Postgame Question
 

OK, this may be a bit off the wall, but two unrelated incidents I was around (one HS, one JC) last week got me to thinking about this (especially as it pertains to JuCo games). Two situations:

A) HS Var game ends at 9:20pm Friday. After finishing breaking down table/chairs etc...I go to lock the locker room at 10:15pm and the two officials are still in there. They let me know they were almost done, and emerged at 10:30pm.

B) Womens JC game last Wednesday ends around 8:50pm. As part of a long complaint by the crew that worked this game against the AD, they stated that they felt "rushed through their postgame shower and conversation time" (actual words in the complaint) and told to "hustle up because the facility is closing" at 10:15pm.

Is there a generally considered reasonable amount of time for officials to use the facilities after a game is over? I've been part of game management at the HS level for 10 years now, and I suppose my "tolerance" for how long it takes when it's my night to be in charge of these things at HS is directly related to what night it is and what I plan to do once I leave (in this situation A, I was just late to the post-game party:D ). Are there any areas where there is a written mandate or agreement between associations and schools/sanctioning bodies for how long officials are to be allowed to use the facilities in HS? Or is it pretty much common sense?

As it pertains to situation B, I'm guessing that for college games, there might be some more structure to the rules regarding facitilites. I'm basically just curious since I'm only a scorekeeper/clock operator/PA guy there.

Thanks for your responses

Considering that brown pops are on the minds of officials after they've finished working, they can talk about the game while contributing to the local economy. :D

Seriously, I am outta there in 15 minutes, tops. Over an hour and near two? Not a chance. However, I could see postgames some taking closer to 30 minutes for a 3-man crew with just one shower stall available.

In our area most officials have gone to NOT taking showers because of staph/infections being spread around the high schools. Had a HS in my town shut down for 2 days so they could sanitize the place. :eek:

I would rather have a shower but I take mine at home now....:)

I know of no standard but I've never seen any crew take more than about 30 minutes....usually less. I'd get very irritated as the person in charge of the facilities if the crew was taking 90+ minutes to post-game and take a shower. If they need that much post-game, they should shower and continue elsewhere.

I agree with this. As an official one needs to be considerate to the staff member of the host location who is waiting lock up/clean up and go home.

I'd say 45 is the absolute maximum at the college level to shower, change clothes and repack the gear bag because people tend to travel from greater distances and thus bring more stuff. If a long discussion needs to be held, it can be done over a bite to eat and postgame beverage.

Very good point!

I do a lot of travelling for football officiating, and I don't understand why some officials don't have sandles for the shower there. The standard adidas shower sandle is only $20.

The Slowest Official, Ever !!
 

Many years ago, I worked with an official who was known for his very slow, post game routine. He would actually shave before he showered. We had a varsity game once at a nearby Catholic school. As our custom, I waited for him so that we could leave together, no big deal, since I lived only a few minutes away. When we're ready to leave, we walk through the gym, which had all the lights turned off. We get to the main entrance, and find that the doors are not only locked shut, they're chained and padlocked shut. And there's no one around. Luckily, I had done some CYO games at this school, so I knew that there was an alternate exit through the cafeteria's kitchen. Sure enough, these doors were locked, but not chained, so all we had to do was push on the push bars.

True story.

It would have been really cool if an alarm had gone off. :)

One hour is absurd.

As a veteran official once told me, "They don't pay us to shower." LOL

Thanks!
 

Thanks for your insights.

I remember that when I was in high school (10-12 yrs ago) selling tickets at the door at the games, almost 100% of the time the officials would arrive already dressed. Now, for varsity games especially, it's basically the total opposite. At my school, we take pride in being known by the officials as a place where they know they'll be well taken care of from the time they arrive to the time they leave...just as long as it's not tomorrow when they finally do leave:D .

I will add that at the collegiate level (even JC's at times) there are quite often paid observers/evaluators at the gym and they have post-game procedures that they have to follow - so sometimes the post-game can take longer than just hopping in a shower and getting dressed...the longest post-game I have ever been involved in was about 90 minutes - and that was way too freaking long. Even with an observer, 20-30 minutes to discuss things, shower, dress, and then we're outta there.

It gets in the way of their love handals

Officials Post Game
 

I'm a scorer for a D-1 school, both men & women's games. It has been very rare for officials to hang around longer than 30 minutes. I can only recall 1 time it took over an hour and that happened to be then night the league supervisor of officials happened to be there and they crew forgot to report the number on a foul. We finally got it 2 dead balls later during a media time-out. And then they reported the wrong number (# reported wasn't in the game)

Most nights, even with the observer and I checking in the crew, they're gone in less than 40 minutes. They usually have long drives.

Monty Python (and sometimes basketball is a flying circus)

I usually the slow one in the crew so I'm the last to shower and get dressed. However, from the time I get into the locker room it usually only takes me about 25 minutes.

Now, sometimes, the AD will have food brought in for us and we'll hang around eat and shoot the bull with him. But, even in that case, it's only another 20-30 minutes tops.

An hour and a half seems really, really long!

Adult Beverages
 

We used to work at a Catholic middle school where the coach would have beer and burgers for us after Sunday afternoon games. The coach is no longer there, he's now an official on out board. Too bad.

We still have a private high school that we service where the athletic director has a few, just a few, cold beers for us after a game.