Help IL Vet Officials
 

Bob, JRut, any others from IL, looking for some guidance on a spot I got myself into. I only worked a handful of games on the girls side this year, so I did not bother to block the dates on the IHSA calendar and apparently either defaulted to or I inadvertently made myself available for the girls post season. It appears that I got an "after the fact" girls regional for next week on the same day that I have a boys game. It so happens that this boys game is for an assignor that I have just broken in with and I have "heard" that he is not keen on his boys officials working the girls side (which could be a crock for all I know)...completely my screw up by not blocking my calendar, but I am afraid that if I turn back the regional it will hurt my chances on the boys post season. I know most assignors are understanding in terms of guys turning back dates if they get post season games, but I am a bit worried just as far as what I have heard about this particular assignor. Any advice?

First of all send me a PM about the assignor. Depending on who it is I might be able to be more specific.

Peace

Check your pm's - thanks!

Check your e-mail

It so happens that this boys game is for an assignor that I have just broken in with and I have "heard" that he is not keen on his boys officials working the girls side (which could be a crock for all I know)...


Assigners that think working a girl's game will somehow erode your skills as a boy's or men's college official make me chuckle. If you can officiate you can officiate any gender and most age groups. Have these assigners jump into the 21 century of officiating and wake up.

Send me a PM and I might be able to confirm that for you.


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.

Peace

Jrut,

I am glad it's just an opinion. When I was able to officiate I worked both sides. A whistle is a whistle it does not matter which side you work. Let the truth be told, I believe most (some) prefer boys because a lot more incidental contact can be passed on. JMO :)

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.

Actually it is more than an opinion as I am not the person that makes those decisions. But the people that make those decisions do not allow officials in many cases to work both. And since we are talking about the post season here, it is also very difficult to work both considering you cannot be in two places at the same time. But the reason I think it is mostly difficult is because the girl's side want every little thing a foul, where that would be not acceptable in a high level or athletic boy's game. You can say it does not matter, but I stopped working girl's games because I let "too much go" from their point of view. I got tired of expectations of calling fouls when the defense did nothing wrong but play defense. And working a shootout last week and it involved girl's and boy's games confirmed that very thing. Now I only worked two boy's games, but sitting in the stands listening to what people wanted a foul was horrifying.

Peace

I do both and it's a difficult transition sometimes. Had a girls V last night and boys tonight. Always takes a minute or two to adjust at least for me. I understand the vagaries and nuances that come with both sides and why assignors would feel that way

Preach on, brother.

I like that a lot of the assignors down there only assign boys. It makes it much easier to not work the other side.

I wish it was like baseball/softball. It's easy to avoid softball -- just don't license in it. The assignors treat them as different sports and I wish they did the same with boys and girls basketball.