Military Seen as Hotbed for Recruiting Sports Referees

[grunewar]

Another article on the subject:

Military Seen as Hotbed for Recruiting Sports Referees | Military.com

Some quotes from the article:

"I was looking for courage, confidence, guys who could be team players and guys who could be taught," Pereira said. "And every one of those characteristics applied to those who are serving us in the armed forces."

While the current population of officials is aging, fewer people in their 20s through 40s are joining up.

"There's really a danger in that," Pereira said. "I think this: Among younger people now, with social media out there, the image of officials is just so bad. People go on and on about how bad they are and all this stuff. It's very discouraging to a younger person who might want to get into officiating."

"New officials' enthusiasm is tempered by the abuse they take."

[teebob21]

Officials at all levels of all sports have to be willing to get sniped from any direction at any time. The military is probably a good source for people like that.