[Rick Thornbro]

Wow, I glad I'm not a ref this year.

I have ref in the past and know it takes a great deal of time away from my paying job and family to work at an event. I wasn't paid and did not expect to be.

We must remimber that for the most of the people working these events, are unpaid and do so to the best of their abitilty. This year, in order to increase the quality of the refs, FIRST has tried to balance training with the refs schedule. I believe that overall, the refs have improved over previous years. Are they perfect? No.

To increase the amount of time a ref must be trained for an event is a great idea however, can all the people take the time off work and away from family to do it? If not, do we not use that person? It's hard enough to get people to give up their time without the criticism (constructive and not).