there is a body of trained and accredited score table officials it they are called STOP (score table offical personnel)

they undertake exams and training and give hours and hours of their time to clubs and to BASA

they are not paid by their clubs to do ABA games and if they chair the games as a neutral person the most they get for both men and womens games is the princely sum of $33.00 and that is if they have the top accrediation

many give unlimited hours to junior championships to score taking holidays from paid employment.

most if not all of these people started by scoring for their childrens teams. there is a level of competency that is expected at state, NBL and international level not all whilst very compentent achieve that level.

Logisically trying to find people would be prepared to give up friday nights or saturday morning in the numbers you require for not alot of money etc, the rostering etc would be prohibitive and a nightmare to undertake.

whilst I applaud your idea i personally don't think it is feasible many clubs can't even get enough people to undertake scoring for div ii div i or aba

What about just if you are scoring you shouldn't have to paid. Friday Night or Saturday Morning you paid to watch you child then if it is your turn to score you paid to be abused by some coaches etc.Start the Clock - Stop the Clock. or are you sure that is the right Foul count. No wonder people wont scored or say they can't. How about you sign a sheet saying you are scoring like they do for the Senior Divs 2 -5

Penn 4
scorers do get in for free at div 2 to div 5 level problem is a junior level you can have the unscrupulous people who can sign in to score for a team and then disappear into the crowd and when the legit scorer comes along they have to pay. or you get mum of player a) thinking she is to score etc.

re the first concept of supplying scorers you would need minimum of two people per score table. minimum of a scorer and a timekeeper. you need them to be trained to be able to know the rules that apply and by laws that apply to the competion they are involved in.

in theory you would need two people for each court for say 5 games a night / and or sat morning: multiply that across marion, starplex, wayville, dome, pasadena, hillcrest, port adelaide and morphett vale you have 19 courts if i have counted right. if you had the same two people do each game on one court you would at an absolute minimum require 38 people for a friday night then 38 for saturday morning. that is not allowing those poor two people to have a chance to eat grab a drink or go to the toilet. Because as you have finished with the scoresheets from one game the next game is due to begin.

if you alternated teams one game on one game off you would still be looking at 76 people all trained all prepared to give up time. as refs at that level aren't paid much more than $12 a game you can't see scorers getting near that much if you are saying put the prices up and pay people to score. so pay someone $5 a game it still isn't an attractive prospect week in week out.

parents can do scoretables themselves. we have for years survived with parents scoring. what is needed is team work. forget the them against us issue, don't sit and scorer and chat to your best friend and miss who scored. the time keeper can call out the person who scored and if communication between scorer and timekeeper is high problems can often be circumvented.

ie if the scorer is saying the score as they write it down, the person putting the score on the scoreboard can check they have the right score. if they disagree then the problem can be rectified then because the problem must be in the last foul, the last two points or where ever the discrepancy has occured.

IMO having 3 or 4 people on the score table when there is only the need for two, especially if they are only there for support is distracting.

Most clubs have highly qualified scoretable officials members of STOP who can help their clubs train parents. There are also very capable parents who can help their own club people learn to score.

IMO the retention and pay rises for referees at junior level is a much more pressing concern.

Penn4

referee pay rates have been a topic of discussion on here plenty of times

they need more money, they need more training, they need more empathy

all which has been discussed on here
before

but as you said regarding the scoring if you don't pose the question you don't get an answer

also Penn4

BASA run Level One score table courses which are open to everyone.

the clubs are informed and parents can attend. Level one gives the basics of timing - scoresheet - timeouts etc.

It is very informative and helpful.

Clubs themselves if they have the numbers can organise to have BASA/STOP run a Level one Course for their own people.

'And would that not create a qualified pool of trained officals for all State, and National and International bodies to access and train for the higher level of professional games.'

already happening

STOP people do the chairing for all ABA games
they also provide the group of people responsible for WNBL & NBL score tables.

score table people from south australia have already been involved at international tournaments OZ94 world championships of women, OZ97 world championships of men 22 and under, gold cup 98 wheelchair world champsionships, olympic and paralympic games and the goodwill games in 2001. they have also been asked to nominate people for the commonwealth games.

more than 80% of these people started scoring for their kids. and sadly they don't get paid what they are worth majority of it is still volunteer level or money for petrol. even at WNBL/NBL level the dancing girls are given more money