For the love of the game?

[SamIAm]

Originally Posted by Man In Blue

I was talking to a youth league president the other night and he asked me this question- "Why do officials need to be paid? Our BOD are all volunteers, our coaches are volunteers, scores, timers, etc are all volunteers, but not officials. If you guys are truly here for the love of the game, why do you insist to be paid?"

I told him the usual, rules study, professionalism, uniform costs, not my charity I give at work, etc. He said all of those thing are given by the other volunteers. He challenged me that being president of the league, he spent as much or more time during the course of the year as I did.

It did make the brown pop go down better but I am back to my trying to understanding the bigger picture grasshopper.

I officiate very seldom now, but when I was more active, I officiated for free. (However, they paid me to take the crap that goes with it.)

[ma_ref]

Originally Posted by SamIAm

I officiate very seldom now, but when I was more active, I officiated for free. (However, they paid me to take the crap that goes with it.)

Great line. I'm going to use it next time somebody complains that we get paid too much

[SamIAm]

Originally Posted by ma_ref

Great line. I'm going to use it next time somebody complains that we get paid too much

One of the finer pleasures of officiating was being asked how much I was paid.

[Forksref]

If youth coaches coached "for the love of the game", why do they care so much about winning at all costs? If they would volunteer to teach kids and not yell at refs and model their teams after the pros (win at all costs), then we'd volunteer more.

I volunteer when I do the Shrine All-Star football game, not when I do mouthy elementary school level basketball coaches, players and fans.

Slow whistle and the others nailed it. I do it for the love of the game but I won't do it for nothing. It's a mix.

[Jim Henry]

Originally Posted by SamIAm

I officiate very seldom now, but when I was more active, I officiated for free. (However, they paid me to take the crap that goes with it.)

Sam

That is classic! LOL I'm going to use that one when a coach or someone at the table kids me about the "big bucks" I make as a ref.