Association Observation Program?
 

Interested if any of you are involved in associations which have any sort of an ongoing official observation program, where trained and trusted officials are paid to go out and observe/critique association members. If so...

How is it funded?

How is it working?

How might it work better?

We have observation programs in my state with local officials associations.

Not aware of any funding that goes into the programs. No need for funding as these are often volunteering activities. One association only has requests from officials that are close by their home.

Some associations but a bigger effort into their programs. One has an online form that is used to give the official rather instant information on their game.

Some associations need better organization as to who needs to be evaluated. Some have some communication but it is limited.

BTW, all evaluation programs are for training purposes, not for playoff or varsity consideration.

Peace

Here we have a state activities association that sends evaluaters out to look at officials. We don't know when and where they are going. Also the University Of Oklahama has a team camp during June, and the activities association uses this as a camp for the officials to work. We are evaluated in each game. Typically, during the season, here the schools hire the officials for their games. Some local associations in OKC and Tulsa have one guy who assigns the officials for some conferences. All high school nights are doubleheader's and we work both games.

In MN we have state observers who observe officials who have applied to work the state tournament. You don't know when you will get observed, they show up and meet with you post game. In addition to the verbal post game with the observer you get a written summary within a couple of days. All officials working the game get the same observation process. The state observers get training from the high school league and do get at least travel paid, maybe a small game fee as well. Some of the state observers are still active officials, some are retired from officiating.

These state observations are used in conjunction with coaches ratings, local association input, state sponsored camps, etc to determine state tournament officials. Difficult to say specifically how well the state observation program works but I can say the officials from our association who get to work the state tournament are deserving officials.

Within our local association we require new officials to work 10 games with veteran officials. We typically have an under-varsity/varsity game each game night. The new official works the the whole under varsity game, a half with each veteran official, the other veteran observes. The new official gets a written summary of the game with comments from each official and a score. They must pass, 75 out of 100, at least 10 games before moving on to become a varsity official within the association. The new official gets no official pay for these games but often will be treated to food and/or beverage of choice after the game.

For sure the association new official program including the observations works for us. It helps make sure when you work with a new varsity official you can be confident they have met some minimum requirements and are ready to work the varsity level. It also helps insure new officials are serious about officiating and willing to work to get better.

Does no pay turn a lot of people off from doing this? Why not pay the JV game to the new official since they are working it? I know an AD that would gladly pay for 3 officials in a JV game if one of the officials was new to officiating. He saw it as a way to get new guys/gals into the fold.

By the time someone works 10 games + cost of uniforms, travel, etc - that would be $700 - 1000 investment. I am not suggesting that the experienced guys shouldn't get paid for mentoring, but it just seems like this would turn some people off that wanted to get into officiating.

How do you retain anyone if they must work 10 JV games for free? Are you saying an official must call 10 JV games for free before they can get paid to work JV games? Are the 10 free games required at any point if an official wants to move to varsity? Why not pay for all of this?

This is the way our association has done it for years. Yes you must work the 10 JV games w/o pay with veteran officials to move to varsity games. You are working 9th grade and possibly other under varsity games also during this time and getting paid for them. Some new officials question the no pay but w/o doing the 10 games (and passing) you don't move to varsity. Typically the new official rides with the veterans so travel is not an issue.

If you don't want to move to varsity you don't have to go through the evaluation/observation process. Work strictly under varsity and get paid for all your games.

This is all explained to new officials so if they don't like it they don't sign up. I'm sure it turns a few off and we never hear back from them.

Sure, the no pay is weak, but for the reasons Killian stated above, I think I like this idea. At the very least, it promotes a (somewhat) merit-based system for promotion as opposed to landing varsity assignments purely based on time served or time spent with the right people, which is absolutely how it works in many (most?) associations.

I certainly don't see the point in not paying. Unless they are an "extra" crew member (like... school will pay for 2 officials at JV, and newguy is the 3rd official on the game)