Learned This The Hard Way, Dressing In Bathrooms ...
 

Me too. Most middle schools don't have proper dressing facilities.

I'm in the group of wearing what I wear to work, business casual - no jeans ever.

Now for the Saturday morning kids games it's uniform with OHSAA jacket. No place to change before or after.

I work Volleyball also and many of those officials I work with walk in with complete uniforms on including shoes. Right from the street. It just seems strange for me as I dress similar for volleyball as I do for basketball. I always change into my game shoes for volleyball as well.

So are u saying that anyone who shows up dressed down and ready to go is a slacker official. that they have no appreciation for the game

Basketball always khakis, dress shoes, etc. Never jeans for basketball. For football, I have worn khaki shorts and tennis shoes in early season games. I've also worn jeans. Just less people around and you don't have to sit through a JV game with the rest of the crowd.

I do have a 'over the shoulder' duffel bag but my next piece will be a roller bag I think.

I won't speak for grunewar, but this varies.

First of all, he didn't say anyone. He said his experience has shown a correlation between the two groups.

Second, it's a regional thing. Those officials who work at gyms without adequate changing rooms are stuck; this could vary as much by area as it does by level. Around here, I would never consider going to a hs game in uniform. On top of that, the assigner sent an email out to everyone recently reminding them as much.

Other areas may not view this as nearly as big a deal; and it may be the norm to show up to even a varsity game with the uniform on.

I am also a OHSAA volleyball official and a work PAVO matches, where in PAVO you must change. Another official and I who also works the same as me discusses this all the time that in OHSAA that you should come in as we do in basketball. But most OHSAA schools in my area would laugh at you if you asked for a changing room in my area.
I do change my shoes once I get there though.

As for basketball: dress pants/shoes, polo or dressy shirt for JH and above, I dress the same for all because all games matter.

Just to clarify, the reason some of us do it differently for JH games is not because we think they don't matter. It's because the facilities simply are not provided.

Nah, thats not what I ment, I mean there is some in Ohio that have good changing rooms and people could change and don't, thats what I was meaning.

Something to go with this, I hate it when I show up at a JH game ready to go with my jacket on and the other official gets there and says to me "Others officials in this league don't wear or bring their jackets for this league so I don't bring mine".
I hate this if you wear it for a JV then wear it for a JH.

Maybe, but jh is level where you get a lot of officials who don't have jackets. I always brought mine just in case, but never thought it was a big deal either way.

This is something that I address when making the confirmation phone call to partner(s) the day before JH games. ETA, jacket, type of shirt (grey or stripes), shorts/pants, etc.

This is what I love about having access to partner information prior to the games. When I was working in Des Moines, we didn't know who our partner was until we got to the game.

What I am saying is, most (a lot, a high percentage) of my partners who show up for a game in uniform, or in sweats, or in jeans and often right before the game knowing this is not the Association policy, simply don't care about their image, professionalism, moving up, progressing in the game as much as those who show up and do what they are asked to do by the Association.

Again, my experience - yours may be different.

Just depends. Jeans are fine if they are nice (not faded or ripped) and worn with a sweater and casual shoes rather than a sweatshirt and running shoes as mentioned. On tournament days and weekends, we will often wear nice sweats.

There doesn't seem to be any real dress code here. I've started dressing nicer this year, trying to more actively cultivate a professional image. It doesn't matter how inconspicuous I try to be, folks can always tell I'm a ref. It must be the bag. ;) Normally I'm in Dockers and a nice polo shirt. I have a nice looking, but inexpensive, pair of rubber-soled dress shoes. So I don't mind if I have to tramp through knee deep snow to get to the gym. I think it's more professional to dress at the game site, unless it's a JH. I've had one too many painful experiences with that.

But jeans seem to be just as acceptable here, and how my partner dresses hasn't usually been an indication of how the game will go. Well, unless he comes "dressed" to a HS game. Those guys turn out to be "interesting" partners a pretty high percentage of the time.

Volleyball is totally different. We all come dressed to our matches. Just a different culture.

His word were thoes who do show up dressed down ARE the same ones who bla bla. Sounds like a blanket statement to me. I would try to avoid thoes since u are speaking to such a varied group in varied locations. Just me. Thats all I was getting at. I think u should dress the part also, nice pants and shirt, good shoes. What looks more profesional than your uniform however. Hard to look better than u do an the court unless u don't like the threads. I'm just ranting. Not much sleep since child #3 came out on Monday