Number Of Officials ...

[ilyazhito]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I agree. There was no mass increase in new officials. It was exactly as you said...some of the people that skipped 2020 came back. 2021 was still way down for most areas in most sports.

You may be right on the end result, but I think it might be due to a different cause (or a combination of the causes).

I think you might lose people that stayed around all along as well as those that came back, but not because they liked being at home.

I think the bigger impact will be burnout. In 2021-22, we had a similar number of games as in the past but did them with about 15-20% fewer officials. As a result, everyone is working more games per season than they ever have. That is taking its toll on a lot of officials. Those that would have several more years left may hang it up because it just isn't fun any more with so many games.

If the issues (both understaffed and environmental stress) don't get fixed, the burnout effect is going to get a lot worse.

I especially felt burnout when doing rec games on the weekends in addition to high school. It was getting so bad that I had to cut out rec games for my own sanity and to help myself out with my graduate courses.