This is what I was commenting on. I think his assertion is accurate.

In Northern Ohio, the Assocaition plays no role in assigning games. Each conference has its own commissioner who is also the assignor. If this situation was as you said, around here it should be handled the following way. Ask your V coach to speak to the V officials about the incident(s). If they can coraborate your story that would be a good thing. Then write a letter to the assignor and enclose a tape of the game. Explain your side of the story. If the V officials saw it as you did, mention their names in the report so the assignor can talk to them.

My guess is, if everything is as you said, you will have seen the last of those officials.

Unless there's video evidence to show that a) the officials were doing a poor job, and b) the officials were as unprofessional in their contact with the coach as he states.

In my experience, associations have a vested interest in maintaining a professional image; and state governing bodies even more so.

I recognize that there's a second (and third) side to this story, that's why I added the caveat. The thing is, I've worked with officials like this.

Now, they tend to be of a category I forgot to mention. On their way out. I worked with a guy a few times who was way past his sell-by-date. Aside from being slow to position and having poor mechanics (often hard to tell what he was calling), he was quick to get into it with fans.

Fair enough. I have no reference point there.

I work for Bull Run. They have treated me very well, spent a lot of hours training me, and brought me along at the correct pace. No complaints from me.

I have no comment on my sister Association as all it would only be based on is here say.

Where I live often the assignors are different for each gender. So if you work for the girl's assignor, you may not work for the boy's assignor. And honestly, if you work a lot of girl's basketball it will eliminate you from a lot of boy's basketball (and vise versa). And for many officials when they choose, they do not choose or desire to work girl's basketball. So it does ring true if they have a choice, they are not working a JV girl's game. ;)

Peace

The official appears to be very defensive. He'll be a JV official for the rest of his life.

Best way to handle this? Show your AD the tape of the game and specifically describe the safety issues that occurred during the game, combined with the official being unprofessionally defensive about it. The AD will either takec are of it, or not.

Have that official again? Not worth your time to even try to communicate with him. Make your decisions accordingly as to your behvior and tactics.

Very true especially if your moving into the next level with woman's basketball. It goes without saying that these are two completely different forms of basketball. You could make the arguement that at it's best, and most pure form, the girls game it fantastic when played at a high level. And when it's not, you want to stab yourself in the eye with a pencil. Alot of people may choose to avoid the female game all together. Patty Broderick is maybe one of the best officials in the world and attending one of her camps may shed new light on there style of play, and your interest in it. JMO

Regional differences, and you can challenge whether we have a "choice" around here due to the CHSAA rules; but the fact is they do have a choice.

1. Don't work playoffs.
2. Work X number of JV boys games plus Y number of girls varsity games.
3. Combine those into JVG games and be able to work more VB games.

Again, the point I am making is not everyone is "made" to work both genders. In my state we have 4 different levels we can say we are able to work. Two of them are girl's post seasons; the other 2 are boy's post season tournaments. All of the state finals are not run on the same weekend nor do they run at the same places. It is impossible to work very deep in all of those tournaments at once and even if you could by avoiding a specific night, they have not allowed anyone to work both very often. And many times the choice is going to be made for you if you try to work both. As I said, if you work in a girl's conference, there is no guarantee you are going to work in the boy's side of that same conference. And in many cases officials have not been allowed to work both because they are labeled on one side or the other as I said before. And in my state, it is harder to get a boy's varsity game than it is to work a girl's varsity game. Many officials default to the girl's side because they cannot get games in boy's basketball. And frankly I think it takes a different skill level to work boy's games when the girl's side has different expectations (from coaches as well) on how the game is called and what is not called. And the fact that a coach is even talking about how bruised his girl's got and how physical the game was tells a huge story in that respect. I rarely hear a boy's coach talk about his player had a bruise on their elbow because of fouls that were not called. Another reason why I just leave that side alone as much as possible.

Peace

This is a really good point and one of the main reasons I took the OP with a grain of salt. From the sound of the OP, there were 3 or 4 ambulances called to the game site. In reality, girls hit the floor 10 times more often than boys and they cry and they look like they are going to die of pain, and within 5 minutes of being helped off the floor, they are back in the game. I suspect the OP was embellishing the extent of the injuries. Seriously - a major concussion?

Funny you say this. Early in my career I worked a girl's varsity game. The girls basically did something she had no business doing like trying to dribble between two defenders that were doing nothing but standing in front of her. The girl fell and acted like she hurt her knee. You would have thought with the screaming and yelling she had torn a ligament or broken a leg. The girl's parent even started yelling at us like we had committed a capital crime. We delayed the game for a few minutes as the girl was actually helped off the court. The very next stoppage of play, she was at the scorer's table coming in the game. I knew right thing it was time to hang up girl's basketball. Now it took some years to get some clout to do so, but I eventually got it out of my schedule. And in many cases when I am asked to work girls, the assignor apologizes to me or even makes it clear if I get a boy's game, I can give it back. The last couple years I worked a Xmas Tournament on an off night and I am glad it was only one. And the type of complaints that the coach displayed here is the main reason for that position.

I'm guessing the OP is a relatively new girls coach. A few years of doing this and you'll be like the coach I had the other night when three times in one quarter we had to stop play for an injury (and tears) on the court. When we'd go to beckon him out, he'd just roll his eyes and say "Good gravy..." :D

I've waited a whole day to say this but since I am getting ready to leave for tonights game and won't have to read what the people who disagree with me say until later, I will say it now.

A coach blaming the officials for both teams being so rough that they injure each other is like a parent blaming the teachers at school for their children's misbehavior.

Officials don't try to let a game get out of hand. A game gets out of hand because the play is such that an official may not have the tools (ability) to keep it under control. The players and the coaches are the ones dictating how rough the players play not the officials. They could play within the rules any time they choose. I have called and seen plenty of games where foul calls were no deterrent at all to rough play. And I'm not sure they should be. That is a choice the players and coaches make.

I'm not saying that the officials don't bear a burden of responsibility for the safety of the participants. They do. I am only saying a coach blaming officials for rough play from both teams is somewhat misdirected.

Amen and amen. What tools do we have in our repertoire to prevent injuries? Calling fouls? Pshaw.