Female Refs

[DMRefGal]

I am wondering if there are very many female refs certified for both boys and girls in other states and if the males find working with females to be any different than working with males.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally posted by DMRefGal
I am wondering if there are very many female refs certified for both boys and girls in other states and if the males find working with females to be any different than working with males.

Here in Ontario, the number of female officials is increasing. Often in girls' provincial tournaments, you find medal games officiated by a crew of all women.

I don't see working with females any differently than with males. If there is anything I would say, is that they have a tougher time of keeping up with the play in two-person mechanics in higher-level games. But then again I might be a tough judge because I train on my cardio at the gym.

Mike

[DMRefGal]

Well, Mike -- wish I could officiate with you because my biggest gripe is my partners who can't get ahead of the play and look lazy on the floor (I'm 45, ran two Chicago marathons -- improved my time by :30 from one year to the next - best 4:14); and regularly do speed work on the track. I rarely have trouble getting in position for any call and hate it when I have to slow down because the lead is trotting down the other side of the floor 6 feet ahead of me. No excuse for laziness. However, I think I have had to work harder to earn respect from coaches because of the "women don't know basketball" attitude from coaches (especially boys' high school coaches).

[williebfree]

Unfortunately, we do not have many female officials in my area. I have welcomed the opportunity to work with new officials, male or female, whenever the opportunity presented itself. FYI, Wisconsin doesn't have a gender-specific certification. One size fits all.

Boys and Girls games ARE significantly different. Generally speaking, the boys game is more aggressive and physical.


JRut will tell you how much he enjoys working the womens' games.

[ace]

You and Julie (Raninmaker) (it is julie isnt it?) are going to get along well. Shes preparing to do a confrence in Oregon. Yall should talk.

[ChuckElias]

Originally posted by DMRefGal
I think I have had to work harder to earn respect from coaches because of the "women don't know basketball" attitude from coaches (especially boys' high school coaches).

I work with several female officials over the course of the season; some in boys' games, and some in girls' games. I don't think there is a significant difference between working with a woman and working with a man. I will say that I agree that around here, the women get less respect up-front when working boys' games.

The good news is that this season, for the first time, we have a woman head coach for a Varsity boys team.

I admire your fitness regimen. I wish I could run a marathon. Trouble is, I can't even drive 26 miles without stopping to go to the bathroom!

Chuck

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by ChuckElias
[/B]

Trouble is, I can't even drive 26 miles without stopping to go to the bathroom!

Chuck [/B][/QUOTE]
Thanks for sharing that with us,old timer!

[JRutledge]

Not very many around. More in the city than in other parts of the state. Last year they had 3 female officials work the State Finals. Two of them are D1 Officials and are very good. But outside of the City of Chicago, there are not very many at all. I have only personally worked with 2 my entire career. But in the city association that I belong to, we encourage women to officiate. The other parts not so much, I think that is why the numbers are not so high.

I almost forgot, one of these officials was named "Official of the Year" by the IHSA. There is a Rules Interpreter and Clinician with the IHSA that is a female official. So we do have them, but not in that big of numbers.

Peace

[Edited by JRutledge on Jan 2nd, 2003 at 10:26 PM]

[Mark Dexter]

Originally posted by ChuckElias
I admire your fitness regimen. I wish I could run a marathon. Trouble is, I can't even drive 26 miles without stopping to go to the bathroom!

Chuck, thank you for enriching all of our lives.

BTW, no flying into/out of Washington Reagan airport for you!!

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by DMRefGal
I am wondering if there are very many female refs certified for both boys and girls in other states and if the males find working with females to be any different than working with males.

Hey, DM, welcome from one "gal" to another! Other women that have signed onto this board haven't posted much, I'm not sure why. These guys aren't any worse than any others. In our association, women are more likely to do girls' games, because there's less competition for those games. Lots of the men don't want to do them. Our board makes women comepte for boys' games just like the men must, so there aren't as many women there. I've mostly been treated well by men in our association, but I don't take a lot of guff. There are a few boys' coaches around here that even like me, I'm not sure how many girls' coaches. Other women in our association have mixed experience with boys' teams, it seems to be about par for the course.

If you want to e-mail me, feel free. Although I don't always answer immediately.

P.S. I'm "over 40", also! But we DON"T have terrific fitness in common...

[Rich]

I've worked with a marathon runner before.

He would glide around the court and not break a sweat. EVER. The knock on him was that it looked like he wasn't really working. The real story is that his heart rate probably never exceeded my resting level.

I'm sweating four minutes in, normally. Luckily, more people are like me than him

Rich

[DMRefGal]

Wow, Rich, you wait 4 minutes to sweat??? I try to warm up well enough that I break a sweat prior to leaving the locker room so that I can keep up with the first fast break without pulling something. Marathon running keeps you in shape to run long distances but hardly prepares you for sprints up and down the floor.

Rainmaker, our varsity games in our three metro conferences are three-person crews, with that crew doing a varsity girls followed by a varsity boys, so if you are going to get varsity games in the metro, you need to be certified for both boys and girls. The smaller schools still only want to pay for 2 officials yet, but the whole state of Iowa will be 3-person in the next few years.

[ScottParks]

Originally posted by DMRefGal
I am wondering if there are very many female refs certified for both boys and girls in other states and if the males find working with females to be any different than working with males.

I've worked with a few female refs this year and the only complaint I have is that most schools don't take into consideration appropriate dressing areas for multiple gender crews.

Other than that, I've had no problems or issues.

[Tim Roden]

In Texas and in Colorado, certification is certification, you don't need one or the other to call boys or girls games. So woman can call boys games in both states. That said, I have only seen one woman calling a boys varsity game. She was the wife of one of the legendary officials in the state. She was also the president of the local association that year. During the 5A boys game, the other official made a travel call from the lead right in front of this lady and the offended coach yells out loud enough for the whole gym to hear. "Lamont," officials name, "Can't you let the Lady make her own call."

[ballsandstrikes]

In the Detroit area I have found more women officials in the last few years. No problems working with them at all.