2012 TASO Football State Meeting

[Headlinesman]

Let's just do a bit of informal research.

[Etref]

Let me preface my remarks with this: I went to the last meeting in McAllen, hell I even went to the one in El Paso.

But if we are to have a State Meeting ( which I endorse) it should be at least somewhat centrally located. Less and less of the lower division officials attend. Some of that may be due to the quality of the meetings    but they are the ones we need to get trained. The upper divisions generally go for some training but more so to see old friends, etc.


My $.02

[Coby]

I am not so sure that the demographics of Refstripes is indicative of the overall TASO population.  All of us care about getting better and officiating.  Therefore, it is a decent assumption that the number of refstripes members attending the state meeting would be a lot larger then the general population.

[allen]

I went to the State Meeting last time all of the way from Amarillo and will be doing so again this year.  They did a great job.

I doubt anyone travels further than us.

[Etref]

But you guys have to "Company Plane "(Southwest). Try doing that from Longview, Tyler, Abilene, etc.

No gripping at all, cuz I used to be there and know the travels you guys have to make.

[Headlinesman]

I am not so sure that the demographics of Refstripes is indicative of the overall TASO population.  All of us care about getting better and officiating.  Therefore, it is a decent assumption that the number of refstripes members attending the state meeting would be a lot larger then the general population.

I prefaced the survey by using the "term" informal. I realize that, due to sampling limitations and errors, this survey will be skewed, but curiosity still got the best of me! Thanks for participating!

[rsquare]

I remember a few years back - might had been when state mtg was in College Station it was brought up that they (powers to be @ time) were looking to hold meeting at various venues (hotels, conference center etc) and teleconferencing it at one time.
Never heard an more of that
Think it would be good to do that and perhaps every 3 or 5 years hold one big one at a majot locale.

[beaye1]

I went to the State Meeting last time all of the way from Amarillo and will be doing so again this year.  They did a great job.

I doubt anyone travels further than us.

And no one does VIP like you guys either!

[beaye1]

But you guys have to "Company Plane "(Southwest). Try doing that from Longview, Tyler, Abilene, etc.

No gripping at all, cuz I used to be there and know the travels you guys have to make.

Southwest?  Are you kidding?  They drive! 

[Welpe]

I'm hoping to go. Hopefully they give bonus points this year, I could use 'em! Especially since we only got the basic points for the Dallas meeting a couple of years ago but they gave out points like candy for San Antonio last year.

[Joe Stack]

Dallas hasn't had the meeting since 2006, and no bonus points were given out that year. Fort Worth had it a couple of years ago and bonus points were given out if you attended the on-field clinic that did a 7 on 7 tournament.

[Welpe]

Dallas hasn't had the meeting since 2006, and no bonus points were given out that year. Fort Worth had it a couple of years ago and bonus points were given out if you attended the on-field clinic that did a 7 on 7 tournament.

Excuse me, I said Dallas but I meant the joint one put on by DFW in Arlington in 2010. And no, there were no bonus points handed out unless it was on a secret TASO points form that I did not receive.

All I'm saying is some consistency in how the bonus points are handled would be nice. I mean for crying out loud, they gave out 30 bonus points in 2007 for attending the State Meeting in College Station.  I know that is Aggieland and all but it's crazy to me to have that much variation.

[Etref]

Excuse me, I said Dallas but I meant the joint one put on by DFW in Arlington in 2010. And no, there were no bonus points handed out unless it was on a secret TASO points form that I did not receive.

All I'm saying is some consistency in how the bonus points are handled would be nice. I mean for crying out loud, they gave out 30 bonus points in 2007 for attending the State Meeting in College Station.  I know that is Aggieland and all but it's crazy to me to have that much variation.

Normally bonus points are only given to try to boost attendance. Normally this is for locales such as McAllen or El Paso. I think they needed to boost the attendance for CS.

[Welpe]

But they also gave them for San Antonio last year. I would think that you wouldn't need much incentive to boost attendance for San Antonio. Maybe they can go back and retroactively give some for going to Arlington a couple years ago (yeah right).

[beaye1]

But they also gave them for San Antonio last year. I would think that you wouldn't need much incentive to boost attendance for San Antonio. Maybe they can go back and retroactively give some for going to Arlington a couple years ago (yeah right).

  Actually they didn't give out bonus points.  There were training points given for certain meetings attended.  We also thought that the local would boost participation and had several additions for families that were not utilized.  I don't know if that was due to communication but I do remember us making it known that we had shuttles to Sea World if any families wanted to go out there while the meetings were taking place.

[TxSkyBolt]

The whole idea of bonus points is nonsense.  The point system exists to show experience.  You're telling me that sitting through a few presentations at a state meeting is the same as working 15 varsity or 60 sub varsity games?  When they give 30 points for attending that's what TASO is saying.

Best regards,

Brad

[TexDoc]

Let's be honest here, how many officials actually bring their families to a state meeting?  I know I never have.  If I want to go on vacation with them, then I'm sure not going to be sitting in meetings.  That whole concept, let's find something for the families and wives to do while the guys are in meetings, never made much sense to me and never really seemed to be very successful.  I would venture to say that a large majority of guys go by themselves or other officials within their chapter or crews and leave the wife and kids at home.

[TexDoc]

The whole idea of bonus points is nonsense.  The point system exists to show experience.  You're telling me that sitting through a few presentations at a state meeting is the same as working 15 varsity or 60 sub varsity games?  When they give 30 points for attending that's what TASO is saying.

Best regards,

Brad

Exactly!

[Joe Stack]

there were no bonus points handed out

Yes, there were. It was only 5 and you had to attend the field clinic at Arlington Lamar HS. Plus, it worked different than before -- I agree totally about the consistency. But I got 5 bonus points, so I know this for a fact. Whether it was advertised very well, I don't know, as I didn't know Abilene was giving out bonus points until after the fact. So if you or others were not made aware, I'm not surprised.

[Joe Stack]

sitting through a few presentations at a state meeting is the same as working 15 varsity or 60 sub varsity games?

I agree with you here, but there are other ways to look at this: is there any difference between an official who starts the year with 175 points and one who starts with 183?

Has anyone had trouble, or know of someone who has, with getting sufficient points for Div. 2 but not the 40 varsity games? Just wondering how that plays out.

[Welpe]

  Actually they didn't give out bonus points.  There were training points given for certain meetings attended.

That's why they are listed on the points sheet under "State Meeting Bonus Points" right? 

It's semantics really, I think it's pretty well understood if you go to a State Meeting you're probably going to be attending most of those sessions anyways.

Giving out these points after the fact just seems pointless to me. It's basically dangling a carrot for next year's participation but who knows what will happen next year. They may not give any points for McAllen. They may give out 30. They may give out 18 but only to Division III, IV or V officials. That's what doesn't make sense to me.

[Welpe]

I agree with you here, but there are other ways to look at this: is there any difference between an official who starts the year with 175 points and one who starts with 183?

Yes, and this basically is where I am now. On paper I am a Division 4 but after education points I will be a Division III at the start of next season.  This could have made the difference in getting on a crew or not this year.

[Welpe]

Let's be honest here, how many officials actually bring their families to a state meeting?

If we weren't out of town last year during the state meeting we would have made a vacation out of it. Unfortunately we had one out of about what felt like 50 weddings that weekend.

I can say if I go to McAllen (more than likely at this point) there's almost no chance my wife is going to want to go.

[Etref]

I seem to remember one year they gave points for the Sunday meetings to induce folks to stay.

I agree the points system does have draw backs but it is better than the "Approved" and whatever the crap they had for a couple of years. No one made any sense out of that.

[TexDoc]

I agree the points system does have draw backs but it is better than the "Approved" and whatever the crap they had for a couple of years. No one made any sense out of that.

That for sure!  No one liked that system.