Philosophies for assigning games vary. But generally speaking there are four considerations with regard to individual officials that go into determining which officials get which games.
Obviously an assignor has to take into account which officials are available for dates on which there are games scheduled. That’s a fairly cut and dried aspect of scheduling. However, the bottom line is that the official who is available more often is more likely to get the most games. An official who has a good deal of availability has value to a scheduler — even if that official might not be the best or most experienced. Simply being amply available is a great way for a new, inexperienced official to break in and “stick around” while gaining experience and expertise. Do your best to anticipate when most games take place, and try to clear your calendar as much as possible to facilitate potential assignments.
Rating
Officials who receive the highest performance ratings will typically receive the most, and best, assignments. That is true at all levels of officiating. Your assignor may or may not be the actual person doing the performance reviewing, but rest assured that he or she will have access to that information. Teams, conferences and schools want to have the best officials working their games, and — whether valid or not — the “best” officials are determined by performance ratings, regardless of who computes them. Strive to hone your officiating and communication skills every assignment, so as to achieve and maintain the highest possible rating.
Rotation
Most assignors try to rotate assignments so that the same official does not see the same schools, coaches or teams too often in one season. Eunetta Pickett, a longtime scheduler of high school and college volleyball officials in Southern California, tries to rotate officials often in an effort to “give everyone a chance to get the experience needed to get better,” while at the same time not over-exposing an official to the same schools or teams. Some assignors will strategically schedule an official around a coach or team with which the official has had trouble in the past. However, most schedulers will try to avoid having to do that, and some will simply not retain an official whom they cannot comfortably schedule in any environment. Do what you can to ensure that you are not an “environment-specific” official.
Seniority
After the previous considerations, and with all else being equal, most assignors will tend to give games to the more experienced officials. Dale Kelley, men’s basketball assignor for numerous Division I college conferences, including the Big 12 and Conference USA, says that those officials earn games because of a continued devotion and effort to their associations and sports and an expertise that can only be acquired through experience. That concept is important for newer officials to understand. It can be frustrating, but it’s a common practice. Time solves the problem, and someday you will be that veteran official who gets the call over your less-experienced counterparts.
