Varsity Crews |
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Link to a very interesting letter found on the TAPPS web site: http://www.tapps.net/OpenLettertoParents.PDF
Posted 10/12/04: Way
to go Kevin Smith. You know it gets so aggravating being a new guy to this
chapter in my second season, to hear all of the complaining. I hope that
my love for the game of football is NEVER
infected by the negativity of some of the other officials in this chapter.
In my opinion if you guys are here only to make extra pocket change move to the For any of you reading this, I know the first thing many of you will do is say that I’m trying to kiss up, you're badly mistaken. And if you think you have to kiss up to get a game or on a crew, then you need to take a closer look at yourself as an official, cause you evidently even doubt yourself. I am willing to do whatever I need to do to make sure that the new officials this year and twenty years from now will look forward to their next season. It is a shame for a new guy to come in this chapter and the first game he works he hears crap like don’t trust this guy, or this guy will guy will screw you around, and then turn around and have the nerve to say everyone else is so political. Not realizing they just committed a political act. So, my answer to them is if you want to politic, then run for a position on the board. Lets see how far negative politics will get you. I hope this will open everyone's eyes to how ridiculous the nagging sounds, and quit doing it. Lets all work together as a team, and carry this chapter forward instead of dragging it down. My
name is Mike Allison, and I’m with Kevin Smith, and the board, and the team I
belong to, The Beaumont Chapter of Football Officials. Let's be proud of
who we are, and find a cure to the cancer that seems to be eating away at us.
When I started reading your reply in the opinion links I immediately
wanted to send a response but debated with my self whether I could send a
clear message to those who complain about scheduling without offending those
who write the schedules. It seems I have failed. (Editor's
note: no, Mr. Smith did not offend me.) Please give me a chance to explain
what I meant to say.
First of all let me say I don't know all the circumstances, I can only
imagine. However, I have seen similar situations in the past. I
feel you have every right to vent your frustrations. What you said most
likely needed to be said. My comments were not directed toward your thoughts
but rather to the entire root of the problem - members constant
complaining about the way chapter business is conducted and how this continual
negativity will cause division that could lead to failure (IE:
Lufkin-Nacogdoches Chapter. Trust me, Bruce Selph would love to swallow
up this chapter).
In the leadership of a chapter of officials there is only one position more
difficult than that of Secretary, the position of Sub-Varsity Secretary.
There are so many more games, so many more availability issues, so many
more personalities to deal with, so on and so forth. Members
constantly complain, cancel schedules, change availabilities, want to go here,
or don't want to go here. What a nightmare!
In my opinion if a person has a complaint they should also offer a solution.
This is the way progress is made. Otherwise it is just a "me"
complaint and not for the betterment of "us" in the chapter.
This was the point I was trying to make in my comment to your letter in the
opinion links. If every member will commit to making this a better
chapter and stop all the complaining and backstabbing, we can once again have
a well respected chapter. I strongly believe the way to do this is
to stand up and say "I believe in the leadership of this chapter and they
have my support. I will work the schedule they assign without
question". I hope this thought rang clear in my original comment.
When I started calling football many years ago I found I was much happier when
I went to the meetings and went home afterwards, avoiding the "parking
lot politics". I found officiating to be less enjoyable when I
began to get wrapped up in the politics in an attempt to advance both
myself and my crew. Upon placing membership with the Beaumont Chapter
and looking back at my entire experience I decided to take the more
enjoyable route and avoid the political road. I wish I could get this
thought out to others.
Geoff, please understand I was not attacking your response to the issue,
rather the issue itself. If my comments seemed otherwise, please forgive
me. You and the entire leadership of this chapter, both now and in
the future, have my support and dedication. Whatever I can do to
better this chapter is my desire.
If you feel my original comment reflects the thoughts I have shared here, you
have my permission to post them where ever you see fit. It may be
interesting to find out if there is any one else out there offering a
"cure for cancer".
NOTE: The Editor (secretary, me) has personally thanked Mr. Smith for sharing his thoughts.
To whom it may concern: I started reading some feedback I found on the opinion link and stopped mid sentance. This kind of negative commentary and all such nonsense from where it originated is like a cancer that will kill the brotherhood of this chapter. It will spread and not stop until this chapter folds or someboby finds the cure. With as many people as we have in the chapter, there is no way everyone will be happy. There are always those who will complain...just as it is in life. Can’t make everybody happy, no matter what. Please try to remember why we all do what we do...for the love of the game and the kids. Without officials there can be no football games. If you are here for the money or personal glory maybe you should reconsider. I have recently become a member of this chapter and the amount of negativity that I have seen in a short time concerns me. Let’s try in the future to put negative thoughts aside and only relay positive thoughts and feedback to fellow officials. This will make for a more pleasant atmosphere and environment within which to work. As for the cure for scheduling complaints, here it is: My name is Kevin Smith, I will work any games, in any location, at any time my job will allow. Please use me when you can. Anybody else out there who is willing to step up and help cure cancer? Kevin Smith
Nobody, and I mean Nobody in this chapter, including Greg, puts as much time in to this football officiating business as I do, and I have to say it is getting damn discouraging. The last year or two it seems that the harder we work, the more dissatisfaction that we have to put up with. And 99% of it not from coaches, nor from fans, but from our own members! Most of it is a predictable as rain, and I won’t bore you guys or further irritate myself outlining all the details. However, we have now fully entered the season where scheduling and philosophy run smack dab head on into real or perceived personal needs and unbridled ambitions. Let me try and cut to the chase: If everybody out there is so damn disgruntled about scheduling and assignments, I would highly encourage those parties to take advantage of the 4th sentence in Article 1 of the By-Laws and initiate a recall of those who have taken on the challenge of making assignments. The election cycle doesn’t have to come to full term to gain much needed relief. This option has been available since 1998. That’s where I stand on this subject.
Now here are some further thoughts: The toughest aspect of scheduling is sub-varsity assignments. The hassle-factors that I suffer in filling auxiliary assignments and varsity fill-ins is cake compared to sub-varsity. There were folks who liked the traditional method of dividing the chapter up into 3 geographic areas and splitting the membership accordingly. The problem that became very apparent in 2000 and 2001 was that our membership’s work or residence areas did not synchronize very well with where the demand for our games was. Coordination between the three separate and not equal sub-varsity assignors was very difficult to achieve. Many games were going very partially filled. Many officials were being underutilized, while at the same time many officials were being overextended with assignments. Many officials never had to drive out of town to get sub-varsity work, while many others had to drive many many miles each week and never got the close-in games. Many officials wanted badly to work for school X in Area Z, which they never could do in that system, so they lobbied Assignor Z for assignments and left Assignor Y holding the bag. Some officials were thrust into games that they really didn't have any business doing, be it a JV game at a 4A school where they were going to get the royal treatment from the sidelines before they knew they were ready for that, or be it one-manning an 8th grade game in North Bum-F, Texas. (Neither situation is particularly enjoyable, but they arose quite frequently.) Many meetings, several per season, were wracked by complaint-fests from those officials who had to one- or two-man games or never got to work closer to town than Buna. It became obvious that something had to change. That is why I asked Greg, knowing his strong feelings on the need to support sub-varsity, to head up a master scheduling role, where one person could spread out the load of the drive, could spread out the clusters of officials from where they live and work to better cover where the schools and games are. To get those guys who could never work at school X or Z with the old system a chance to do so. And indeed, to get those guys who never had to work at school Y to make a trip there once in a while. Sure, there are some things wrong with this system, as there are with all systems. The greatest thing wrong with this system is the unfair burden that it placed on Greg. The time demand is awesome, probably unfathomable to many of you who haven't had a position like this. This has placed Greg in a bad position relative to his work, and relative to some members of the chapter. His strong stance on filling sub-varsity and the fairest way to do so has earned him bad names, and other names that are patently false. All for doing a service for which he is very ill compensated. Quite frankly I am wondering just when Dan Rather is going to come do a political piece on the situation. I apologize to Greg for putting him in this position. And another glaring weakness of this system is that it doesn't well utilize the other two sub-varsity assignors, presently only using them for help in telephoning up schedules in advance so that the assignors in the chapter MIGHT have a chance to study the rules or presentation at the weekly meetings instead of continuously hustling officials to fill assignments. But, given all that, I still believe that we are getting sub-varsity games filled better now than before. I feel that the coaches like this system better because they get more officials; they can make one call and know they are taken care of; they even get match-making services on putting games together when one team quits the schedule or open dates exist. I believe that a majority of the chapter that has genuine feelings about sub-varsity understands and accepts the new system, and indeed that some are perhaps even a little appreciative for the spread of the load that it has given them. I'm willing to keep going with it until I can not find anyone that will take on this role. And believe me, the door is not being banged down with folks clammoring to be a sub-varsity assignor.
There are a lot of hard choices to make in any pursuit, career, hobby, or advocation. You will have to ask yourself one now: what do I want to give or get from working football? Am I willing to do the small things that advance myself or my chapter? Can I find some accommodation to my responsibilities to the chapter and the assignment, or am I always going to have a problem or be unhappy? With respect to my reference above to the recall procedures, I am deadly serious. I would encourage those among you who think that they are being slighted to get a caucus up and take it before the membership. How important is this to you? It is this important to me: I have had enough and am not sure that the general elections at the end of the 2005 season will get here soon enough. Many years back when Jim Campbell was president for 4 years, I jumped on him for not running for a third term. He plainly let me know that enough was enough. After only 4.5 years as Secretary, I now fully understand where he was coming from. The membership spoke loud and clear at the end of 1999, electing an entirely new board of directors except for the Division V representative. This board, mainly the principal officers, and in particular Greg and myself, took that as a mandate and have worked very hard to change things for the better. But, perhaps it is time for others to pick up the yoke and carry positive change for our chapter forward. I swore that I would never become a dictatorial leader, my way or the highway. But now I can see how that strong position may be necessary for survival in such a job. But therein lies the very dilemma: it is NOT a job, it is an advocation. And when members of your own chapter, own family as it were, insist on turning this advocation into a job, then perhaps it is time to let others, with hopefully better ideas, lead the way. Geoff
You may not know that the sub-varsity schedule is made out in two week increments by Greg Peveto. It is NOT made out any further in advance as there are just too many changes, both officials’ availability and coaches cutting and rescheduling games, to make a long term schedule practical. A long-term schedule has proven to be a waste of time, a mere exercise, since there are so many revisions required. And if there is ONE THING that Greg and myself do not need, it is more busy-work for chapter business. We have more than our families and jobs really should allow right now. This two-week sub-varsity schedule thing is in the 3rd year of a three-year experiment. Those of us working it thinks that it is performing better than ever, given that our incidence of having very minimum one and two-man games seems to be the lowest ever. Also keeping the pressure on guys to work their minimum allotment of sub-varsity or more and the method Greg employs to use Tuesdays as bonus for those going on road games keeps the fairness as decent as I’ve ever seen it. (Fairness is, of course, very subjective. Football officials regarding the schedule are really no different at all than coaches during the game. We all just want our "fair advantage".) Finally, working the master schedule as a whole rather than 3 distinct geographical areas where the numbers of games do not necessarily match the numbers of officials is the key. However, this method is rather labor intensive on the master scheduler, which for now is Greg. I assure you, that if Greg were not taking on this challenge, I would have serious reservations about how well the sub-varsity season would be going, up to the point where I question if I myself would want to keep the secretary job. I suppose what I am trying to say is that both Greg and I consider ourselves to be a team, and neither of us could do it well nor perhaps even take on the job without the other’s support. Others will say that we want these jobs because it pads our varsity schedules. That may have held some truth in the past before varsity crews (and before we were the guys in charge), but my position is that my crew, of which I am not even referee, will get the games that the coaches want us to have. This is my 5th year as secretary, and there has been no statistical change in my crew’s pickings before or after. Greg’s new crew did fairly well in the pickings the two years he's been a crew chief, but his name recognition, given his family coaching history and ties, was already high and he surely would have done well in any case. If anything you could argue that we have plenty of negative contacts with the coaches (fielding complaints, delivering unwelcome news, etc.) that offset any perceived gains from these positions. In short, we both think we do this job because we believe we are advancing the chapter. That may sound old-fashioned, but it is how we feel. We have tried a master yearly sub-varsity schedule. George Bryant tried that a year or two with Jerry McNeil, a previous secretary who moved to San Antonio. It worked fantastic for about two to three weeks, then George and Jerry would spend their whole meeting, much more than Greg and George and Larry do now, trying to update it. It became clear that too extensive of a schedule just suffered too greatly from officials’ changing availability and game changes. Using that experience is how we arrived at a two week rolling schedule. For most of the time that I've been in the chapter (25 years), the meeting WAS the place to pick up game assignments. But that only worked as well as the participation level at the meetings could provide, which was less than we now experience. The goal of the two week schedule is to get the second week out games checked off by e-mail or phone prior to the meeting so that we only have to work the changes at the meetings. We would like to participate in the meetings as football officials to improve ourselves as football officials, not just use the meeting for administrative purposes. It is an elusive goal, to be sure. Now, to the web site schedule posting, which was the original question: Greg sends me an update file on MS Word every week. IF I AM LUCKY and have absolutely nothing else to do (rare), then I may be able to get that posted on the web before the weekend. But that is certainly not always the case. I try to have a life outside football, and also not get dismissed from my slightly more lucrative day job. These personal desires are mutually exclusive of what is required and, indeed, has come to be expected by chapter members. What is not well known is the hassle factor that comes with doing the web site. The real problem is the schedules. I do not now possess enough web programming skills to be able, if even possible, to set up a file so that when you log on and ask for a page off the web, you get what the file shows. There is a commercial program that makes that possible, written by an official in Lubbock. After this year, I may try that program to see how well it works. But, that experiment will cost the chapter several hundred dollars, and you will be required to use a username and password. That is no small hurdle for some folks. So, as it exists in 2004, to get schedules on the web requires recreating them in HTML (hyper-text markup language) from the original format, which is MS Word. Despite all these being Microsoft Office type programs, the formatting just does NOT copy and paste over and you have to go in and edit every darn line. You can’t imagine how much time this takes. I have been somewhat outspoken about how the web does not seem to me to be an effective use of my time, given that it takes so much time compared to the numbers of folks who appear to use it. I considered not posting schedules this year, but found out some coaches depend on it to check for sub-varsity officials. (Ah, the importance of sub-varsity comes up again!) This is not the direction Greg would like to see it go; in his ideal world everyone would check the schedule for the next week out and send an e-mail to confirm and never scratch. But, the numbers of folks confirming by e-mail is incredibly small, so thus the feedback that the schedule just doesn’t add much value for the effort. GWK This page has NOT been authorized by the Beaumont Chapter, its Board of Directors, or any chapter member or officer other than the author. If copyright material has been used inadvertently without permission, please inform me of such and it can be rectified. Send comments or complaints or additional material to the secretary. |