"The Look"
 

I have been told by a few officials that in order to do college, you have to look like an official. Some of them said that at camps they will pass on officials just based on appearence. I have been told that tall and a little tone helps. How accurate is this, and what exactly are they looking for at camps?

Straight from the source

CALL SELECTION
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
CONSISTENCY OF CALLS
COURT POSITION AND MECHANICS
OFFICIATING APPEARANCE

Thank you, that is a good start, but could you be a little bit more specific within each of those categories please? Are those listed in order of importance?

Even if your calls are consistently bad? How about CONSISTENCY OF PROPER CALLS?

That is where CALL SELECTION comes in to play

It is very accurate. If you look like you are an athlete that is better than if you look like you drink beer every weekend. This is just a fact of life. And at many camps you will have to be completely dressed in uniform to see what you "look like" in uniform. And no, a belt will eliminate you. <a href="http://plugin.smileycentral.com/http%253A%252F%252Fwww.smileycentral.com%252F%253F partner%253DZSzeb008%255F%2526i%253D4%252F4%255F11 %255F12%2526feat%253Dprof/page.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_11_12.gif" alt="SmileyCentral.com" border="0"><img border="0" src="http://plugin.smileycentral.com/http%253A%252F%252Fimgfarm%252Ecom%252Fimages%252F nocache%252Ftr%252Ffw%252Fsmiley%252Fsocial%252Egi f%253Fi%253D4%252F4_11_12%2526uiv%253D3.0/image.gif"></a>

Mark if you go to a college camp and there are 100 officials there, there are probably 95 of them that can referee. They will eliminate those there for all kinds of reasons. Where you live, what you look like, your experience and what you call. Most officials are not going to have those kinds of problems with what they call that will be so different. Bottom line they are looking for "why nots" not "why."

Peace

Note that RULES KNOWLEDGE isn't one of the criteria. Why? Because it's a given at that level.

Anyone who has "The Look" has an advantage in officiating. What is the look? Tall, fit. muscular, handsome, neat appearance, confidant looking.

Some of these things you cannot control. I'd like to be taller than 5'10". I'm 5-10 pounds heavier than I'd like. Control what you can. What can you do to improve your look? Be fit; if you need to lose weight, do it. Spend the money on your uniform; more than once every ten years. Improve your mechanics; your posture, how you run, how you signal and communicate witht the table. Using video will tell you more about you look on the floor than anything else.

And don't forget to work on all the other things that were mentioned. A great looking official with terrible call selection is not worth much.

Thank you to everyone who replied. Great info! Do you think it is of value to go to a camp as a Class 3. (minor)? Or should I just wait until I am Class 1?

Mechanicsman, I was a class 3 for five season due to my age. I would suggest going to camp if you are serious about officiating.
It can't hurt, since I see your from Dublin, Ohio that we use 3 person for our lower level games as well.

Dont ever let your rating/ranking affect the decision to get better. I went to camp as a Class 3 after my first year. Through the learning experience of camp, applying what I learned, and practicing I rose to Class 1 after only two seasons. The only way to improve is to get better. The only way to get better is by throwing yourself out there to camps and practicing what you learn. And breaking down game tape, but thats another thread

Thanks guys, I will definetely look into camps. I love officiating, so I would love to get better. Yes we do run 3-person here. I actually ran it once in a Jr. High game this year for my first time.