Seth May
I must agree with Candi that there is a greater need for people to step
forward to help in the Eugene area. We have a great crew of promoters
here and a small but growing group of officials. As someone who
officiates in Eugene almost every week from April to November, I can
sympathize with the situation.
In OBRA we don't have levels of officials, but I would like to use the
USACycling level system to describe things. C-level are beginner
officials. B-level are moderately experienced officials. A-level are
very experienced, the folks that chief ref most of our major events.
Here is the Eugene officiating situation as I see it.
A-level officials: We have only a very few A level people (2-3), most of
who are/have phased our much of their involvement. Only one of these
people has actively chief'd a race in the last year to my knowledge.
Every year this group grows smaller and less accessible for officiating
major events. These are people that became officials under the USAC and
gained much of their experience outside of Oregon or before OBRA existed.
B-level officials: I include myself in this category. We have a few
(3-4) people who are actively participating at this level. These folks
fill much of the local need. When one or two are unavailable for a race,
holes immediately appear. They may be able to fill the role of Chief
Judge, but not as Chief Ref for major events including road races and
stage races. OBRA currently has no plan for helping B-level officials
move into the role of A-level officials. At best, one can hope for some
mentorship while being placed in a high level chief ref role.
C-level officials: There are 3-4 people at this level. Two of them were
trained this winter, and a couple were trained last summer. They are new
to officiating and need field experience and mentoring to grow into the
role. These are also the folks most likely to leave the role of
officiating due to bad experiences with riders and racing.
As an organization (OBRA) we have placef very little effort into the
training and growing of officials. I'm very worried about the graying of
our highly impressive and dedicated top level officials. Without a
sustained and active effort to recruit and promote officials, we will
not be able to replace our top talent as they leave. This is an
OBRA-wide issue, not just something specific to Eugene.
That said, I understand that OBRA is an organization with highly limited
resources. We have relied heavily on individuals stepping up to fill
vacuums. Jim Fischer and Kenji did a fabulous job at putting on an
all-day C-level officials training this winter. I believe that more work
needs to be done to promote officials from C to B and a serious emphasis
on finding and preparing B level officials to fill A level roles.
OBRA has done a great job of helping to make races happen. Now we need
to build our officials so that it can continue. Since officials derive
their authority from the organization, I believe that only an investment
by the OBRA board and directors can lead this process forward.
Please don't think I'm asking for a greater commitment and time
investment from our already taxed leadership. I ask that leadership be
provided so that others, including myself, can step forward to help make
things happen.
Thanks
Seth May
Candi Murray wrote:
> As an organization we have tried to do things to incentize racing in the
> Eugene area. It has been successful because there are weekly races there and
> some established weekend events.
> We had officials training in order to have the races be self supported. We
> sent the yellow obra truck down with equipment to make race production
> easier.
> But now we have some upcoming events that we cannot get local officials to
> attend. Bringing already overworked officials from the Portland area is a
> huge mileage expense for race organizers. We have no one that will take
> responsibility for the OBRA truck and equipment in the area so now we will
> have to bring that back up to Portland.
> As an organization we need people to step forward so that we can continue
> these programs in the Eugene area. We need local Eugene people to step
> forward. OBRA is not a big organiation with a huge staff and a lot of money.
> It is pretty much just all of us riders trying to make our sport better.
>
> Candi
>
> _______________________________________________
> OBRA mailing list
> obra@list.obra.org
> http://list.obra.org/mailman/listinfo/obra
> Unsubscribe: obra-unsubscribe@list.obra.org
>
>