How long to make it onto a varsity crew?
 

On average, how long does it take to get onto a varsity crew?

I'm an alternate, and this is my second year of doing serious high school work. Of course, I referee in Illinois which is hurting for officials.

I got put onto a varsity crew at the start of my second year, due to a combination of a shortage of varsity-caliber officials, getting noticed by a couple of white-hats while working JV games, and working my arse off learning the rulebook and working on my mechanics.

I have no idea if my experience is typical or not. I know there are some guys in my association who've been working for years who aren't on varsity crews. Some by choice (a guy on my crew last year took this year off from varsity work so he could watch his son play varsity ball... totally understandable), and some for other reasons.

I have known guys in their first and second year to get on a varsity crew. It depends heavily on the individual and the area. I do not know if there is a set average that is applicable nationwide.

I am a WH and crew chief and 3 of my guys worked their first real game on Friday night (not all the same season and years ago). I know this is not typical -- all of them had extensive officiating experience in other sports and are close friends and they replaced people I had to get rid of for varying reasons. I was the experienced guy with about 10 years of football (at the time).

Now those guys are in their 6th, 5th, and 4th years and they are all very good officials. And I'm much better as well, having to know all the positions and the rules, etc. inside and out in order to be able to lead them.

That said, we had some *real* growing pains as a crew. For 3-4 years, I felt like I was working R as well as 1/2 U, 1/2 L, 1/2....you get the idea. When we talked about adding a sixth official to the crew (to cover the occasional absence, etc.) the one caveat I added was I wasn't ready for another *new* official. I want to spend a few years not worrying about more than improving our current crew.

To answer the poll, when I started working football it was in an assigning association in Tennessee that didn't use regular crews. I was promoted to full varsity for my third season. I worked my first V game in year 2 as a fill-in. We had officials as clock operators there, so I got to be on the field my second week, but only starting and stopping the clock.

It took me 5 as I didn't understand the process. Originally I was part of a 300+ member association. There were veteran guys getting 5 games on the field and 5 ECO's per season that was considered a decent season. I made the incorrect assumption that I would be moved up when my local clinic thought I was ready and just assumed that the numbers ahead of me were holding me back.

Finally, in year 4, a friend approached me one night and asked if I wasn't interested in moving up. I said "sure I am" He replied- "well the guys don't think so." Apparently I had not done the pre-requisite Friday night ride-alongs with some varsity crews for them to judge my social skills.
A couple of Friday nights and I was in.

The association I'm now in usually moves one up in year 3 if qualified. I have seen some thrown into action in year 2 if we have a heavy Friday that needs covered.

In our assoc you are not eligible to be drafted onto a crew until you become "certified". That means you've completed 2 years of work, you have passed both the rules & mechanics tests and attended a minimum number of classes.
1st year guys may get freshmen or JV games toward the end of the season depending on ability. 2nd year guys will probably get freshmen and JV games and may be emergency fill ins at varsity. Of course we'll see how well that "rule" stands up for the final Friday of regular season when we somehow have to cover 41 varsity games with 31 crews.

I was fortunate to have a mentor crew that I was asked to be an alternate on. I knew one of the crew members outside of football. I prepared the year prior, met with the crew a number of times, and actually had my first game on a Friday also. The mentoring helped immensely.

In Ohio, you can't work at the varsity level, until you have completed two years as a Class 2 official. A test has to be taken, and you have to have at least two favorable observations. If both the test, and the observations are passed, you can be considered for selection to a regular crew. Some guys get on a crew fairly quickly, for some guys, it takes a few years.

I was lucky and had my first varsity game last week! Being my first year doing football, I've been picking the minds of those varsity officials and I believe it's paid off. I realize I won't get a varsity game every week, but I at least got my foot in the door (hopefully).

My second game was a varsity game at a small school.. The crew included 2 others guys working their second game as well. I did 6 varsity games that year. I'm in my third year now and am on a more established crew that gets 9 "good" varsity games every year.

That's the general rule, but Class 2 officials may work varsity with the permission of both head coaches.

Illinois is hurting for officials. I did a varsity game my first year (although I had been an official before that and took some time off for a job). It took me two years to be a regular with a full schedule on a crew. Where I am, if you learn, work hard, and hustle, you'll be working varsity sooner rather than later.

We are so short of officials we would take the local box boy at the A&P if he had some stripes! Jim