Indiana HS Officials...need your help!!

[Indy_Ref]

If you are an Indiana HS basketball official, or if you're an official who is interested in what some jackass coach (and EX-official, I might add!) thinks about "the state of game"...including officiating, read this link:

http://www.hoosierauthority.com/Girl...mid=61&id=4314

For any of you who've had Coach Todd Salkoski roam the sideline in one of your games, you know what a complete jackass he can be. For those of you who've never had the "privilege," allow me to enlighten you.

Back when I was still officiating girls' basketball in Indiana, I was "blessed" with his presence twice. The last time I was so "graced," his team Shenandoah was playing a rivalry game vs. one their most hated opponents, New Castle. After his team's VERY FIRST POSSESSION of the game, he gets up and walks to my partner who was @ the C position and exclaims, "Is that the way it's going to be today? Am I coming into this building to get screwed again like I always do!?!?" In retrospect, I wished my partner would have whacked him right then & there...20 seconds into the game. However, since this was my partner's first experience with him, it took him by surprise...and he didn't do anything. From what I've heard about Salkoski, he may have known my partner had never seen him before, so he thought he could get away with it. He tends to push the officials as far as he possibly can before he gets the stop sign. After that, he normally picks & chooses his moments when he offers his opinion on our calls. He was a pain in our asses that whole day...but he didn't "test" the other 2 of us that day like he did our 3rd.

What galls me the most, is this guy was considered a decent and respectable official when he worked ballgames. For those of you who do not want to click on the link, Salkoski used to officiate for 10 years prior to becoming a coach, after which he quit officiating. He was asked to give a "state of the game speech" and write a journal for the Hoosier Authority website as he prepares for the upcoming Indiana state tournament. He believes the game itself has "never been better", the coaches have "never been better" (love the way he breaks his arm patting himself and his profession on the back), but the state of officiating has gone down the toilet.

This idiot obviously has NO IDEA how hard most of us officials work to become better...more qualified officials. No...he is self-absorbed in all the games he's coaching in the summer months of June & July, "free of charge of course!" just to help his girls get better. He is blind to the fact that most of us work 11-12 months of the year, go to multiple camps...that we PAY to go to!, watch hours of game film, discuss plays over & over, read & re-read rules again & again, etc., etc.! We all have a certain level of ability & a certain amount of "the gift" that the good Lord has given us. The best officials are working VERY HARD to maximize these talents. ALL of the guys I schedule games with do ALL of the things I've listed above. For all of the guys & gals I know who put so much time & hard work into this avocation called officiating, I will not stand by and let some ex-official butcher us without allowing us a chance to defend ourselves.

If you read the article after clicking on the above link, please feel free to email Mr. Salkoski your thoughts, or share your thoughts in the Girls' Basketball Forum by clicking on that link at the end of the story! Mr. Salkoski can be reached @ [email protected].

Thanks!