best position to start out.

[verticalStripes]

I am a first year football official. In your opinion, what is the best position to learn so that I could get HS varsity games when I am ready?

I am getting a lot of "grass time" this year by taking a lot of youth assignments. In these games, we do 2 or 3 man mechanics. I am bigger guy, and everyone in my local chapter believes the bigger guys should become umpires. But I am not sure if umpire is the best postion for me.

Thanks -> this forum is great!
verticalStripes

[TXMike]

What do you mean by "bigger"? If you mean you are really tall, U may not be so good. But if you are really wide, then that may be just the place for you.

New officials can usually be "hidden" by putting them at U. The chance of you making a critical mistake that is apparent to the whole world is much smaller there. It also exposes you to penalty enforcement which can help in your development process.

[PiggSkin]

I don't know if this is a general truth, or just something that applies to this area, but I've been told that good umpires tend to get better/more assignments more quickly than other positions...

[JRutledge]

I think it depends on your level of experience and where you are most confrontable. I do not think there is a "one size fits all" formula to this question. Because if you started out as a wing, I might feel more confrontable putting where you have worked on the field. Rather than put you at Back Judge and you have never done it a day in your life. Being a Back Judge is not that easy as well, but many think there is not a lot to do back there. If you have teams that pass a lot, your Back Judge might be an important part of the crew. So this is really not something we can answer. What are you most confrontable doing? To me that is the best position for you.

Peace

[chris s]

Originally posted by JRutledge
I think it depends on your level of experience and where you are most confrontable. I do not think there is a "one size fits all" formula to this question. Because if you started out as a wing, I might feel more confrontable putting where you have worked on the field. Rather than put you at Back Judge and you have never done it a day in your life. Being a Back Judge is not that easy as well, but many think there is not a lot to do back there. If you have teams that pass a lot, your Back Judge might be an important part of the crew. So this is really not something we can answer. What are you most confrontable doing? To me that is the best position for you.

Peace

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
~ Wish my assc worked this way! I love working U, but my fleet feet ends me up on a wing, thank goodness we work all high schol stuff 5 man so BJ is there.All the new "big" guys that join up always go to U at first, used to be HL as starting point for all, then we switched to LJ so a little less work for them

[SWFLguy]

This depends on:
1) how your official's association promotes its new officials
2) what position your are most at ease with
3) Your own expectations
In many associations, the newer officials are assigned "wingman"
positions, typically Linesman. If you have any desires to be a
"white hat" work hard at the L and move on to R.
I "fell in love" with the Umpire slot early on and never had
any desire to Referee. I worked on improving my skills and
in an association that rewards its best officials, you will
get "big" games and soon play-offs, and championship games
if you really do the job well. A ratings system will allow you to work
on up to State level play-offs.
Good luck !!

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by chris s
Wish my assc worked this way! I love working U, but my fleet feet ends me up on a wing, thank goodness we work all high schol stuff 5 man so BJ is there.All the new "big" guys that join up always go to U at first, used to be HL as starting point for all, then we switched to LJ so a little less work for them

Our Association has no say over this. You are hired and fired by crews. The crew decides where you work or where you do not work. And our state determines who gets playoff games or not. I was assigned a playoff game last year for the first time in my career and they put me at umpire. I have never umpired in a varsity game a day in my life until that game. But the state gives the crew the opportunity to put anyone in a position they feel most confrontable.

So if you are asked to join a crew, they put you where there is a need or where they feel your talents would be most useful. The crew I am on now, I was the Back Judge for two years. Because we had issues with our Referee at the time, he was released and I was moved to Referee because I felt most confrontable doing it. That was a decision made by the crew, not by any association I belong to.

Peace

[bigwhistle]

What does confrontable mean?

[TXMike]

If you have read much of Rut's stuff you will realize it was a Freudian slip. He is confrontational so instead of being comfortable, he prefers to be confrontable.

[Rich]

This is interesting stuff, Rut. Was the crew chief someone other than the referee? I started a varsity crew for next season and have six of the nine regular season weeks filled so far on my schedule, including 2 weeks with one of those contacts you sent me -- thanks, BTW.

The contracts come to me as the crew chief and I am held responsible by the assignor, I suppose, if a crew doesn't show up. As far as I can tell, if a crew member doesn't work out all I'd have to do is replace that person on the crew. Is that what you mean?

How do other areas assign? Are crews and positions determined by the associations or by the crews? Is the crew chief the one who makes the important decisions regarding the crews?

Working umpire would not be fun for me -- I'd rather be sitting in the stands

Rich

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by Rich Fronheiser
This is interesting stuff, Rut. Was the crew chief someone other than the referee? I started a varsity crew for next season and have six of the nine regular season weeks filled so far on my schedule, including 2 weeks with one of those contacts you sent me -- thanks, BTW.

Our Crew Chief is our Head Linesman (5 man mechanics). He likes it there and really I do not think anyone else wants that job to begin with (crew chief I am talking about). I have stated before that we are assigned games as crews and assignors are aware of the normal positions of that crew. It can affect our crew if certain individuals are on it, that is why we made the change last year by removing an individual at the end of the season. But basically the crew chief is given the contract and is of course the contact person for that crew and ultimately responsible for who works the games and informing the assignors of any changes. But when assigned varsity games, the assignors know who the Referee and the Back Judge are when giving out the game. And yes, it might affect who gets the big rivialry as compared to the two winless programs every game. Changes do happen from time to time during a particular game because crew members have job obligations or family issues that take them away from doing a game. But the crew makes those changes most of the time.

Originally posted by Rich Fronheiser

The contracts come to me as the crew chief and I am held responsible by the assignor, I suppose, if a crew doesn't show up. As far as I can tell, if a crew member doesn't work out all I'd have to do is replace that person on the crew. Is that what you mean?

That is almost exactly how it is. It is not entirely on the crew chief, but he is the main one that will take the heat if things go wrong.

Peace

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by TXMike
If you have read much of Rut's stuff you will realize it was a Freudian slip. He is confrontational so instead of being comfortable, he prefers to be confrontable.

I do not believe in Freudian slips. But if someone on a discussion board is concern what I guy says to them that lives over 1000 miles away from them, then that is there problem.

Peace

[TXMike]

1000 miles is nothing when we all live in the "Community of Man". You are a lawyer but I deal with psychology, hence my belief in Freudian slips and your disbelief.

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by TXMike
1000 miles is nothing when we all live in the "Community of Man".

Well that "Community of Man" does not dictate my life decisions. So I guess someone has to have something to worry about in their life.

Originally posted by TXMike

You are a lawyer but I deal with psychology, hence my belief in Freudian slips and your disbelief.

I did not realize I was a lawyer, but that might be a reality down the road. But if you want to believe in a drug addict that had a bigger drug problem than Rush Limbaugh at the time of his death, feel free to believe what you like. But then again, that is why our entire society cannot cope with life problems unless they have a bottle of Prozac at bedside.

Peace

[parepat]

This is too deep for me.

My advice to a young official would be to work as many lower level games in as many different positions as possible. Thus, your versatility will be helpful not only in getting varsity assignments, but in understanding the big picture of your crewmates responsibilities. I believe too many guys (particularly Us) pigeonhole themselves early on in their careers.