What Should You Do About Bad Officiating

[Snake~eyes]

Originally Posted by smurf

Seriously Folks,

The officiating where I live has gotten to the point where it's really, really bad. Is there anything a parent/coach can do about it or do we just have to learn to tolerate it?

First, join your local officials association, become a top referee in said association. Then get elected to head the recruiting and training comittee. Turn the assoiciation around so that its better than most D1 conferences. Then continue posting on here and wait for someoen to complain about the officiating in your area, then suggest them the above. Repeat.

[Brad]

Don't take the suggestions about joining the local officiating association as a joke - this is probably one of the best things you could do! First of all, it will give you insight into officiating - that is NOT just a black and white job. There is an old book titled The Art of Sports Officiating - note that they refer to it as an "art" rather than a "science" - because it is.

It sounds to me that you have a coaches/parents understanding of the game. "Reaches" as others have pointed out are not fouls. You certainly might think that certain things going on in your games are fouls but in actuality, even by the letter of the rule, they aren't. Training to become an official will assist you in a much better understanding of the game.

Further, you might decide that you really enjoy it. There are many top officials today that started because they were frustrated with the officiating they were observing in games!

Good luck!