A new record!

[constable]

My record is 15 in a weekend.
3 Friday
3 Saturday morning, 3 in the evening.
6 Sunday.

It sucked.

[jpgc99]

Originally Posted by Danvrapp

Halftime of the second game, site director says we're adding 3 more.

My response: Who did you find to come in to work on such short notice?


I don't work youth ball like this anymore, but when I did I would help out if I was asked. But it is disrespectful to assume you will work the additional three games, and I would have told the tournament director that there is no way I'm working those games.

We are professionals and should be treated as such.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by jpgc99

My response: Who did you find to come in to work on such short notice?


I don't work youth ball like this anymore, but when I did I would help out if I was asked. But it is disrespectful to assume you will work the additional three games, and I would have told the tournament director that there is no way I'm working those games.

We are professionals and should be treated as such.

This is the other reason I wouldn't have worked them. By assuming I'm going to work them, you're guaranteeing I won't. My time is important to me, and if I'm giving you 4 games I've likely made plans for the evening with my wife. Bailing on those plans is, for me, a good way to sour her to something I truly enjoy doing.

[zm1283]

Originally Posted by Adam

This is the other reason I wouldn't have worked them. By assuming I'm going to work them, you're guaranteeing I won't. My time is important to me, and if I'm giving you 4 games I've likely made plans for the evening with my wife. Bailing on those plans is, for me, a good way to sour her to something I truly enjoy doing.

Yep.

I don't work much, if any, basketball in the off-season. I have in the past and I don't enjoy it at all. All the summer stuff around here is running clock. I've done anywhere from 4-7 running clock games in a day before, and it was awful.

[Welpe]

To paraphrase a friend of mine, got to love those that treat the officials like furniture.

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by Welpe

To paraphrase a friend of mine, got to love those that treat the officials like furniture.

What association trainer wouldn't appreciate it that his/her officials "get to see more plays." Isn't that one of the chief ways officials improve? More reps...more calls...more no-calls...
However, is it reasonable to assume any official doing that many games back to back to back to back to back would be making those calls and no-calls from any sort of correct position or angle during these games/scrimmages? Is it correct to assume that proper mechanics survive the rigors of the format? Would anybody submit to this kind of slavish schedule for the loyal purpose of getting better? No.
Short-cuts and energy-conservation tactics and "easier ways to do it" to which an official must resort instill more bad habits and unapproved mechanics and just plain poor play-calling. Few if any officials can be immersed in those poor practices and then just flick the switch and turn them off when it comes time for the "real" games. The time and effort necessary for trainers to reprogram newer and veteran officials who do these days makes them more of a waste than they're worth.
I'm for anything that helps officials, me included, improve. These "reffing mill" events don't do anything but make officials less good than they were prior.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Welpe

To paraphrase a friend of mine, got to love those that treat the officials like furniture.

Bingo. Part of it is our (collective) fault for working for $20/game. It's no wonder they don't realize we value our time.

I'm going to back up a little on what I've said.

If I've worked 4 games, and the next crew doesn't completely show and they need someone to work, I've got no problem offering to step in until the crew is complete.

It's the implied assumption that bothers me most about the OP. Before they add three games at the last minute, they need to make sure they have officials who want to work the games. I am not a captive audience.

[Stat-Man]

Originally Posted by Danvrapp

Working the King James tournament in Akron, OH on Saturday. Scheduled to work a 4-game set. Halftime of the second game, site director says we're adding 3 more. First time I've ever worked 7!

I can honestly say I handled it physically better than I handled it mentally. After that 5th one, I had to keep reminding myself to stay focused. Fortunately, it was all 5th grade and didn't have to do much more than run baseline to half-court, but 7 games is still 7 games...

Any other "fun" stories of working way too many games in one day?

At camp last summer, only 12 officials signed up. So, we had four crews of three for the entire day.

The schedule (games from 8a-8p) was such that a crew would do three games followed by a break before doing three more.

It wasn't too bad, but partway through the day, one of my partners had to leave early, leaving a crew of two for the next 2½ games. Thankfully, the observers for those games were sympathetic and let my remaining partner and I know that as long as we did our best, they weren't going to critique us unless we missed something very obvious.

With what was supposed to be our last break of the night, my partner were called to fill in on another court instead (so much for dinner). thankfully, we had a third official join us, so it wasn't too bad. The last game of the night was a championship game that went down to the wire. Despite being sore and tired, it was a fun game to officiate.

For the day, I officiated 11 games in 12-plus hours. While i enjoyed the chance to learn 3-person mechanics and get valuable feedback, I'm in no hurry to officiate that many games again.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Stat-Man

At camp last summer, only 12 officials signed up. So, we had four crews of three for the entire day.

The schedule (games from 8a-8p) was such that a crew would do three games followed by a break before doing three more.

It wasn't too bad, but partway through the day, one of my partners had to leave early, leaving a crew of two for the next 2½ games. Thankfully, the observers for those games were sympathetic and let my remaining partner and I know that as long as we did our best, they weren't going to critique us unless we missed something very obvious.

With what was supposed to be our last break of the night, my partner were called to fill in on another court instead (so much for dinner). thankfully, we had a third official join us, so it wasn't too bad. The last game of the night was a championship game that went down to the wire. Despite being sore and tired, it was a fun game to officiate.

For the day, I officiated 11 games in 12-plus hours. While i enjoyed the chance to learn 3-person mechanics and get valuable feedback, I'm in no hurry to officiate that many games again.

I'm noticing that none of your observers jumped in to help.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

I'm noticing that none of your observers jumped in to help.

Me too. I've worked local HS camps where Dwayne Gladden (Sweet 16) and Brian Kersey (Final Four) have stepped in when we were short of officials.

And guess what? Fans thought they were just as incompetent as the rest of us...LMAO

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Stat-Man

At camp last summer, only 12 officials signed up. So, we had four crews of three for the entire day.

The schedule (games from 8a-8p) was such that a crew would do three games followed by a break before doing three more.

It wasn't too bad, but partway through the day, one of my partners had to leave early, leaving a crew of two for the next 2½ games. Thankfully, the observers for those games were sympathetic and let my remaining partner and I know that as long as we did our best, they weren't going to critique us unless we missed something very obvious.

With what was supposed to be our last break of the night, my partner were called to fill in on another court instead (so much for dinner). thankfully, we had a third official join us, so it wasn't too bad. The last game of the night was a championship game that went down to the wire. Despite being sore and tired, it was a fun game to officiate.

For the day, I officiated 11 games in 12-plus hours. While i enjoyed the chance to learn 3-person mechanics and get valuable feedback, I'm in no hurry to officiate that many games again.

What that camp should have done was hire out a few of those games to local officials so that you would not be left working more games than would be instructive. Instead, they pocketed the money the teams paid them to have the games covered and had you work them all, essentially for free. Working 8 games a day is not a learning environment nor a reasonable way to get evaluate (at least the evaluators recognized that).

[jpgc99]

Originally Posted by Stat-Man

At camp last summer, only 12 officials signed up. So, we had four crews of three for the entire day.

The schedule (games from 8a-8p) was such that a crew would do three games followed by a break before doing three more.

It wasn't too bad, but partway through the day, one of my partners had to leave early, leaving a crew of two for the next 2½ games. Thankfully, the observers for those games were sympathetic and let my remaining partner and I know that as long as we did our best, they weren't going to critique us unless we missed something very obvious.

With what was supposed to be our last break of the night, my partner were called to fill in on another court instead (so much for dinner). thankfully, we had a third official join us, so it wasn't too bad. The last game of the night was a championship game that went down to the wire. Despite being sore and tired, it was a fun game to officiate.

For the day, I officiated 11 games in 12-plus hours. While i enjoyed the chance to learn 3-person mechanics and get valuable feedback, I'm in no hurry to officiate that many games again.

Was this a hiring camp? I wouldn't want to work for somebody that treats prospective officials so poorly. If they don't respect you in the summer, why would the respect you in the season?

As Nevada said, sounds like the staff is pretty lousy too -- I'd find it difficult to allow you to work 11 games while I sit in my big chair court side and "only critique If you miss something big." How nice of them!

Wouldn't want to work for the assignor; wouldn't want to be partners with the staff.