The Main Thing?

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by johnny d

In a utopian world, these would be perfect statements. In reality, at least where I work, they are just worthless sentiments. There are more games than there are competent officials, especially on Friday nights. A good percentage of officials care about getting better and doing things the right way. Unfortunately, there is also a high percentage of officials that do not care and will not get better no matter how much training is available to them, but they will still get games because there isn't another competent official to take their place. Assignors and associations are stuck with these guys and they know it. Conferences and leagues can switch assignors if they like. They might see some new guys or a different mix of guys, but it is inevitable they are going to still get guys that don't belong on a game. Making training a priority is a fruitless endeavor. It takes a lot of work by a select few, with very little tangible benefit for the group as a whole. In fact, the whole idea of having associations seems pointless. In my experience, I get more out of the interactions I have with the select group of officials, that have goals and aspirations similar to mine, than I ever have participating in any of the associations I have belonged to.

The association I commute to work for does a decent job with training, a very solid job on rules study, and has started using video. And not coincidentally, they were recruited by 2 separate conferences to bid for contracts. They said "no thanks" to one conference, and won the contract for the other.

They also have quite a few officials with whom I enjoy interacting. So I would not say it is fruitless to build an ambitious organization that knows how to do things right.

There is a local association I refuse to work for because their work ethic and professionalism is nowhere near my standards. One of our very esteemed forum members works for that group, and he is so heads-and-shoulders above every other member of that organization it is ridiculous.