Getting picked up very young
 

I'm a fairly young official (19 years old), or at least think I am. I often hear stories about how 19- and 20-year-olds get picked up for lower-level college assignments, and it surprises me. Mainly because in my state (South Carolina), you aren't even allowed to be a member of the association until you graduate high school. And that's just what I did–joined the SCBOA after I graduated high school. I've been learning rules, learning from my mentor, and calling some middle school and church league with him for about a year.

So, my question is, how do so many young officials get college assignments when they are younger than the players and (probably) don't even have much if any JV or varsity experience?

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks.

You do not need to be part of a HS association to be picked up by a college supervisor. I have a young buddy of mine who got picked up by a D3 supervisor after only 1 season of HS officiating; believe he was 22 at the time.

There is a forum member whose son got picked up in college ball when he was 20 and attending university.

I do not know many that were picked up that young for the college level, but early 20s is not out of the question in my general area.

Peace

So, my question is, how do so many young officials get college assignments when they are younger than the players and (probably) don't even have much if any JV or varsity experience?

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks.[/QUOTE]

*Contrary to popular opinion, the vocational progression towards becoming a higher level ref is no longer a linear pathway. One does not have to start off their reffing vocation by reffing 3rd grade girls, then 5th grade boys, then 8th grade girls, then frosh, jv, vars in order to move up the chain.
These days with officiating having become so, shall I say "standardized", one can really enter the voacation at any point in the pathway and get games by simply attending the appropriate camps and identifying the relevant assignors.
The days of "starting in the mail room" then becoming a "departemental manager" are long gone.

It's not that simple either.

Well Bad news Referee, I did not intend to over-simplify the vocational progression but rather to inform the OP that there is no need to be "baffled" by a 19 y.o reffing games when the players are 20+ yrs old (or older). To emphasize that the main point of my post was that Officiating has become so Standardized that one can enter the vocation without having to submit their time and effort in the classical approach towards "moving up". Really, a ref who wants to 'move up' could really waste a lot of their effective years/prime time by going the classical route. Which may not even pan out.
Pay for the camps, get the instruction from relevant clinicians, and meet assignors, impress them with practice games---and one can "move up". Now, granted you may have to travel further to get prime time games (e.g., >40 miles to get a varsity game or college level game) once you are in the network. This is the modern era way to move up in the Officiating vocation.
In my career I've seen folks who did 3rd grade girls for the ymca, then in 2 yrs they were doing hi-level JUCO games in Garden City,KS and Hutchinson, KS.

While meeting the right people can go a long way in getting games, that doesn't mean you don't have to be a good official. And being a good official oftentimes takes experience.

*BryanVs, I cannot disagree with that point; however, prospective refs who decide/attempt to go the "fast-track" route generally acquire "experience" as a result of working the practices and games of their relevant competition level. Hey don't get me wrong, I realize there are a wealth of "non-curricular" type of experiences that can be (must be obtained) towards becoming an elite ref (such as how to get along with obstinate crew partners, how to manage confrontational coaches, how even to manage your own psychological stance in order to endure the immense challenge of reffing a live game, etc...). Yet, for the most part these are, shall I say, tangential issues. The key aspects are: knowing the relevant rules, getting self in good position to make calls, and managing the game--all of which can be learned by attending a relevant camp/clinic and identifying the relevant assignors.

Yes you have to go to camps, but you also have to know what you are doing. Many officials have no clue what they are doing. You can go to all the right camps and not be talented enough to work that level.

And honestly, I do not know many people that worked middle school first, then high school freshman, the a sophomore game on your way to JV then varsity. A lot of officials work high school and then fill in with middle school early in their career anyway. But I would never recommend someone just go to a camp when they have not seen enough plays or have not been trained properly. John Adams years ago before he was the NCAA Coordinator said to a camp of officials, "You either have it or you don't" when he was talking about judgment. I see a lot of officials that just do not have it and it is not easy to develop if you do not put in the time and the work.

Peace

*Ahhh another sagely John adams reference, but I must disagree when he is stating it in such absolute terms--you either have it or you don't. Seems a bit..shall I say, deterministic. But hey....

And yes, I am in complete agreement with your point that it must be "developed over time" and there are "refs who do not know what they are doing". But all of that is beside the point of the OP post...they were just simply asking "how to move up when you are so young". Which I have already said is very possible by the procedures I've already described in the above post.

Sure, they are going to be people that just have "it" when it comes to being a good official, and therefore don't need to spend 10 or so years to get to a higher level. Those guys just need to get their name out there and meet the right people.

However, in general, I wouldn't tell a prospective official that knowing the right people, and going to the right camps, are the way to get to the upper levels.

I think a lot of it depends on where you are, too. I'm in a fairly large city with multiple associations, each of which has hundreds of members. Climbing the ladder around here is much tougher than... say... a rural area in a smaller state, where the need for officials is much greater.

Yes it is very possible to move up. You can move up if someone gives you a shot. I just think you do not want to make people feel that they are just going to move up just because they go to the right camp. It just is not that simple for many of us, that is all. Usually it takes several trips to a camp and see how you improve to get a shot at all, even at the JUCO level. Also this might be part of the country you are in and how competitive it is. Here, you will complete in a much larger area and have to come in contact with officials that work D1. You are not just kicking them off to the side to hire a 20 year old. It is possible, but I think the point that BNR and me are trying to suggest, you still have to work and still have to put in the time and a lot of young guys are not going to do a lot beyond going to a camp.

Peace

Young Guns ...
 

We've got a lot of pretty good junior varsity officials that get tired waiting to get a full high school varsity schedule and move over to low division college, or junior college, basketball without ever working a regular high school varsity schedule. These young guys take advantage of our local board's high school training opportunities, and then go to a lot of college camps (often with scholarships provided by our local board) in the off season, and are ready, and willing, to travel (in our New England winters) to assignments once the season starts.

This type of movement is a lot more common now that it was twenty, or thirty, years ago when the only guys that moved up to college were the better high school varsity officials.

*Very astute point Billy Macs. And that post proved my initial point: the days of working one's way up by the traditional route will burn up a LOT of your useful and optimal reffing time. No need to labor incessantly at the lower ranks and be content with watching varsity officials who are past their prime get games over you when you do not even get a chance especially after paying dues etc..for years. Now, granted you may have to travel further out in the district to get those games--but hey my Mother never said it was going to be easy:)

Nepotism ...
 

Thanks Dad.

(Astute is good? Right?)

Honestly, I do not think that was ever really the case. I have heard of a lot of people getting college games and the supervisors did not care if you were working anything before. That sounds more like what used to say, but never was the case.

Just look at the careers of some of the top buys that have been working D1 for 20 or 30 years and many of them did not even work a HS varsity game before they worked a college game. I can think of a couple of people that made that clear in Referee Magazine when they talked about their college or pro careers.

Peace

1. Why is experience in quotes?

2. Help me understand here: You think working practices and games of their relevant competition level will give an official enough "experience" to work college games if they know the rules, how to get in the right spot, etc?

3. Ballpark...How many practices and games do you think would be needed to learn those "tangential issues" so that he or she could couple them with the key aspects you identified and be in a good position to get picked up?

I will simply say that our local HS association wanted to assign my #1 son to a preseason JV-G scrimmage the year he was on staff for a D1 conference and the NBA D-league. I am not averse to the idea you should create your own advancement opportunity and not be dependent on guidance or encouragement from the traditional groups. It is not in their interest to have you advance beyond their span of control.

Apparently you didn't pay attention to my very first response:

*Interesting and insightful perspective. When you said that such traditional groups do not have a vested interest in you "advancing beyond their span of control [on you]"...Me like!

ok

That is not limited to young officials. I'm intimately familiar with an older official who swam through those same murky waters.

I moved a lot from my first year of officiating (1987) till I settled in at my current location 12 years ago.

I was terrible as an 18 year old, I'm sure. I just didn't fall into the right group and I was in college and it was just beer money. I worked my first varsity game my junior year of college, but I still wasn't very good.

Then I moved to grad school. Took me a season and a half to get promoted to varsity.

Moved again. Worked a full varsity schedule, but knew I was only staying for one season.

Moved again.

Moved again.

Moved again.

I've seen every kind of group, from the one who would watch you work for a few minutes and assign you like a veteran to those who had artificial rules in place that would have Earl Strom working 3+ years of JV girls.

Thankfully I moved to a place where I can direct my own HS schedule. I don't work EVERY conference in the area, but I end up with more games than I plan on working every season. I went to camps, my postseason assignments improved - last year I worked state -- 27 years and 6 states in. I'm a HS official for life. I work college football and college baseball and I still see myself as a HS guy first and foremost.

Now that I assign, I run into all kinds of officials. Guys who ask me what the game pays before I get a word out. Guys who are 18 and already think they're NBA-quality officials. Guys who are 40 year vets who get games who I won't hire based on what I see of them.

Until you remove people from the equation, this won't change.

And if I was young, pretty, and ran like a gazelle, I'd be looking to escape to NCAA or pro basketball as quickly as I could.

*At best I can offer here is 2 to 5 years. There is a book called "The Tipping Point" that indicates that the average human needs 3500 to 5000 hours of practice, experience, feedback/evaluation on a task to transition from complete novice to satisfactory performer. So, I think that is a good baseline to begin with.

Are we good here?

Yep. Thanks for expanding.

We have a lot of young officials that think they should after a year work a full varsity schedule, but cannot handle a low-level varsity game already. HS and college in almost every case has nothing to do with each other. Just like working the NBA or pro ball has nothing to do with what you accomplished at the lower levels. It actually never was apart of the process unless you just happened to work college for someone that assigned some high school. And even in those cases, that only applies to their standards, not everyone that assigns college basketball.

Peace

I can give you a real life fast track story.
 

Michael Nance, Larry Nance's little brother. I worked JV games with him for one year and he went to camp and was picked up the next year. He moved to Atlanta and the rest is history. He is a very good D1 official. Brian Forte, Joe Forte's son is another one that went through our association very briefly and has been in the NBA for 5 or 6 years. Both of them knew what they wanted to do and went for it.

*Which again lends credence to my intial point: Officiating has become so "standardized" that one can enter the reffing vocation at their desired level of competition and eventually become a satisfactory ref without wasting away your prime health years in hopes of moving up via the traditional ranks--when it may not pan out. Now please bear in mind that not every official wants to 'move up'. I know some guys/women who are content with just doing recreational leagues--making an extra $100 on the wknd, others who want to do college, and yet others who want to remain at the nfhs level. We are not assigning any "value-statement" to the choices one is free to make, but rather emphasizing the available options for in our vocation.

When You're Ready ...
 

I don't remember Earl Strom being a member of my local board, but that's the rule here, at least for now. Our current president is working on putting new system into place with no mandatory "waiting period" for new officials to work varsity games.

FWIW, and this is a different sport, but there are people with zero or very little umpiring experience who go to professional umpire school and get hired. They may or may not make it to MLB, but umpiring freshmen/JV games for 8-10 years isn't going to prepare them for professional baseball more than actually working those games will.