NCAA Women's Tournament Officials

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

In the past, it certainly was true that the good female officials moved on to college and gave up HS before they could move to boys HS but, to be fair, many good male officials in our area also moved up somewhat slowly too. The pipeline just moved slowly.

However, that is no longer the case in our organization. Good officials, both male and female, can move up more quickly now.

We just had a relatively junior female official (about 4-5 years experience but VERY good) that gets a strong mix of boys varsity games get selected to work the Oregon Boys 5A state championship game.

What may have been true in the past is just no longer the case. Qualified officials advance quickly. Maybe this achievement will stop the unqualified females from claiming they are not moving up because they're female.

I do not think he is referring to moving up in high school. I know I was not talking about moving up in high school. And it is rare where I live for anyone within 15 years to even get a State Final opportunity and usually it is much more than that before someone gets their first shot at that level. But in my areas many females never even try to work a the playoffs as they are often working a lot of college. One of my good friends almost exclusively works college ball as she does not even qualify to work high school playoffs.

Peace

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by AremRed

That's true, all of the good female officials (the ones who want to move up anyway) move up right away and don't stick around long enough to get BV games.

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I do not think he is referring to moving up in high school.

Peace

Not sure where else they might stick around long enough to work BV.

Originally Posted by JRutledge

And it is rare where I live for anyone within 15 years to even get a State Final opportunity and usually it is much more than that before someone gets their first shot at that level.

It is used to be that way here too in a lot of cases but some changes were made to give capable officials a better chance of working in the tournament (quaterfinals and beyond) than in the past.

Originally Posted by JRutledge

But in my areas many females never even try to work a the playoffs as they are often working a lot of college. One of my good friends almost exclusively works college ball as she does not even qualify to work high school playoffs.

Peace

That isn't unusual here. There are often people that get picked up for college for one reason or another than are not always the best officials and some great officials don't work the college route for various reasons.

[JRutledge]

Well most people that get into this do not stick around long anyway. But if they get to the 5 year mark, then if they are given an opportunity to make more money or to get better opportunities, they take advantage of it. It might actually keep them in the game. And since there are so few women in the first place, they are often not going to stay working high school for less and considerably less money. Money might not be everything but it is a motivation in other aspects of life. And when they will give you a shot to work college playoffs as well and even a reasonable opportunity to work the D1 level, high school is not going to be a priority for very much longer. We have male officials that get their college opportunities and soon the high school level takes a back seat. Not sure why that would be unusual or anything hard to understand.

I belong to one of my associations and we might have 5 female member out of 200 or more. I can tell you that almost all of them work college ball. And I know more women who if they work a high school game, it is only as a favor or to fill out a hole in their schedule.

Peace