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I think it is a problem in all sports.
Down here I think that my local organization is quite "long in the tooth" and not doing much in the way of recruiting or encouraging the younger officials. |
I'm pretty sure at every meeting at the beginning of the year you hear asisgnors talking about getting more members. For any sport. :)
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I've tried.
Yes, its a tough thing...
I keep trying every year, but in the past 10 years I've only been able to recruit maybe 3 guys... Our association puts ads in the sports section of the local paper and we get maybe one or two guys per year who come to the meetings. Perhaps one guy will stick it out. The personal touch is still the best. Go to the best candidates and then twist their arms to join. Normally the good ones end up loving it. |
We've had some decent success with going on the local sports radio station and making a presentation.
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Radio is a great idea!
We have a Hawaiian music station that most folks here listen to. KPOA. They have this personality named Ala Ka'i the morning goddesses... She even came to the JV championship last year and flipped the coin... She loves local sports and I bet the station would run a free ad.
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Sometimes it helps to get some of the officials who work other sports to try and recruit potential new officials fromt those sports. I had some success getting one of my slowpitch softball partners to join the football officials association. Now I'm working on some of the others in joining the football association and the basketball associations I belong to. Just have to persist at it.
Sometimes dumb luck works, like for example, I was working softball one night, and my partner asked me what my schedule was like for the next week (I think he wanted to get out of an assignment and thought he could dump it on me). That was Sunday night, and I told him I had either football or softball every night and Saturday morning. He was like football, huh? Asked me about how to join, etc. Never know where you'll find the interest. |
The crew system that our organization uses defeats retention of promising two- and three-year officials. The perception is that, no matter how well a newer official is doing, he cannot make a crew because of the political realities. The result is we lose officials after two or three seasons. The median age of the officials who remain members grows every year. And while change to the crew system is needed in the long term, the remaining members will never vote for a change. So the whole organization is atrophying in my opinion.
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insatty, how does the crew system work for your organization? The organization I belong to primarily, uses this system: long time vet (sometimes a dozen years or more) is white hat, while a medium-tenure vet (sometimes 5 to 10 years) ends up being the umpire most of the time (that is if the whole crew is able to work that game), while the "younger" guns on the crew (less than 5 years normally) work the line. However, there are times when some of the younger guys who work the lines have an opportunity to be the umpire if the usual person is not available for that game.
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Oh, by the way, I should add, sometimes someone who is an umpire on one crew has the possibility of ending up as a substitute white hat for another crew depending on availability.
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I agree with insatty. I've officiated for 3 years, and have gotten two varsity games. I don't have a problem subbing in on varsity crews, because it allows me to see different styles and what it takes to make a good crew. I feel that I am at the point, however, that I believe I can hold my own on a varsity crew full-time. The only way I can do this, though, is if someone in the area retires or if I start my own crew up. When someone does retire, they usually dig up a college guy or an old official that's been out for a few years. I've been trying to round up a crew of younger guys, but varsity schedules come out two years ahead of time, so I won't even get on the schedule until 2006. Even then, I don't know if anyone can handle the white hat. It's pretty frustrating...
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Are you going to watch the CIS all-star game? What about the OVFL all-star game? Both are in Waterloo this Sat and I'm doing both! For the CIS game, I'm only on the sticks though. ;) |
This saturday i've got a bit of basketball to do.
Have they handed out any of the OVFL assignments yet??? If your doing a game in Hamilton, I'll be on the sticks. |
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If I get a Hamilton assignemnt, I will let you know ahead of time! |
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