Hello all, I'm 40 yrs old and in 3rd year of officiating. I really enjoy it. I currently work JV, Intermediate & any Park & Rec games I can. My question is, realisticly, how high can I go. Givin my late start and all. All you seasoned officials, please give me some advise.

Thanks

VERY SIMPEL....
all you need to do is to build a time machine and go back 15 years...
in FIBA you must retire when you are 50 years old.
my advice to you is to enjoy now you'r officiating because if we will be realisticlys it's not easy to progress when you started officiat in age 37 enywhere in the world.
David

Rodego, if you enjoy it, do it. Don't let your age be a barrier. Nothing wrong with starting late. From experience thru the years, I have found older referees have better common sense and man management skills.

I work exclusively women's ball. I started at age 37 as well In my 10 years I have worked 4 state tourneys, Juco ball for 4 Years, NCAA DII & DIII for 3. Go to camps in the summer, listen and learn.

I agree with Ron. I started at 43, and am progressing fairly rapidly, although not as fast as he did. If you want to move up as fast as possible, work hard. Study the rules, concentrate on the details, be brutally honest about your own shortcomings, go to all the camps you can, work all the games you can, watch the best refs and keep taping your games and learning from the tapes. I think you will move up faster on the women's side, since there doesnt seem to be quite as much competition. Most of all, have fun! An attitude of cheerful enthusiasm is very contagious and helps everyone see your best qualities.

Thanks for the input gentlemen.

And lady! :)

My bad

Don't sweat it. You're new here, so I'm sure you didn't know that rainmaker is actually Juulie, one of our top female officials (along with oatmealqueen and JAdams). I don't think Juulie will take (much) offense. ;)

In any case, welcome to the board.

Holy cow, Pilo!!! You're 47??? Don't look a day over 25!! And a short Pilo story...at our D-II meeting last fall, one of the other officials leaked word that Ron has an excellent singing voice, so our Supervisor asked him to sing the National Anthem acapella (for Dan and Chuck, that means with no instruments helping out)...he stepped up and did it, and yes he has got himself a tremendous singing voice (on top of being a great ref)!!

Another great way to learn is this forum! You will see a lot of situations. Many you may think that you will never see! But when you do and you will you will have an idea from participating in this forum. This forum will also help you become more thick skinned. Sometimes LADIES and GENTLEMAN here do not hold back. Welcome and continue to post!

AK ref SE

Although I did take offense today at an article in the Oregonian that said this year was one of the lowest for H.S. players with D-1 scholarships. The article was about a boy from Oregon who just signed with some big school and it referred to how little this year's senior class had sent...when it was the highest year ever for D-1 scholarships from Oregon in GIRLS' basketball. Apparently the writer of that article thinks (as many journalists appear to) that Girls' Basketball, and Basketball are two different sports.

Okay, enough rant and rave. Don't worry the author of the article already heard from me (6:05 am to be precise!), so I'll get off my soap box and go feed lunch to my little kid.

DJ, Actually I'm 46............47 end of next week.......goin in for surgery on a bone spur at the achellis attach point...........8-10 weeks in a case...there goes softball season.............gotta be ready for next basketball season......

I hear ya, Juulie. Every year my team gets sweats, t-shirts, whatever, printed up (or they make them themselves in graphic arts class) and they want to get "Lady Braves" instead of "Braves" or "Girls' Basketball" instead of "Basketball". And every year I have to point out that the guys don't go by "Gentlemen Braves". They are just "Braves", why shouldn't we be just "Braves"?

Thanks Rock, I thought it meant without shaving their legs first.

:p