SV Games

[TexDoc]

How many of you are starting to see sub varsity games go without officials.  We knew that problem was closely approaching, but looks like we are seeing a few games go uncovered now in central Texas.  If we are having problems, I imagine the smaller chapters are seeing it even worse.

[JasonTX]

Our first is today.  We have a school that wanted to add a 3rd game starting at 4:00 PM.  The earliest the crew could work is 5:00 PM.  So the coaches will officiate the early game.

[bctgp]

A big challenge in the DFW area is new games being added very close to game date, sometimes same day, and trying to get officials in time for the game.

[TxSkyBolt]

San Antonio Doc


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[Magician]

Our sub-varsity games have moved largely to Saturday mornings so they are competing with youth leagues and small college football for officials. The teams who played Friday night will play Saturday morning. One game is at each school site. I know of one school that had to cancel at least 2 sub-varsity games last year due to a lack of officials. The conference got together and decided to play double headers rather than splitting and paying the officials $125 per day. It has worked well for them because the conference needs half the officials they needed last year. I expect we'll see more of that going forward.

[TexDoc]

Our sub-varsity games have moved largely to Saturday mornings so they are competing with youth leagues and small college football for officials. The teams who played Friday night will play Saturday morning. One game is at each school site. I know of one school that had to cancel at least 2 sub-varsity games last year due to a lack of officials. The conference got together and decided to play double headers rather than splitting and paying the officials $125 per day. It has worked well for them because the conference needs half the officials they needed last year. I expect we'll see more of that going forward.

I know a lot of guys that don't want to work on Saturday morning.  If they can find guys, great. 

[TexDoc]

San Antonio Doc


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Yep, and Austin picked up some of the school SA can't cover, and we can't either.  Well, we're trying but it's hard to find anyone will to travel so far for a single 6 man jh game.  It will be interesting to see what they decide to do.  Maybe they can find some local yokels that can fit into some stripes.

[TxBJ]

It seems odd that chapters that have enough officials to work 7-man crews have a difficulty covering sub-varsity schedules.

[TexDoc]

It seems odd that chapters that have enough officials to work 7-man crews have a difficulty covering sub-varsity schedules.

And some people don't really want to work.  I know a lot of chapter that require members to work SV in order to work varsity or be eligible for playoffs.  Personally, I'd not miss SV games if I never had to work another one, but I also know it's part of the gig.

[mccormicw]

Maybe we should invert the pay scales where the crappiest sub-varsity games get the most and the big-time Varsity games get paid the least

[bctgp]

The biggest challenge we have is late additions or changes from schools that make it difficult to get officials in time.

[js in sc]

Maybe we should invert the pay scales where the crappiest sub-varsity games get the most and the big-time Varsity games get paid the least

Maybe I am an idealist and this comment is inappropriate, but when did it become the money we work for?  What happened to love of the game, the desire to help young athletes develop, and the training young officials need?  To be honest, aside from the friendships and fellowship of Friday nights, SV games are the most fun.  Watching young athletes develop into Friday night heros is quite rewarding and knowing that you contributed to that is reward enough. 

[JasonTX]

Maybe I am an idealist and this comment is inappropriate, but when did it become the money we work for?  What happened to love of the game, the desire to help young athletes develop, and the training young officials need?  To be honest, aside from the friendships and fellowship of Friday nights, SV games are the most fun.  Watching young athletes develop into Friday night heros is quite rewarding and knowing that you contributed to that is reward enough.

I don't disagree at all with what you stated.  But, try recruiting a 19 year old.  For them, it's absolutely about money.  Most officials don't officiate for the money, but they won't do it for free either. 

[Rmars86]

I don't disagree at all with what you stated.  But, try recruiting a 19 year old.  For them, it's absolutely about money.  Most officials don't officiate for the money, but they won't do it for free either.

Agreed.  In no way did I ever get into this for the money, I'd probably do it for free,.... but if we're trying to recruit more members to keep up with the growing school count (and the growing age of our chapter members), we're probably going to need to pay more to get more people to sign up.

I can't tell you how many people I've tried to recruit to become officials, and they like the idea of it, but they just can't justify the time commitment, getting off of work early, giving up Fridays/weekends in the fall, etc. for only $1,000 in spending money per year.

My chapter is seeing issues getting the clocks and chains positions filled more than anything else.

[JasonTX]

My chapter is seeing issues getting the clocks and chains positions filled more than anything else.

Luckily for us we don't fill those.  Each school provides their own clock and chains.

[mccormicw]

My comment about inverting the pay scales was based on a few things.  1) I have heard that there are officials that will not work Saturday subvarsity because they receive significantly more pay for working youth football.   2) I dont mind working subvarsity in the afternoons but the last thing I want to thing about at my Friday night game is waking up early on Saturday (this is part that sucks the most for me) to go out and face less than qualified coaches yelling at me (not always the case of course), parents with zero qualifications yelling at me  (same caveat), and working with officials who want to throw 30 flags and unwilling to listen to more qualified officials    (same caveat).  It is even worse when you drove an hour or so to the game site on Friday night and the game goes into extra periods or your fellow officials want to stop somewhere and eat  but you have go home so you can get some sleep  . 

However, someone throws me 200 bones  to wake up early on Saturday to work 1 or 2 middle school games near my house and I might be in.  For me (not everyone feels the same way of course), I would rather work a game in the afternoon on a Saturday than in the morning  .  Those are the reasons I work many subvarsity games during the week and would only want to work on Saturday for some significant cash.  The significant cash would be the ONLY reason EVER that my wife would want me leaving the house Saturday morning to go work football. 

Translation ->  I would work for free many times but not on Saturday.

[psv]

Our outlying areas struggle to fill games, but I don't know of any that go completely official-less.

We have had some late additions (especially early games) and/or coaches forgetting to get us their SV schedule or forgetting a game or two that don't get covered though (I am sure they don't).

By and large though, while we probably have open slots, I am sure it is few and far between where a game itself doesn't get covered.