A new record!

[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.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Freddy

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 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.

This is exactly why I only do 3 games. I know from past experience the exponential drop in quality my officiating suffers from doing any more than 3 games.

[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.

[Nevadaref]

Officials get treated poorly by tournaments because they allow themselves to be.
People need to have enough self-respect to demand a reasonable fee for the games in the first place. Look at the entry fees that the competing teams are paying and you will quickly get a sense of how much profit the organizers are making, even considering equipment/gym/building rental.

What people must understand is that organizers approach these events purely as money-makers. They are not doing it for free or as a service to the kids. Know that every dollar that they don't pay an official goes into their own pockets.

If an official doesn't show, that is the problem of the organizer and whoever was hired to supply the officials. If they want me to work more than X number of games in a day, I simply consider it OT pay and let them know that I will require 1.5 times the normal fee for the extra contests.