One of the topics that I felt that no other referee blog covers in too much depth is that of referee management and assignment. There seems to be many, many ways one can interact with their assignors. Some work via email (simple for the ref, but it must be difficult for the assignors). Then there are those that are not your typical assignors that just call you to see if you can work with them for a certain specific date. I cannot imagine that system working well over a full season. There are those that basically give you a form to fill out at the beginning of the season and then will fill in the matches based on your declared availability. And finally, there are those that use web-based tools like the site TheArbiter.net. They are more or less a web-based form filling system that allows the assignor to work around the pre-entered schedules for each referee.
This all sounds fine and dandy, but I have some problems with the system. It is 2/22 and I get an email from one of the assignors that states he is going to try to start assigning games and such next week for one of the leagues. It is hard to work around so many options and it stinks that I have to 'declare' my availability to one league before another. I have my preferences that of course do not always match the league's need for scheduling. But the league that is asking for availability now is probably the one I would least like to work for as they play the farthest away from home and also pay some of the lowest rates in the area. Still, I would rather ref for them rather than be idle, but you see the dilema.
Anyway, for now, I am going into the system and am going to block out the dates so that I can open it up to them for when I am idle (and can work) but have no one else to turn to. The season has not yet started and it is already interesting.
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