I know I can research this online, but I'd like to get personal responses.
Questions:
1) What did you get certified in?
2) How much time did it take you?
3) What did it cost you?
4) Do you use your certification? How often?
5) When you officiate at a meet, what is the pay (high school, college, other?)
6) Was the certification worth it to you (can be personally satisfying or monetarily)?
Thanks!
Any of you here certified officials? Help a brother out?
i'm in the bay area. no pay. we work for free. maybe a t-shirt. we get free hotel or filthy dorm rooms at cheap u of arkansas, pathetic u of oregon. it's relaxing most of the time we have so many who love the sport and are willing to give back. my friends in l.a. get $50 at most meets. they'll work it anyway for the kids if the meet can't pay. l.a. has 10 times the kids as the bay area, the officials are overloaded with races and meets, and the politics is ugly. my certs were done over 10 years so i had fun doing it. don't rush. just enjoy. you'll have to work your way up. maybe you can try being a shooter.
Since you didn't specify a specific country...- Canadian officials are volunteer.- Compensation usually entails some form of accommodation if from out of town (university res, cheap hotel), travel expenses, meals (again, varying quality) and maybe a t-shirt and a thank-you.- Certification goes through five levels (five being highest).- First three levels are provincial jurisdiction. Highest two are national jurisdiction.- Progression through each level entails meet experience, clinics and mentor evaluations.- There are many different disciplines one can be qualified in (see the list of officials in the IAAF rule book).- Registration with your provincial branch is mandatory (at least to be eligible to work major or championship meets).
Flagpole wrote:
Questions:
1) What did you get certified in?
2) How much time did it take you?
3) What did it cost you?
4) Do you use your certification? How often?
5) When you officiate at a meet, what is the pay (high school, college, other?)
6) Was the certification worth it to you (can be personally satisfying or monetarily)?
Thanks!
no pay 0 wrote:
i'm in the bay area. no pay. we work for free. maybe a t-shirt. we get free hotel or filthy dorm rooms at cheap u of arkansas, pathetic u of oregon. it's relaxing most of the time we have so many who love the sport and are willing to give back. my friends in l.a. get $50 at most meets. they'll work it anyway for the kids if the meet can't pay. l.a. has 10 times the kids as the bay area, the officials are overloaded with races and meets, and the politics is ugly. my certs were done over 10 years so i had fun doing it. don't rush. just enjoy. you'll have to work your way up. maybe you can try being a shooter.
Interesting. We definitely pay our officials. I'm not sure I'm going to do it though. I love track and field, but being a starter or another official isn't really a calling.
don't be shy, come on out and help us. we need volunteers. we need crew members to do a million jobs. we need writers, tv cameramen, photogs, etc. for the meet website and public relations functions. whatever you want to do i'm sure we can find a spot for you.
every assn votes on what to do with fees collected from meet directors. some elect to be reimbursed for gas. others elect to buy kits and shoes for kids. we're here for the kids you know. that's what it's all about. the kids are everything to us officials.
1) LDR & Cross Country, although I can do other events if needed. Have worked horiz. jumps and HJ
2) Two four hr. classes
3) Don't recall - about $40?
4) I work several HS meets and about five college meets/year, + District & State meets
5) Depends on the school and what I do. Some HS's don't pay, others pay $25-50/meet depending on your job. Colleges pay (except for U of Wash!).
6) Yes, I enjoy working at meets, and being certified means decisions get questioned less.
Harder to get certified for Hiigh School in Indiana than it is for USATF. For HS, it was four 1 hour classes, then a 100 question test that you needed 70+ on... and most of the questions were not slam dunks. For USATF, also a test, but it was "open book." Again, hard questions, but you could look up the answers !
As to $$'s in Indiana for HS, usually $ 50 for a dual Track meet, $ 40 for CC. ( you shoot the gun, that's the only official at dual meets). Everyone else is teachers/parents.
For USATF meets it has always been no pay. For NCAA/NAIA meets they use USATF officials and the pay varies from $ 25 to $ 75. All officials for all events, plus marshalls are certified. This applues to USATF meetd and NCAA/NAIA meets.
In short you do not do it for the money... you do it to "give back" to the sport you love.