NFHS Rules/Mechanics Exams, Part II, and TheViper

[deecee]

SoCal -- generally new officials (yrs. 1 & 2) get mostly lower level. but I had a couple varsity contests my first year (small school girls) and have had at least 2-5 since and the lst 2 years have been mostly varsity games.

But honestly the most competitive games I have had the previous few years have been either JV tourney semis or finals or the good freshman game matchup.

But I do not see why time of service should dictate whether or not a person can officiate a varsity games. There are some "varsity" officials who are simply there because they have 10+ years experience, and they are not better than guys who work lower level. I honestly wish we would put as much emphasis on ability rather than tenure in this profession. Because each are mutually exclusive. But I do agree that experience is helpful, especially because you would have been exposed to more situations. We lose good officials becuase they are not challenged often enough.

[CMHCoachNRef]

Originally Posted by deecee

But I do not see why time of service should dictate whether or not a person can officiate a varsity games. There are some "varsity" officials who are simply there because they have 10+ years experience, and they are not better than guys who work lower level. I honestly wish we would put as much emphasis on ability rather than tenure in this profession. Because each are mutually exclusive. But I do agree that experience is helpful, especially because you would have been exposed to more situations. We lose good officials becuase they are not challenged often enough.

DC,
I can't disagree with many of your points. HOWEVER, I would argue that EXPERIENCE does have SIGNIFICANT value. Secondly, we must look at the officiating pyramid.

Let's say the average official officiates for 20 years (think about how many you probably personally know who have been officiating for significantly longer than that). Let's look at Official Newbie08 who just got his license on 12-01-08.

In 2008-09 let's assume that all varsity games in his state are properly covered with enough officials to do each of these games (in Central Ohio we have many more varsity officials than we have games). Let's assume that roughly 50% of the officials quit after 3 years or less and really never make it to the varsity level to any relevant extent. Let's assume that the number of available officials is increasing at about 5% per year (the number for basketball is higher than this number, but let's run with it for now).

If the average referee (excluding the 3 years or less guys) average 20 years before they retire, this means that about 5% of them retire each year (each year about 1/20 of them would be in their 20th year and then would retire). If we are adding 5% per year, this means that we are actually getting twice as many new officials as we have referees who are ready to retire. We replace the retiring 5% PLUS we add 5% more.

Now, back to Newbie08. He does games for two years and then feels ready to upgrade to Class 1 to do varsity games. So do his friends (the 10% of new officials in the class of 2008). But, alas, there are only 5% of the officials getting ready to retire. In fact, there are MANY five, six and seven year officials who are at least as good AND MORE EXPERIENCED than Newbie08, BUT many of these officials are not getting a full varsity schedule, either.

This is where the frustrations can set in for new officials. In basketball (at least in Central Ohio), we have more officials than we have games. Therefore, there is a bit of a logjam getting into the varsity level. Getting FR/JV games is quite easy. Getting Jr. High games is actually harder since many of the varsity officials do many of these games during the week and on weekends. Do we lose some good officials due to this situation? I am sure we do. On the other hand, enough stay around and work through the system that the occasional loss is not noticed -- at least not in basketball.

If you want to advance QUICKLY, referee LAX or soccer. If you are patient, work hard to improve each time out, are persistent, really hustle, listen to the key veterans, and prove to assignors that you can get the job done, you can advance in basketball, too. The stage will eventually be much bigger in basketball than these other sports.

From my perspective, there are two things you don't want to rush into at an early age -- marriage and officiating games that are above your pay grade.