PIAA & Insurance
 

This is a FYI alert for Pennsylvania/PIAA officials.

If you are a PIAA umpire or referee, you may have received an email from PIAA that it has discontinued insurance (without, of course, a compensatory reduction in dues). With the fall sports season just several weeks, we've just begun hearing that schools (some schools, at least) will not hire officials without insurance, and my soccer chapter is scrambling to make sense of this and how to deal with it. PIAA has provided a link to NFHS insurance (through a group called National Federation of Officials Association), but that seems like PIAA and NFHS collusion, to keep our dollars "in-house."

Anyway, winter and spring sports chapters have more time to figure this out, but I suggest starting now.

Wouldn't being a member of NASO take care of an official's insurance needs, particularly if he/she calls in different sanctions? I'm guessing that this so-called National Federation of Officials Association insurance plan only covers NFHS officials. But if you also call ball with USSSA, Babe Ruth, American Legion, USA Baseball, etc., etc., why not have an all-encompassing insurance coverage?

Yes, I do realize PIAA is NFHS only, and if that's the only organization where you officiate, then perhaps NFOA is adequate. But you may want to check on what being a member of NASO provides.

Manny, the PIAA/NFHS coverage extends to any sport recognized by PIAA, even non-scholastic games: "Coverage for officials extends, not only to high school activities but also to college, independent youth, adult and recreational leagues. However, coverage is still limited only to sports recognized by the state high school association."

NASO: $116 ($199/2 years); NFOA: $35 ($25 if through a group with 50+ participants). NASO's liability coverage is vastly better than NFOA's. NFOA may have a medical component, but it's not clear to me if this is so.