If you think College Refs are bad, Iowa High School has them as well

[99topdawg]

Just to show that I do have a sense of humor when it comes to officiating, enjoy.

Wow. Looks like my summer. Had a kid get hit in the thigh by a fastball and the ump called it a dead ball and strike three. I realize that a pitch in the zone that hits someone is a strike, but how the hell did the kid get his thigh in the strike zone? The kid was 6'4" and doesn't crowd the plate. THEN the ump gave the kid a warning for shaking his head on the way back to the dugout. I asked the ump what the kid said, and he said he can't shake his head in protest. All I said was, "he's a 15 year old kid who cares how he performs, and he didn't show you up."

 

[HawkGold]

In the end though with a sophisticated system, more time would have been put on the clock.

 

[kicker22]

See below. You can't officiate a varsity game without passing the test and watching the online rules meeting (and a clinic once every three years). At some point the school would have to tell them that they didn't use certified officials which is a huge no-no and liability if someone gets hurt. This absolutely did not happen. He might have reffed 30 games, but they weren't Iowa HS contests.
The online rules meeting is just a PowerPoint type thing that becomes available statewide before the season. There's nothing unique about the SC area that would cause it to come out later there. My coworker I mentioned in the earlier posts is a Sioux City guy; he just forwarded me the IASHAA email letting basketball officials know the online rules meeting was available November 4th. Games couldn't start until November 16th. The test and online rules meetings do not come out at different times for different areas.

There were five basketball clinics in the state and all five were held in October.

10/16 was in Ankeny
10/23 was in CR and Winterset
10/30 was in SC (at East) and Washington

There are only three things needed to officiate a sport in Iowa...pass the test, watch the online rules meeting, and go to an IAHSAA clinic once every three years. No other outside clinics satisfy that. Nothing about what you said is correct. You're shitting us.

Fryowa, Are all tests open book? As you know, as coaches we had to spend countless hours in class (before a lot of programs started offering the online classes for certification) to get our coaching authorization, so I wasn't exactly thrilled to learn that in the past (not sure if still true or not) the testing for officials for varsity soccer was open book. It doesn't bother me as much anymore because I've grown up and basically accepted things are what they are, but as a younger coach I can guarantee that this didn't help the relationship between coaches and officials in terms of generating mutual respect, when you get a fresh new official and are on the receiving end of a questionable call.

 

[Fryowa]

Fryowa, Are all tests open book? As you know, as coaches we had to spend countless hours in class (before a lot of programs started offering the online classes for certification) to get our coaching authorization, so I wasn't exactly thrilled to learn that in the past (not sure if still true or not) the testing for officials for varsity soccer was open book. It doesn't bother me as much anymore because I've grown up and basically accepted things are what they are, but as a younger coach I can guarantee that this didn't help the relationship between coaches and officials in terms of generating mutual respect, when you get a fresh new official and are on the receiving end of a questionable call.

Yep, they are open book. 50 questions from a random bank.

I agree with you somewhat, but in a small defense for the open book tests the questions are pretty tough. There are probably only four or five questions that are slam dunk easy, the rest either require deep knowledge of the game or at the very least diving Into the rule book or case study manual pretty hard. They make you go looking for them and even then the answers require decision making skills.

You can take it 3 times before you get told come back next year, and every year there are quite a few people who fail it all three times. So at least you know it’s keeping the worst ones out.

I try to be as honest with myself as possible and I try to always be learning the rules better and better, so here’s what I do...

When the test comes out every year I 1) Take it cold turkey, 2) print another one and take it while going through the book (like if it would be say a homework assignment), and then I take the test online. Afterwards I look at the original to see which ones I missed and then I look them up in the book. A couple weeks after the test deadline the IAHSAA puts up explanations for any questions you miss. Some of them are close enough that I have issues with how they interpret them, but that’s probably a sign of a good test question if it makes you think.

So I do agree that closed book would be a more rigorous test, but it would definitely eliminate a whole bunch of officials and you would be canceling half of all Iowa baseball games. One thing to keep in mind, is that all of these guys are doing this as a side deal to their full time jobs, most people going to work at 6 or 7 AM and not getting home until 10:30, and they get paid very little for the amount of hours. Officials at the HS level do this because they love the game, there are easier ways of making money on the side than getting screamed at.

If an official uses the open book as a learning tool to get more knowledgeable I’m totally fine with it, but there are a few (very few, imo) who just look up answers and hope for the best.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

Just to show that I do have a sense of humor when it comes to officiating, enjoy.

Caught the corner