Assignment etc.

The season is winding down. I put in for games and was assigned to one U-12 and one U-13 boys game. It's been really hot lately in my area (95°+). I realize this is probably common sense, but do you make sure your teams are drinking enough water when playing in extreme heat? Do you make sure your colleagues are drinking enough water? Do you watch out for players that don't look right and might be succumbing to heat stroke and the like?
One minor but interesting controversy we had this weekend involved the so-called "offside trap." One of our U-13 boys was playing a team that has significantly more skill. Apparently, there coach decided they would trap this very fast, aggressive team offside. This is always an interesting tactic in my opinion, because it seems very few coaches recognize that doing this tactic poorly results in a unfortunate situation for their goalkeeper. This coach was quick to imply I wasn't staying with that 2nd to last defender and I don't understand Law 11. He also pointed out he is a referee. Since I was working as an assistant, I kept my mouth shut and the center handled him nicely.
How does your assignor work? In speaking with my colleagues this weekend, I realized there is some controversy going on in my area. Our assignor does not specify working the middle for any games. We get a list of games and a list of people and we work it out amongst ourselves. I'm a believer in playing some sort of "game of chance" to decide, among the interested parties, who is getting the middle for a certain game. Perhaps we flip a coin, or draw from pieces of paper with numbers on them. However, there are a few people in our area who take it upon themselves to decide they are doing the middle for the game they want. The less assertive among us end up not getting middles. Please, send me mail and tell me how your assignor works. If I get enough responses, I publish some statistics in a future entry.
In regard to referee pay, our league specifies the middle gets twice the amount of an assistant. Among the crews I work with, I would say half end up dividing the fees evenly and half get paid whatever the league specifies. Again, the crew will decide before the first game.