Retirement...when it's time?

[JimB]

I wanted to get some thoughts on a retirement issue. First, let me set the stage:

Crew has been together in some form since mid 1990s. The umpire, who turns 60 early next year, is the least active and physically vulnerable official on the crew...of course he's in the middle.

Over the past few years he has become increasing susceptible to getting hit during games. Sometimes it is an innocent stepping on the toes, while other times it involves the need for a trainer’s attention. Over the past season, he needed attention from a trainer during at least three games, and this doesn’t include the basic contact he is getting on an almost weekly basis. My concern is his physical well being, and how to go about presenting facts that it is probably in his best interest to be working games involving younger players rather than Friday night varsity games. As a result of his vulnerability, his mechanics are suffering.

For example, this past Friday, on a two-point conversion attempt, the U was eight yards deep in the EZ rather than on the LOS, and got hit by a defensive player trying to get to the receiver. He said he was there because he was having trouble seeing the line play. He ended up throwing a flag in anger for a PF on the player for intentionally running into him…it took a discussion to get from him that he had not seen the play, (in fact none of the other officials did), it would be a disqualification foul for contacting an official, and he wasn’t sure the player involved, so we waved off the flag, which made him more angry in that I wasn’t “protecting him”.

I’m sure some of you have had to deal with this, and it isn’t an easy situation. Any suggestions on different ways to go about getting him to see he is nearing the end of his career as a Friday night official? I know he would be a great observer, mentor, and official of games involving younger players, but I want to get him to make the decision on his own.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

[Texas Aggie]

I don't think there's an easy way to do this. I'd be upfront, first asking him what he had planned to do next year, then informing him that your crew is going with a different U. It will be tough and there may be hard feelings, but if there is going to be anyway, there isn't a lot you can do about it.

If you are the R, you are the one that needs to let him know what you plan to do. You can have someone else ask him his plans, but you need to inform him if you plan on finding someone else. A good friend was telling me the other night that their crew (I'm not on it) was replacing their U. They just felt he was the weak link on the crew and had someone better in mind. The guy got on another crew (ironically, another good friend of mine is the R) fairly quickly -- so if you are going to replace him, do it now so he will have a chance to go with someone else if he so chooses.

[Trap]

Lets change the question a little. Say your a middle aged official in modest physical shape. You joined officiating to be part of the game and help the youth and give back to the community.

Over the past few years the travel, constant whining and bickering of coaches and fans has taken a toll on you. You are now wondering is it worth it anymore. Is this the time to say its over?

I would believe lots of officials at some time feel this way. Just curious to get peoples take.

[falsecut]

Why do you say the R has to have this discussion with him? Shouldn't it be the crew chief? Or are you assuming that they are one and the same?

As to the whining factor, I'm guessing that this is one of the biggest factors in officials quitting. If you can't handle it, get out. If it bothers you and keeps you up at night, get out. The whining and how you deal with it is almost more important that your rules knowledge or mechanics. If you can't deal effectively with it, then you cannot be an effective official.

Trap, if you were to come to me as a person who had this problem, I think I would want to discuss why you feel this way, and how we can refocus you on the officiating instead of the outside influences. On a practical basis, I think that if you were the type to want to talk to somebody about it, you could probably be "saved". It's the people who don't want to talk about the situation, but just get surly, distracted, or disinterested who suddenly give it up or worse, drive everybody they work with crazy.

As a basketball official once confided in me, he planned in his last year, "I'm going to go on a grand tour and T up every one of those SOBs that have made my life miserable for the last thirty years". He was kidding (I think so anyways ).

[Theisey]

Trap .. the one thing that stands out for me is this, when it no longer is fun to work the games.... it's time to stop. Not there yet, but I know the
day will arrive. The second for me is when I physically can no longer work
the field at minimum of 90%. Only I can say when that is, but since I'll
know it when it happens, I will stop.

Appears to me in JimB's case, that official doesn't see or know he is at the end of the tunnel. You have to tell him you are going with another U.

[OverAndBack]

Originally Posted by Trap

Lets change the question a little. Say your a middle aged official in modest physical shape. You joined officiating to be part of the game and help the youth and give back to the community.

Over the past few years the travel, constant whining and bickering of coaches and fans has taken a toll on you. You are now wondering is it worth it anymore. Is this the time to say its over?

I would believe lots of officials at some time feel this way. Just curious to get peoples take.

Dude, I feel that way now and I've only been doing this five years!

I got out of basketball because that dollars-to-grief ratio quickly got out of hand.

Now, when everything's going well and you have a good game and you're working with good people and the game is crisply played and the coaches are behaving and there's nothing extraordinary (or if there is, you get it), it's great. When a game is rolling and you're really working well together as a team, it's a really fun avocation.

But lots of times, it ain't all those things. I don't know if it's a function of the level of play or playing mix-and-match with partners or whether my temperament would be better suited in the back than on the wings or what.

The bad games aren't that prevalent, but they stick out more. I wonder if anyone else feels that way.

[Ed Hickland]

Originally Posted by JimB

I wanted to get some thoughts on a retirement issue. First, let me set the stage:

Crew has been together in some form since mid 1990s. The umpire, who turns 60 early next year, is the least active and physically vulnerable official on the crew...of course he's in the middle.

...

Thanks in advance for your comments.

First of all there is no exact age when one slows down [of course, I'm already 60 and so is my umpire] it is sort of gradual.

I let a previous umpire go and he was 72 but age was not the matter, it became obvious on the video he was not moving, great guy.

At the high school level there are not opportunities for officials who still want to be involved as they can be a wealth of knowledge. Schools do not want to pay for supervisors or any other function that does not put feet on the field, even then, we had an uphill battle to add a fifth official.