Yikes! Glad it's not me - I guess
 

Just got my schedule for one of the spring rec leagues for this weekend (no games on Sunday due to the holiday) and I see a guy I've worked with has seven games scheduled for just Saturday! He works three, then has an hour off, then works another four. All of his games are either 8th grade or HS level and they're all boys games. Fortunately, he's in his mid-20s, so he'll have some energy working for him.

These are running clock with a three minute halftime and they start every hour, so we only have about five minutes between games. That's hardly enough time to grab a drink of water or go to the little referees room.

I have three in a row scheduled - two boys V then a girls V/JV. The boys games are on a standard HS court but the girls game is on a smaller court. I'm glad they're in that order.

Oh yeah - there's one other guy who has nine games that day and a couple of guys who have eight, but they each have a few breaks.

That is a lot of games to work in one day, especially 2 person. Sometimes you have to work that many to get a decent check with these off-season rates :(

I have never liked it when guys worked that many games in one day. Most of the time those guys are jogging and walking in game #1! So the more tired he gets the more important the games in the tournament are...that is real smart.

I'll be working a soccer tournament next weekend where last year I had 15 games in two days. They've added Friday night so I wouldn't be surprised to work 20 over three days. I'm thinking about wearing a pedometer this year :)

I'd think about wearing a Segway instead.

I don't think the batteries on one of those would hold up. One of the guys in the association did have a pedometer last year and clocked 26 miles over the weekend.

You don't "wear" a Segway!

Now, you might "wear a Segway out!" ;)

Five games in a day is my limit - especially if it's two-man on a HS court.

I know. All these spring leagues around here pay only $20 per game. :(

Two problems:

(1) People like me who won't touch these games with a 10 foot pole leave places like this short of officials.

(2) They don't pay enough to make people like me reconsider my policy of not touching these games with a 10 foot pole. Pay subvarsity HS rates ($40 here) and I'll consider coming out and doing no more than 3 games.

Do you really think officials should run flat out for $20 a game?

Important? These offseason rec games are important?

Ask the kids playing how important each game is! If they are pouring their guts out and putting in an effort then they deserve some resemblance of effort back from the officials. Regardless of pay.

Like others have said if you don't like how much they pay don't take the assignment. BUT if you take it work like you want to be there. Maybe not flat out but some effort. JMO

Oh, the "think of the children" line of thinking. You act like I do this for the kids.

If they want top-notch effort, they should pay appropriately.

And like I said, I work exactly zero (*) of these off-season games. Two reasons: They don't pay for crap and they expect you to work 4+ games every time out. And I refuse to run the risk of someone who assigns games I do care about seeing me pacing myself. I did this when I was in college and needed the money. Not anymore.

(*) The only time I work anything off-season is if I'm going to a camp. Then I'll take a few games the week before and work them all out to shake off the rust. But not for the kids. For me.

Its all about you huh? j/k :D

No, not really. But whenever I hear someone say they do it "for the kids" I want to barf.

I hear ya. I do it for my love of the GAME.

Everyone has different reasons, and most have a combination of reasons.

Pretty much, I have three reasons I work these games.

1) I need the exercise
2) I like the camaraderie with my partner
3) I get off on the sense of total control I have over everyone in the gym

It's mostly number three. :D

The reason that the off-season rates are so low is exactly because these idiots take that many games in a day. If they would tell the assignor that they will only work four and that he needs to find someone else for the other three or four the assignors/leagues/tournament organizers would have to up the rates to recruit more people. However, as long as these fools are willing to work a ton of games a day for a cut rate the pay won't increase and the entire referee group in that area gets a poor deal.

Bravo, bravo! Someone who understands. :)

AAU Mode ...
 

For twenty dollars a game: I'm switching when convenient. I'm administering throwins along the frontcourt endline across the lane so as to not make my partner, as the trail, rotate. I'm reporting fouls, and timeouts, from as far away as the "paint". I'm hustling, maybe not running flat out, but certainly not walking.

Usually, we use what's known as "convenience mechanics". We switch only when it "makes sense" because of our positioning and on about every third or fourth shooting foul.

I'm not using this as an excuse to explain why so many guys will work these games, but a lot of the courts are middle school size or even smaller.

BTW - there's no shortage of guys who will take these games so telling an assignor you will work only a few games doesn't create a problem for them. They actually turn away some refs.

Folks, you get what you pay for.

Maybe in your area.

There, it is now correct.

No "maybe" about it. In fact, I had a guy call me this morning looking for games. He wanted to know who the assignors were for the spring leagues. This is a guy who has worked regular HS games for many years. Knowing him as well as I do, I would guess he's not in it for the money, but the exercise. Seriously.

I belong to a gym -- I get my exercise there. Or I go for a run. I'm glad that so many people want to work these games in your area, Mark. Has that driven the fees down even further?

I personally enjoy getting paid to exercise. :D I save the gym for days I can't get games.

I don't work rec basketball, but the youth soccer league I work in the spring has seen a huge increase in first year referees. Last year I was the only qualified level 8 in town. This year there are 8. On top of that, there are about six grade 9 refs (which is lower) and we're all fighting for just 40 game-slots for the season.

I think it's an economy thing.

No, they've pretty much stayed the same for a while. In fact, some have gone up just a little. There's really no way to affect the fees by a bunch of guys refusing to work games for a certain price structure. I would guess about 75 to 80 percent of the guys who work these games do not belong to any association. I know a few of them who are retired and get only Social Security plus what they get for these games. They're more than happy to take as many games as they can for whatever pay they can get. I know one guy who lives in my suburb who, during the fall/winter season, works at least 30 rec games a week. He earns from $20 to $30 per game. That, plus his Social Security, gives him enough to live on. He works about 15-20 per week in spring leagues, pretty much at $20 per game.