Mike Murray
I think I need to clarify a point. Officials are NOT volunteers, they get
paid. The, however, are not employees of OBRA. They are paid directly by
the race organizer.
Mike Murray
-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Johnson [mailto:RickCJohnson1@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 12:06 PM
To: mike.murray@obra.org
Cc: 'OBRA'
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] No CCX Judge Training and Rant
One can only expect so much from volunteers. OBRA is justifiably proud
of being the "low cost leader" in bicycle racing but the down side of
that is an over reliance on volunteers. Without compensation it's
difficult for people to stop working on what pays the bills in order to
work on something else for free. Ditto for giving up family time. Good
feelings and noble intentions only go so far, especially for positions
requiring higher levels of commitment.
Further, I'd caution folks to be wary for trying to peer pressure people
into taking on more than they're comfortable with. That sometimes
backfires and people with valuable skills are lost entirely (a recent
lesson from another volunteer powered organization of which I am a
associated).
In summary I think OBRA is really overdue for a discussion about how the
organization is funded and the direct impact this has on providing
officials.
Rick Johnson
Bend, Oregon
"We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang
separately."
-- Benjamin Franklin
Mike Murray wrote:
> I have to point out that there are only 3 OBRA employees; Kenji, Dan
Carlsen
> (the equipment manager)and Candi. Dan makes $1000/month and Candi makes
> $500/month. Bottom line, most work being done to keep OBRA going is done
by
> volunteers and even the paid people are not far from being volunteers
>
> Seth's experience with official scheduling represents a minority of the
> events in Oregon. The need for officials is actually probably greater
than
> what he estimates and the amount of work being put out by a small group of
> people is greater.
>
> What is particularly needed are people who are willing to get the skill
set
> to take on supervisory official roles; chief positions and larger races.
We
> have a fairly large group of people who have taken classes and who have
> either not actually officiated or who have covered minor official roles at
> smaller events When we have bigger events we nearly always need to
import
> someone from out of state, generally people with USCF experience but
little
> knowledge of OBRA processes.
>
> Mike Murray
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On
> Behalf Of Seth May
> Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 10:25 AM
> To: OBRA
> Subject: [OBRA Chat] No CCX Judge Training and Rant
>
> All,
> Due to lack of interest, we will not be holding a CCX judge training.
>
>
> That said, there is no lack of need. We have a small, and growingly
> exhausted core of OBRA officials. Many of our officials work more than
> 30 days of racing a year. We need a large pool of experienced officials
> to help carry the increasing load; people who are willing to step up and
> commit to becoming experienced officials.
>
> We have a 3-legged stool of racers, promoters, and officials (an old
> (bad) analogy). I honestly believe that the racer and promoter legs are
> fairly strong and robust. Likewise, our officials leg is somewhat
> wobbly. We have officials to fill the roles currently, but many are over
> worked. In some areas, there are just barely enough officials to fill
> the needed roles. If one official stops working, our only choice will be
> to bring an official in from out of town. That adds to the cost of the
> promoter and can kill smaller events that run on very small profit
> margins. An event that looses money is an event that won't be repeated.
> We need to strengthen the 3rd leg before it becomes a critical problem.
>
> In order to help facilitate this, Jim Fischer and I have held two
> officials trainings this year. Jim and I are -not- OBRA employees and
> have no commitment to doing this. We saw a need and stepped up. The
> number of hours that we have put into developing materials and
> organizing the events are quite large. The only payback we get from this
> is the hope that we are helping to improve racing in Oregon. This isn't
> meant to be a pity-party or a cry for recognition, I don't need either.
>
> What I do need is for folks to step out of their comfort zone and help
> out. The more hands we have helping, the easier it is for everyone. The
> larger the pool, the less burned out people will get. The less burned
> out folks are, the more fun it is for everyone. Personally, I have a son
> that will turn 2 in September and a daughter that will be born in
> October. Family time is becoming increasingly valuable to me. My goal in
> training officials has been to help take some of the load off of me so
> that I can spend more time with my family. So far, this has not panned
> out. I love officiating and being involved, I just need to do a little
> less of it.
>
> This next year, I hope that we will be able to find new ways to help
> train new officials, and help existing officials grow into experienced,
> reliable officials. Again, in order for this to happen, we need folks to
> step up and help out. You folks outside Portland (i.e. Eugene
> :-) ), that also means you.
>
>
> Thanks
> Seth
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