Thinking of becoming a basketball official-Michigan

[Paintguru]

Hey folks,

Came across this board after visiting our high school officials site for Michigan, and I thought I would come in and say hello. Right now I am a soccer official USSF, just started HS, but I was looking for something to do in the winter, and I thought basketball would be fun (and no, I have never done basketball refereeing before!). Contacted one of our local HS groups (I'm in metro Detroit area) and they were very responsive and recommended attending a local clinic. Sounds fun, but of course there is an initial investment in uniforms and the clinic itself. Unfortunately, most of the soccer referees I know don't do basketball, so I have no gauge on how things work here in Michigan. Is it fun to do HS stuff here? What do people do outside of the standard fall/winter season? I know they just moved the girls season closer/on top of the boys season, which I'm guessing will open up more games for folks. I'd like to just do some networking with some other officials and see what some of the general thoughts were on refereeing in Michigan. I saw an article somewhere that referees were also upset with the current pay rates (at least in basketball), but I could not read the article in detail to see how "bad" it is. I know soccer generally pays reasonably well, but with gas prices going up, it is becoming less desirable to travel unless you get double headers, etc.

Thanks again.