. That's the choice you can control...unlike the choices of the assignor.

** By the way, I just re-read my post and want to make something clear. I don't feel entitled to any top-notch varsity games or playoffs. I just wanted to point out that I'm not at that level yet...but I still have a job-performance opinion of the assignors I do and have worked for. Personally, I'm fortunate to be where I am.