Official Attacked

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by bainsey

From the story...



Changing on the floor? Don't they provide a room for that?

In my experience, very rarely is a room provided that is suitable for changing for JH games.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

In my experience, very rarely is a room provided that is suitable for changing for JH games.

They do not have a class room somewhere?

Peace

[Sco53]

I had to give a girls middle school coach his second T after the game ended as we tried to change shoes. "What good is that gonna do?"he wanted to know.
Maybe it will get you a walk down to the principals office tomorrow when he finds out. Now I leave my stuff close to the exit to avoid confrontations like that, sometimes change shoes in the car.

[tref]

Originally Posted by Sco53

I had to give a girls middle school coach his second T after the game ended as we tried to change shoes. "What good is that gonna do?"he wanted to know.
Maybe it will get you a walk down to the principals office tomorrow when he finds out. Now I leave my stuff close to the exit to avoid confrontations like that, sometimes change shoes in the car.

Way 2 take care of biznizz!!!

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

They do not have a class room somewhere?

Peace

I don't find a classroom to be suitable for changing.

[tref]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

I don't find a classroom to be suitable for changing.

It beats getting bust in the head while changing on the court, no?

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by tref

It beats getting bust in the head while changing on the court, no?

I change at home for JH games so that I only have to worry about my wife.

[tref]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

I change at home for JH games so that I only have to worry about my wife.

Thats one way of doing it! Personally, I dont want em to know what I'm driving until I leave or God forbid, they follow me to my car.

[bainsey]

Originally Posted by tref

It beats getting bust in the head while changing on the court, no?

Indeed. I've changed in equipment rooms, music rooms, teacher's lounges, nurse's stations, libraries, you name it. While sinks and showers may be scarce, the schools always provide us with a place to change when our association assigns a game. (Travel and rec games, different story.)

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

I don't find a classroom to be suitable for changing.

I did not say it was perfect. But even at many high schools they do not have a big enough room for multiple officials and use class rooms to separate officials or give more room. Not ideal, but better than having fans in your face after a contest is close. This happens a lot in football where 5 guys have to be placed and it is hard to move in a cracker box that might be a "locker room" with a very small bathroom.

The point is not what is ideal, but to have a private place to go and change or talk.

Peace

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I did not say it was perfect. But even at many high schools they do not have a big enough room for multiple officials and use class rooms to separate officials or give more room. Not ideal, but better than having fans in your face after a contest is close. This happens a lot in football where 5 guys have to be placed and it is hard to move in a cracker box that might be a "locker room" with a very small bathroom.

The point is not what is ideal, but to have a private place to go and change or talk.

Peace

I'm not looking for perfect; I'm looking for something that doesn't wind up with me on a sex offenders list. Your area my be different, but in my area I'm arriving at a JH just as class is dismissing. A classroom is a place you could conceivably be walked in on by a student while in a state of undress.

For my money, it's not worth the risk.

I don't worry about people following me to the car for a couple of reasons:
1) Attacks on officials are usually heat of the moment things. By the time I get to my car, they're going to have cooled off.
2) Provided they don't have a gun or a knife, I'm confident in my self-defense ability.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

I'm not looking for perfect; I'm looking for something that doesn't wind up with me on a sex offenders list. Your area my be different, but in my area I'm arriving at a JH just as class is dismissing. A classroom is a place you could conceivably be walked in on by a student while in a state of undress.

For my money, it's not worth the risk.

This is not about my area. All JHs are not governed by a single body in this state and are literally the wild, wild west of standards from one school to another. There are two JH organizations that run state tournaments, and they dictate their members and what they do with the officials, but that does not apply to every single area in Illinois. This is why I do not work them because most middle schools are not under a state or mostly state organizations where I live and why I have no desire to work these games even if I was mentoring an official. I can mentor them at a HS game.

During HS games the very same thing can happened as I have been put in a girl's locker room with a lot of room and had young girls walk into the room. Or even when we have a secure room had kids run through the room. It really does not matter what where they put you if they do not allow folks to have access. Not sure about you, but most schools close off multiple parts of a school during activities where a school is running.

Originally Posted by Eastshire

I don't worry about people following me to the car for a couple of reasons:
1) Attacks on officials are usually heat of the moment things. By the time I get to my car, they're going to have cooled off.
2) Provided they don't have a gun or a knife, I'm confident in my self-defense ability.

You do not have to be worried about it, but these things often happen in youth or middle school games. Usually you do not see these things happen at the HS level because most states have a state body that dictates and the consequences are heavier.

Again this is also not about even confrontations. I want a room so I can talk to my partner about situations in the game and cannot easily be heard. I want a chance to unwind briefly after the game. If they give the teams a locker room so they can discuss strategy, not sure why any school cannot provide the same for the officials. Even when we work summer games with multiple tournaments, we try to secure a room that the public does not have access to without trespassing.

Peace

[rockyroad]

From the article:

"A spokesman for the Houston Independent School District said administrators and coaches were nearby and helped to "minimize" the disruption."

1) They consider this to be a "disruption"??? An assault is nothing more than a disruption???

2)The nearby coaches and administrators helped to "minimize" it? Guy gets a blindside punch in the head...how exactly did they minimize anything??

That one sentence tells us all we need to know about the Houston Independent School District.

[jeschmit]

And this is why I won't do anything less than HS JV games. I can't stand to deal with idiotic fans and coaches (not that they're much better at the HS level).

[TimTaylor]

The bottom line is that it's the responsibility of game management to insure the safety of the officials. If there was a facility where that was a known problem, then I would decline assignments there.

For the vast majority if the high schools in our area it simply isn't an issue - some type of a secure location, albeit not always a locker room at some of the smaller ones, is provided for the officials.

Middle schools are another issue - I haven't been to one yet that has a room set aside for the officials. At these I go dressed, including jacket. The only thing in my jacket pockets are my cell phone and car keys.