How Far???
 

How far are you guys willing to travel for a game. Here is my situation: I have been asked/invited to work in a new conference. Most of the schools are at least 1 hr-1 1/2 away from me. the basketball in my area of cleveland (westside)is decent at best. I have asked a few other officials and they tell me that this is a strong conference with good ball. A few guys have told me if you want to see some good basketball you will need to travel a bit. My question is how far would you guys be willing to travel? I currently work in 3 conferences now and the schools are anywhere from 10-35 minutes away from home. A few things that I must consider is picking my sone up from school at 3pm. The weather in the cleveland area can get crappy in the winter. And gas prices, gas is cheap for now but im sure it will go back up. Ignatz if you could give me some input on this that would be great. Considering you are from the area and know what I mean about the weather. Thanks for all the input! Here is the real kicker this conference is this is the same conference that Diebler played in!:eek:

I think this is a personal choice only you can decide for yourself. Will this help you get to where you want to go in the profession? How far are you willing to go?

I live in N VA. I can't take a weekday game (and my assignor knows it) more than 30 miles away becasue at that time of day it can take me well over an hr to get there (traffic, weather) and I just don't have that flexibility with my current job. Personally, I am not willing to "cut it close" or risk being late.

Now, that being said, if I had the chance to ref a former Diebler league game....... heck, all bets would be off and I might take leave from my day job! :D

This might sound like a cop-out, but it depends on the game. I travel about a max of 45 minutes for a high school game. I can't imagine going much farther than that for a $70 game. I drive a max of about 3 hours (although that's rare) for my college (D3) games. Most are within an hour and a half. I would be willing to travel farther than that if someone were to give me a D1 game.

Heck, if you got picked up by the Big 10, you shouldn't worry about the travel at all! :)

This is a personal decision, frankly. For example, I drive an hour to work every day. At my last association, good JV officials could get varsity games if they were willing to travel an hour or two to a smaller school. That seems to be the case here as well.
You need to decide if the better ball is worth the drive.

Do you guys get paid mileage at all? We routinely travel up to an hour and a half and sometimes a little more for games, but we get decent mileage pay.

To the gym, and no farther.

IOW, I agree with the others that it depends on the game and your personal goals. My "rule of thumb" is that round trip miles are less than or equal to the game fee.

I really do not have a set time or miles. It really depends on the circumstances and the level. I grew up about 3 hours from where I currently live and I still do games in that area from time to time. I usually do not drive to those locations straight from home, but technically that is over 3 hours for a game. But it is not unusual to drive and hour to an hour and half in the metropolitan area that I live but that is usually based on traffic.

Peace

I ref JuCo games that are usually 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours one way. I do it because the level of play is high and most times there is at least one D1 official on the crew.

Additionally once or twice a year the supervisor (a veteran Final Four official) shows up at one of my games and completely tears my game apart making the drive home completely miserable with me contemplating resigning from officiating. Definitely helps to keep my ego in check.

Um, so you never make it home?

It all becomes personal preference, and it's also regionally-based. People who live in metro areas might have more schools with a certain area compared to people who live in rural areas. Also, who assigns those schools farther away? Can they be more likely to help you advance in the post-season than the assignors in your immediate area? Will your family let you be away for longer periods?

I'll go anywhere they allow my Pod. These days the list keeps getting shorter and shorter so I have to travel farther. ;)

During the week I try to keep it around a 2 hour round trip. On Friday and Saturday it doesn't matter... let's pack up and go!

Games close to where I live are hard to come by. Not counting the few I do for the local school, all the rest are 45 minutes away and further, and that's because of miles, not traffic. It's not unusal for me to drive 1-1 1/2 hours for a game.

You mean these? :D

Yeah, that's them. :)

PS: M&M, I just received my Holiday Honig's catalog today! :eek:

Sorry, Couldn't Resist, I'm Sure There Will Be Some Payback, I'm Ready ...
 

Even if the parking lot is on the far side of the gym?

We Service Seventy Different High Schools ...
 

From home, for a Saturday night game, 47 miles is my longest one way trip. I live in the south west corner of my local board's area, there are no schools to the west, or the south, of my home.

Luckily, I work close to the center of my local board's area. Longest trip from work is 42 miles, but most other schools are a lot closer than that one.