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Maybe your sucks wont get 5 or 6 local games a week........officiating has been awful the past 5 to 7 years.......a big part of it seems to be if you were buddy/buddy with the commissioner you always got close games and inportant games. 

Most referees in the AOA do it for a little extra money and for some enjoyment, but who would want to keep giving their time to the AOA when you get two games a week and it's at Twin Valley or Council and it takes you 2 hours to get there.........you barely make enough to pay for gas.........I understand these schools need Referees too, but when it's the same Referees going 2 to 3 times a week to the same place, because the commissioner thinks it's right to send his buddies and his "TOP" (sarcasm) officials to local and important games. No wonder they voted him out, not sure that it can ever be fixed after the beating it has taken over the years.

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The AOA has been in a decline in all sports every sense the principles were voted off the board, and lets be honest it wasnt great to start with even all the way back to the altizer days

 

what would benefit would be a second organization coming in and causing some competition, along with an accountability option for coaches or a.d.'s but thats not happeing

 

so we will continue to see the AOA become an even bigger dumpster fire

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7 hours ago, #BBN said:

Maybe your sucks wont get 5 or 6 local games a week........officiating has been awful the past 5 to 7 years.......a big part of it seems to be if you were buddy/buddy with the commissioner you always got close games and inportant games. 

Most referees in the AOA do it for a little extra money and for some enjoyment, but who would want to keep giving their time to the AOA when you get two games a week and it's at Twin Valley or Council and it takes you 2 hours to get there.........you barely make enough to pay for gas.........I understand these schools need Referees too, but when it's the same Referees going 2 to 3 times a week to the same place, because the commissioner thinks it's right to send his buddies and his "TOP" (sarcasm) officials to local and important games. No wonder they voted him out, not sure that it can ever be fixed after the beating it has taken over the years.

lol someone seems a little bitter 

 

if you think thats only been happening the last few years your scope of vision on the AOA needs serious depth adjustment 

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I'm not bitter about nothing just stating facts, as I have seen it first hand. I'm not a part of the AOA and never will be, but have alot of friends and family that have been. It has never been great but the last 5 to 7 years has been pathetic!

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7 hours ago, packfan17 said:

The AOA has been in a decline in all sports every sense the principles were voted off the board, and lets be honest it wasnt great to start with even all the way back to the altizer days

 

what would benefit would be a second organization coming in and causing some competition, along with an accountability option for coaches or a.d.'s but thats not happeing

 

so we will continue to see the AOA become an even bigger dumpster fire

Whether you deem that officiating has gotten worse or better (most would argue at the upper levels even it has gotten much worse in recent years) adjusting the structure of the AOA was the proper thing to do.  Its probably the best thing for the schools also in reality.  

 

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16 hours ago, 1inStripes said:

Whether you deem that officiating has gotten worse or better (most would argue at the upper levels even it has gotten much worse in recent years) adjusting the structure of the AOA was the proper thing to do.  Its probably the best thing for the schools also in reality.  

 

Could you please explain your thoughts on how it is better for the school?  I'm not disagreeing just curious.

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19 hours ago, 1inStripes said:

Whether you deem that officiating has gotten worse or better (most would argue at the upper levels even it has gotten much worse in recent years) adjusting the structure of the AOA was the proper thing to do.  Its probably the best thing for the schools also in reality.  

 

yes please explain, because from what i can tell its definitely been much worse for the schools 

 

they now have little to know say in how things are operated, the commissioners are trying to force school boards to sign asinine contracts that take less and less responsibility off of the officials, so lets make the guys and gals in charge of the game less responsible for it, that seems like fantastic logic

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On 4/10/2019 at 11:07 AM, #BBN said:

I'm not bitter about nothing just stating facts, as I have seen it first hand. I'm not a part of the AOA and never will be, but have alot of friends and family that have been. It has never been great but the last 5 to 7 years has been pathetic!

here here

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in my opinion, two of the worst things that ever happened to officiating in Southwest Virginia have been the move to three officials for varsity games and moving the girl season to the same as the boys. You do not get better officiating with three than you were with two and combined with having four games per night there are not enough officials to go around. So pretty much anybody that wants to be an official can get all the work they want no matter how bad they are.

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1 hour ago, zebra said:

in my opinion, two of the worst things that ever happened to officiating in Southwest Virginia have been the move to three officials for varsity games and moving the girl season to the same as the boys. You do not get better officiating with three than you were with two and combined with having four games per night there are not enough officials to go around. So pretty much anybody that wants to be an official can get all the work they want no matter how bad they are.

Lack of umpires and refs might be the biggest issue out there.  The last few years the number of refs seems to be dropping and it looks like they aren't getting many young talent out there.  I'm not sure what they make per game or event but it must not be very lucrative to invest the time to do that.  Many do it because they love the game.  It certainly is a tough job at times I would bet.  I still am thankful for those that take up the calling and do their very best to officiate the game properly.  Hats off to you guys who go out and do the job many complain about.

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I know several guys locally who left the AOA for the Roanoke Association. They work the Three Rivers, Blue Ridge and River Ridge most often. 

My brief experience with the AOA left me with the distinct impression, it’s disorganized chaos. 

My cousin attempted to leave the Roanoke Association a couple years ago to help out the AOA since he lives in Galax. His first 4 games were at Lebanon, Castlewood, Grundy and Lee. Hell of a haul from Galax for a guy with a full time job!

He went back to the Roanoke Association after 4 games. 

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I know a few who sign up for both associations up that way and we have some from Christiansburg who will work the AOA in one sport and Roanoke in another.   Its odd.  

packfan, I cant remember the full details but basically there could have been some tax laws/workplace issues the way it was setup if I remember correctly dealing with employment status.  No other association in the state was overseen by the principals of the schools they covered.   

Those changes that were made had no bearing on the quality of officiating directly.  There wasnt enough done then, nor now to try and bring people in who want do the job, much less do it well.  I would love to see a lot of changes but I never see the money coming together to make things happen like a grading system.  Football and Basketball have had a lot of instructional opportunities in recent years and more would be nice but they dont just fall into peoples laps either in this part of the world.  Due to some folks who have been able to make the jump from the AOA and other local associations to Power 5 jobs and Group of 5 gigs they have done a good job of giving back.  I hope it continues and grows for a long time.  I will say, when it comes to state appointments for games the AOA tends to draw a large share for the divisions we represent and receive rather good marks for the officials who work those games.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been coaching for over 20 years, heard all of the whining and complaining and done some myself. The simple truth of the matter is, most officials start with two strikes against them. The average fan, player and sometimes coach, wants to blame the officiating for everything. Doesn't really matter how proficient one is, any missed call or questionable call and even good calls are going to be met with harsh criticism. Sure, there are some that are better than others, but what they put up with night in and night out, isn't really worth it. 

No system and no amount of money would "fix the problem," so to speak. The simple truth is, people are always going to complain about officials, regardless of how good or bad of a job they do. Overall, I would have to say, that if I was handing out grades for officiating, I would rarely give below a B.

Considering travel time, the B.S. that they have to put up with and the fact that they do a thankless job, it is a job that most would not want to consider, for that reason, my criticism is minimal and more constructive than abusive. Maybe I am getting more mellow as I get older, maybe I am more wise, regardless, my overall, long term on court impression of the AOA is positive.

Not sure about how things are ran from an internal perspective, but I can't think of too many instances in which an official could properly be deemed "incompetent," or "unprofessional." 

What many consider incompetency is sometimes just inexperience.

The next time you hear someone complain about the quality of offciating, tell them to go sign up and fix the problem.

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From a perceptive of being exposed to three different Official governing bodies (Basketball) the AOA is definitely better than anything that KHSAA and TSSAA produces.

Do take this with a grain of salt as with most out of conference games, you usually end up with officials who are either training or somewhat new. Ill take the AOA any day of the week over Middle NET TSSAA. 

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