Career's for Officiating
 

I dream (as we all do) about officiating as many D-I games as possible. I am currently a student, have 2 years of officiating under my belt, and have been constantly thinking of career's that would allow time off for officiating. Obviously owning your own business would be great, but for the officials who have a pretty full officiating schedule or anybody: what are your careers or what careers have you observed for other officials?

Thanks!

"...(as we all do)...?"

Speak for yourself, fella.

Doesn't hurt to have a boss who encourages to do it and will work with your schedule.

My profession is electrical engineering.

My career requires me to notice superfluous apostrophes.

How horrible.

+1

Could be worse. Could have to do that AND lose the right to bargain collectively. :eek:

Carry On ...
 

Hey mbyron. No religion, or politics, on the Forum. Wait a second. I'm being told by control room that that only applies to the dinner table, not to the Forum. Never mind.

Why don't you contact some refs in SoCal, since the guys working D1 there have only a year or two of experience. :D

Having a full schedule could mean working 5-6 nights a week of HS and rec ball. The travel requirements, thus your job restrictions, for doing that would be different than having a full schedule of college games. You also have those who do a lot of HS/Rec games and also a modest amount of college games in between.

Which are you trying to get an answer for?

It's not politics yet, as it is still in the vicinity of the OP.

Well right now with being in school I am finished everyday by 1:00 which greatly helps with both my HS schedule and DII. What I am afraid of is losing what I have worked hard for. I would hate to get into a career where I couldn't officiate. I have 2 years left and my question is toward the college officials who work 20+ games or anyone who works a lot of games throughout the week.

I would say get into teaching. I know quite a few teachers, in its various forms, who are collegiate officials.

I'm assuming your D2 schedule is in the Carolina Conference, so your driving requirements are not too extreme.

There is no ideal profession for everyone. I know officials in all walks of life that officiate. Basketball is an easy sport to have a job and work a regular job as the games are in the evening and during a time of year when many jobs have breaks or holidays that will have you available. I guess if you get into retail (e.g. management) of some kind those jobs can be difficult to officiate because you might have to be at the job during store or travel to other stores on a whim. For the most part, just consider that when you take a job if it means that much to you. And then do not take games that will conflict with your job or limit the amount of conflict. Most interviews will have you ask questions as to what they will expect and this can help you determine if what they are paying you is worth giving up officiating. And many games are on Fridays and Saturdays and unless you have to work late on a Friday, not much will conflict with that on a normal day. If you are honest with most assignors they likely will not put you in that situation anyway.

Peace

One thing I will say, I'd be hesitant to pick a career soley to fit around officiating. Make no mistake, I enjoy officiating quite a bit and I understand your goal is to move up but there is no guarantee that you will (injury, etc). A career is something you'll have for decades, and is something you will spend a good part of your life doing. It should be something that you enjoy and that can put food on your table.

For me personally, I'm at the point where I'd rather have a career I enjoy but which limits my officiating.

The choice is ultimately yours, but it's something I encourage you to think about.