Wreck Ball- How do you guys do it?

[VaTerp]

I did not call much wreck ball during the season, mainly b/ I have a young daughter and spend time with her and the wife on the weekends. Anyways, with my HS season likely over I decided to take 3 rec games (11/12 grade boys) at a HS less than 10 minutes from my house and paying $40/game. Still not worth it.

I issued 5 T's in the 3 games. The last 2 were for a player who fouled out and then walked by the table clapping the whole way and said, "good call, buddy." And then the coach comes to the table, pats me on the shoulder, and condescendingly says, "nice job all game." I should have tossed him.

I heard more disrespectful and unsporting comments in 3 games today than I did in 40+ varsity contests. The worst part was that the coaches and parents did not address any of the "young men" playing but only helped create an environment where blaming the officials for every missed shot, turnover, and ultimately losing the game seemed to be the recommended course of action.

After the first game, several players made comments like, "way to blow the game ref," "thanks for sucking so bad," etc. Not one coach or parent said one word until two kids from opposing teams almost starting fight each other after going through the line to shake hands.

As someone who worked in youth development and with youth sports for a number of years it is really disappointing to see a culture of teenagers who feel entitled to everything and feel that they can address adults in any manner they want. And it really brings into question what is anybody getting out of playing these games at all when the coaches and parents don't have enough sense to let kids know when they are being entirely inappropriate.

Then people wonder why more experienced officials don't want to do these games even when the pay is decent. It's simply not worth it.

[grunewar]

VATerp - I guess we work in similar circles - and although my experience is similar to yours, it's not quite as bad. I'm finding as the season winds down towards playoffs and league championships, I see the competitive juices flow a bit more and attitudes certainly change.

This yr I issued 5 T's so far all season......all Rec Ball. Not one in any of my HS games.

As one of the more senior officials in both Rec Leagues I don't take any crap. One thing I do however, is send an email to the Commissioners and my Assignors after all of my games - good or bad. I praise where it belongs and bring up issues as they develop. I am happy to say, they back me 100% and any discipline problems are dealt with swiftly - suspensions.

It is my experience, unfortunately, that many Rec Officials here are not "seasoned" and don't take care of business. They call loose games and let the players and coaches get away with too much. Therefore, when we show up, call a tight game they're not used to and don't put up with their shenanigans, we're the bad guy. Thankfully however, it's late in the season and they know they can't push me. If these kids received their just deserts, maybe, just maybe, they'd clean up their acts a bit.

Then again, some people never learn......and then, some become coaches!

[BktBallRef]

I don't do many youth rec games. But what has happened here is that the rec. dept. has contracted with the state association soccer assignor to provide officials for all rec sports. He's been able to get a lot of HS guys to work the rec leagues. Through have stronger officials and stronger penalties for stupidity. we've pretty much cleaned up our rec leagues.

I worked two 15-17 y/o games yesterday morning, my first of the year, and had zero problems. The only Ts issued were for an attempted dunk in pre-game and delay of game.

[IowaMike]

How do I do it? I don't anymore. I don't think I'm too good to do those games, I used to do a lot of them my first two or three years officiating. I still work junior high games that are school sanctioned events in addition to my varsity games. I eventually found that I really hated doing rec league games at any age level and stopped working them years ago. I officiate because it is generally fun and I enjoy it; if it isn't any fun, why do it? However, I know many officials who continue to work rec leagues and tournaments every weekend, 15 or 20 games on a weekend at times. I find most of them don't enjoy it either but do it strictly for the money. Life is too short to work games that make you miserable; after all, this is supposed to be fun right?

Some areas of youth sports have really become a cesspool of egos, poor sportsmanship and behavior, and I'm talking primarily about the parents and coaches. Often there is no accountability for these people at weekend tournaments and such; if a coach gets tossed what do they care? They will be right back next game and answer to no one. Not true for a coach working for a school. They have to answer to a principal and athletic director for their behavior as well as the state sanctioning body. There are standards and penalties in place.

[VaTerp]

Grunewar- Definitely similar circles. A lot of the high school kids in Northern VA feel they are entitled to whatever they want b/c Daddy and Mommy have money or they are wannabe thugs who want to act like they are from tough neighborhoods in DC.

I will be sending an email to our rec commissioner and let him handle it with the league. There was a guy sitting behind the offending bench who kept saying I was "making it about me." I think he may have been one of the league administrators but I'm not sure. Some of these guys just don't get it.

My partner was a JV official who said he had worked the league several times this year and that it had never been as bad as today. I jokingly said maybe it's me but he agreed that the kids were especially mouthy today. I have to believe that whoever has been working these games is allowing way too much nonsense from the players and coaches.

After my first T in the second game, I addressed both teams at half court. "You are here to play. I am here to officiate. You're not going to agree with every call but guess what, it doesn't matter. You are not going to continually question me and I'm not going to tolerate any disrespectful comments. Period." That seemed to work for about 2 and a half quarters.

Mainly, I blame the coaches and parents. Not only do they have no idea about the rules of the game but they seem more interested in being friends with their kids than being a parent.

[VaTerp]

Originally Posted by IowaMike

How do I do it? I don't anymore. I don't think I'm too good to do those games, I used to do a lot of them my first two or three years officiating. I still work junior high games that are school sanctioned events in addition to my varsity games. I eventually found that I really hated doing rec league games at any age level and stopped working them years ago. I officiate because it is generally fun and I enjoy it; if it isn't any fun, why do it? However, I know many officials who continue to work rec leagues and tournaments every weekend, 15 or 20 games on a weekend at times. I find most of them don't enjoy it either but do it strictly for the money. Life is too short to work games that make you miserable; after all, this is supposed to be fun right?

Some areas of youth sports have really become a cesspool of egos, poor sportsmanship and behavior, and I'm talking primarily about the parents and coaches. Often there is no accountability for these people at weekend tournaments and such; if a coach gets tossed what do they care? They will be right back next game and answer to no one. Not true for a coach working for a school. They have to answer to a principal and athletic director for their behavior as well as the state sanctioning body. There are standards and penalties in place.

Agreed 100%.

When I was in grad school I would work youth rec, AAU, and adult league just about anywhere or anytime because I needed the money. Now, it's simply not worth it.

I do this because I enjoy it. Wreck league is not enjoyable for me in the least now. And the only way I will be doing any more of these is if my rec commissioner is in a REAL bind.

[JRutledge]

I don't. Problem solved.

Peace

[cmhjordan23]

$40/game for rec league. Where is this? Where I live it is around $20-25. I used to do rec, but no more. They just don't know how to play and complain all the time. A lot of the teams just drive and kick for the 3 so it was easy on the officials. I have now done in addition to H.S, adult league for the past 3 years. Very competive and evenly balanced. They have captains and do a draft every year. I think I am done with that. Not everybody is bad, but there are the few that make it unbearable. Same old, you either call too much or not enough. It's never ending. Not worth it. Especially for only $24/game and put up with this for 3 games. Luckily I don't do it every week. Usually every other.

[bainsey]

I have a friend that assigns some rec ball ($25 or so/game), so I'll take a few games to help him out. He's gotten me out of jams before, and I enjoy those assignments. There are some humorous objections from coaches/fans, but nothing earth-shattering.

In my first year, I took a lot of volunteer Y games, to get some experience. They had problems with kids dunking and ruining rims, but no-one would dare call the T. (I worked with a lot of younger 20-somethings.) Finally, in a championship pre-game, one kid attempted the dunk. I decided they'll never stop until someone pulls the trigger, so I did.

None of the players or coaches got mad at me, though they gave the dunker an earful. (He was a good, popular kid that everyone loved and showed it by dumping on him regularly.) However, we had to get another partner for me, because my partner suddenly became "too hurt" to run. In truth, he was a 20-year-old that admittedly hated to call fouls, and was too angry at me to dare call a T to work with me. I can't say that I missed him.

The last time I volunteered for a Y game was the only time ever a parent cursed me out after the game. I handled it, but I have no desire to volunteer there again. If you're going to take volunteer games, bear in mind you'll be working with people that don't expect you to be professional.

[justacoach]

Originally Posted by VaTerp

Grunewar-

My partner was a JV official who said he had worked the league several times this year and that it had never been as bad as today.

Easy answer....Full Moon

[Freddy]

This is the way it will be if athletics is forced to be the whipping boy in view of the budgetary woes ever increasing around here. If we lose educational athletics to the domain of out-of-school organizations, whatever accountability we currently enjoy by having it under the umbrella of the local schools will, it is feared around here, be lost.
Hope it doesn't go down that road.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I don't. Problem solved.

Peace

Right. And if I do fill in I normally get 2 reactions -- one, I'm the best official they've seen all year and, two, I don't take any crap.

When we work HS baseball, we hear coaches tell their players that they can't run their mouths because "these guys don't take any of that crap." Does my heart good.

[Mark Padgett]

As I've stated in other posts, there's different "levels" of kids rec ball around my area. There's plain old everyday recreational leagues and there's "competitive" leagues. There's a huge difference in the attitude of the coaches and parents between the two. Of course, that's a generalization - some of the "competitive" parents and coaches are just fine and a few of the "recreational" parents (virtually none of the coaches) are aggressive in their behavior.

It's been this way for about the last five years or so, which is when the "competitive" leagues formed. The idea is that, for the most part, these are the kids who will filter into the HS programs and play on the HS teams. Mostly, that's how it happens, although some really good players don't play in that league due to financial considerations. It cost four or five times as much to play in that program as in one of the local rec leagues.

How do I put up with it? I come up with retorts that I think are humorous and/or just say to myself when someone says something stupid - "What a maroon."

BTW - our local kids rec league pays $27 for MS (and below) games and $30 for HS games - you get a monthly check. The competitive league pays $30 for all games and you get paid by cash or check at halftime of the game by the home team. The local YMCA, which has a pretty big program, only pays $20 (paid by check bi-weekly). The bad part is that if you wind up working a game alone (which almost never happens, BTW), the competitive league pays only an additional $5 while our local kids rec league pays 1 1/2 times your normal rate, which is eminently fairer. I don't know what the Y pays for that.

[tjones1]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I don't. Problem solved.

Peace

Ditto!

[Scuba_ref]

Originally Posted by VaTerp

I heard more disrespectful and unsporting comments in 3 games today than I did in 40+ varsity contests. The worst part was that the coaches and parents did not address any of the "young men" playing but only helped create an environment where blaming the officials for every missed shot, turnover, and ultimately losing the game seemed to be the recommended course of action.......it is really disappointing to see a culture of teenagers who feel entitled to everything and feel that they can address adults in any manner they want.

The young men are only acting the way they have been taught. I did my first and last AAU games Saturday. The kids were fine (5th grade) but the parents and the coach (for one team in particular) were absolutely horrible. With those kind of role models the kids don't stand a chance. Interestingly enough, those kids are part of the school district known to have the worst parents, fans and coaches in the area our association serves.