Help IL Vet Officials

[Rich]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I think the games are so different that this is the reason many assignors do not like officials to work both. And I will say that most of the time when I work with someone who works a lot of girls ball and they are working with me in a boy's game, they often have a quicker whistle. That does not mean there are officials that cannot successfully work both, but there are many that cannot. And this is just one person's opinion, but it seems to be a common opinion.

I see both sides of this.

I try to call both sides the same here. The boys coaches seem happy enough (my boys ratings are above average every year) and the girls coaches must like other people (I'm either at the average or just below every season). They seem to expect quicker whistles, more fouls, more stuff called. They don't know how to ask questions and talk to officials, either, on average. There are exceptions - I just don't see them often enough.

Frankly, I'm not inclined to give them what they want in this manner. A bump in the back on a cleared rebound is *not* a foul unless the rebounder loses her balance, etc. etc.

That said, I would guess I call, on average, 7-10 more fouls in a typical girls game than I do in a typical boys game. I try to keep every game as its own entity and have a patient whistle for each, but I admit I fantasize about putting girls basketball away for good. Problem is, many of the commissioners I work for would punish on the boys side if you don't work girls and I'd rather work a girls game than sit home. If I could work 40 boys varsity games a season, I'd give the girls side up entirely.