If I knew then what I know now...
 

...I would have started officiating basketball during the off season during my high school years and would have made it my 'part time' job while in college.

Why didn't I know how fulfilling this career would be back then?

With that in mind, I talk up the vocation to anyone that will listen. And, I've already started doing some pro bono games with my 13 yr old daughter at our church's youth basketball program. She's already hooked and wants me to continue helping her as she gets older and becomes eligible to to YMCA and biddy ball games.

The life lessons and skills taught through officiating are too numerous to count. I'm so happy she is interested.

Has anyone else introduced their son or daughter to officiating over the years?

Opposite, actually. I got my dad into it this season. He hasn't been able to take a ton of games because he's working on a small project known as a dissertation. Hopefully he'll finish up this spring and dive head first into basketball next season.

I got my father back into it last year... He had refereed for a season of HS ball 30 years ago and had a lot to catch up on...and it created a VERY interesting dynamic as partners; players would defer to him as the older, slightly balding experienced ref and he'd have to come ask the young guy for clarification ha.

I got my son started when he was in 7th grade working 3rd and 4th grade games in our local kids rec league. He worked that league all through HS. Eventually, he joined the local officials assn. and worked for (I think) two years doing HS ball before he got too busy with his job and getting married. I've always felt he was so good that if he would have stayed with it, I would have eventually seen him working NCAA and then NBA games.

Families tend to change priorities. I never really gave it up, but I would take 2 or 3 years off at a time due to jobs, family (babies), and moving to new cities in the middle of a season. I'm just now feeling that I'm on a roll, but really only count 6 of the past 7 seasons.

My 9 year old daughter doesn't seem interested now, but that may change as she gets older. She still doesn't much care for basketball season since I'm out of the house so much.

My Son started as a recreation soccer referee 10 years ago, as a 10 year old. He did one season of Basketball when he was 15. He has stayed with Soccer, in fact tomorrow we will be working 3 intercollegiate intramural games at Vanderbilt University, who are hosting teams from Georgia and Florida.

My grandfather was the official in our family. He did football and basketball. Football he called in the Bakersfield CA area backin the day. Basketball all over. his last games were is Alaska I believe. He was a great outdoorsmen and sports enthusiest.(?) He got me into officiating but I was never able to work with him before he died of cancer. I wish he was still around to see me work state I'm sure he would be proud. And I could thank him for giving me this rewarding career.:cool:

Oooh boy...
 

Wait until Justacoach sees this.......proud papa gonna come out! :)

I couldn't interest my boys at all unfortunately. Some have the desire, others not so much.

I too do a bit of pro-bono type work with Rec Leagues, talk it up at every chance I get, try to recruit others, and try to show a special interest to help the few young ones that may have a future if they choose to continue.

Unfortunately, I personally got started too late in the game and wish I too had started many yrs ago. I was too busy coaching my boys in soccer, baseball, and basketball....which are the right reasons be late to the stripes IMO!

When I was in HS I used to keep the book and/or clock for military intramurals and base team games. During my senior in HS the head of the association at Travis AFB asked me if wanted to be an official. I said no because I was thinking I'd be reffing adults I was scared/intimidated. Never even occurred to me that I would start off with little kids games.

Ended up waiting until I was 37 1/2 years old (in need of $$$ because of impending divorce) when I wore the stripes for the first time. Luckily I've had a pretty good career progression for someone who started that late. But boy, where would I be now if I had started as a teen-ager?

Tomegun officiated my games when I was in the military in the early/mid 90's, sure wish he would have recruited to the darkside back then. :(

My son called his first game with me at age 10. 11-12 boys rec game and there was nobody else. I asked for an adult volunteer. :rolleyes: I tossed him my extra whistle and said let's go. He did fine. He is now 20 and has never registered as an official but has helped me occasionally over the years at levels jr. high and below.

My son started umpiring little league games a few years ago. He has always been a catcher (as was I) so he was used to seeing the strike zone, which i think makes it easier. Hopefull one day, we will get a chance to do some HS games together as a crew when he comes home from college in the summer. As far as basketball, there hasn't been the same opportunities as baseball. Just finished my 15th year as a certified official. Which happens to be the age of my son. My wife blames him for driving me out of the house. :)

I have the distinct pleasure of completing my officiating dynasty. In January of this year I worked with my 3rd son (16 in April) doing local rec ball games (at $31/per). He has made significant progress since then to the point of serving some orange pekoe to 2 deserving travel league coaches. His progress and acclimation has been slower than his older brothers (going on 17 and 19) who are both in their 4th year. #3 was never much of a bball player but since he lives in a 365x7x24 rules clinic he has it all except the experience.

#1 and #2 son have gained recognition from some influential mentors and are considered to have bright futures by those who matter.

Remind me to change my sig!!!

Kudos to all the longstanding members of this board and the accumulated knowledge herein. Such a great resource for getting up to speed and staying sharp on all the nuances hidden in the books that are brought to life here.

Proud? yewbetcha...

My father was an official for 20 years (Church, Rec, and JV) and I always played. I was always interested going with him to his games and also talking to officials calling my games. As soon as I was eligible to register with the State Association I did (this year). I cant find any other thing I would rather be doing.

VERY cool!

(change your sig line)

Well let's see...

My father started officiating in 1989.
He got me started in 1991 when I was in High School.
My youngest brother started in 1994.
The middle brother started in 1997.

As a family, we've traveled to various camps in Canada & the U.S.A.
We've all officiated at the JUCO level here.
The "old man" is now a JUCO observer & provincial evaluator.
I'm heading into the 2nd half of my first term as the Evaluation Chair for my local association.

We've been assigned to a number of HS Provincial Championships over the years. The hi-light of which was 2003 when the Old Guy & I worked the 3A Girls (second highest classification in the province) Gold Medal game together. (I was the R... :))

2 out of 4 of us have been assigned to National Championships.
Mom is the official videographer for the family. Over the past 20+ years she's logged too many hours to count on the camera.

Thanksgiving & Christmas gatherings usually turn into a clinic (Thank God, Mom & each of our wives have patience & a sense of humour!)... :D

<>
As a side note: My 2 year son has discovered my Fox-40 and blows it better then some of the guys I've observed other the past year. Might be a 3rd generation referee in the family. :rolleyes:

I too started very late in life. The third of my four daughters (11yrs old) has been going to games with me from the beginning and this year she officiated with me at some volunteer church ball games. She says she wants to be a nurse (like her mother) and a ref. After watching me for the past few years she has a pretty good handle on the rules and the mechanics.

It sure is fun to have her tag along and spend that time with me. The youngest (9 yrs old) says she likes to tag along also - but she really just likes to hit the concession stand.

+1

Oh yeah...(change your sig line)

My father didn't officiate but went to quite a few of my baseball games and even a couple of football games. I'm hoping when I eventually spawn that I can share my love of officiating with my kids.

Which means he was still 'officiating' but it was "outside the lines" and he wasn't getting paid and certainly not in proper uniform.....;)
He has since reformed and is a most venerable member of our brotherhood, if only to assuage the guilt for his behavior while coaching:D

Hehe...I resemble that, too.

I'm trying to get my 14 yr old son involved and so far he's luke warm. he's umping our local house league this spring so hopefully he'll get the bug.

I'm mentoring a friend of mine's 17 yr old son who has yet to ref a game, but has shadowed a few times. He has good DNA as his uncle was a superbowl white hat not too long ago.

I kick myself everyday for not getting into officiating earlier. Thankfully, I finally made the plunge.

As long as I can remember my dad has officiated basketball & I grew up in the gym. When I was about 12, in 7th grade he gave me a whistle & a shirt. I did 3rd grade church league. Every year I go work an 8th grade tournament game with him. Last year when I got to work a 1st round game in the DIII womens tourney he was there to videotape it, he was very proud. (so proud that if you heard him tell it you would have thought I was working the final four...:)

I know I've mentioned this before, but I have a brother-in-law that also officiated basketball - once - in a movie. It was "The Temp" and it was filmed here in Portland in (I think) 1999. It starred Timothy Hutton and Lara Flynn Boyle. My brother-in-law played a middle school ref. He was, in real life, a middle school PE teacher at the school where the scene was filmed, so they asked him to be in the scene as the ref, mostly because he's very athletic and quite tall. He played football and baseball in HS and college and played minor league ball for a few years in the Mets organization until he injured his knee.

Great Story!
 

Ain't nuthin like a proud papa!

My dad and mom have only seen me ref one game. Unfortunately, I was pressed into service at my son's Rec Game several yrs ago as a ref was a no show........you can imagine.

The game was in a cafagymateria with a really slick, tile floor. At one point my son loses his footing and goes down to the floor. TWEEET! Travel! Wham! He slams the ball down! Whack! I award my FIRST T Ever!

They won, but it was a very cold, quiet ride home in that car......thankfully, it was a short ride. :o

Bully for the two of you!!!;)

Your story was sooo funny to me because I had a VERY similar situation! When my daughter was about 12 or 13 one of ref's didn't show and since I was there and had a whistle...everything went fine until my daughter gets a steal, goes in for the layup but the defender beats her down the court and is waiting for her, easy, I call a charge, my daughter slams the ball down, I call a T, and she goes to the bench crying. I don't think she talked to me for a week! :) She's 20 and still brings it up every now and then!!

That is a great story. My dad never got to see me work any big games but he loved to come watch me umpire little league games when I was a teenager.

Great thread! By the time my Son was 13, he'd been to several of my games and we had discussed him starting to officiate. The clincher for him was when he say me volunteer at the Special Olympics. On the way home he told me he wanted to do that.

Over the next year he read thru the rule book 5 times and took every rules test I could find. We would practice our mechanics in the mirror and we would discuss situations. I even gave him an oppurtunity to earn $5 if he could find a rule that I didn't know. This forced him to really dig into the rule and case book to find those qwirky rules and I certainly learned a few things as well.

The following year when I took my Special Olympic games, guess who my partner was? My Son is now going to turn 17 in 2 months and has roughly 500 games under his belt. He plan to get patched this year and I have 2 assignors who will schedule him Freshman games and possibly some JVG games.

I'd like to take him to some camps but don't want anyone to feel "short changed" for getting crewed up with a young fella. I'm so glad he's hooked and look forward to someday working a Friday night rival match with him on our crew. I'm only 41 so we could certainly reach this goal.