How to get people interested?

[representing]

Originally Posted by Bad Zebra

Our local youth league requires a parent of a player to officiate one low level youth game (usually 7&8 year olds) during the season. It's low pressure and non-competitive at that level so it's not real difficult. It is surprising how many officials we have developed out of the ranks of those parents.

I'm not cringing at this because it is a good idea in my opinion. In our one local rec league, it's just one certified official and one coach of a team not involved in the game (usually a coach of the game before or after the current game). The philosophy behind this is that coaches will see just how hard it is to officiate a basketball game, with the idea that they would remember that next time they think a referee (especially the coach referee) missed a call in their next game, with the hope they won't dissent as bad as some coaches do in the rec league. Maybe that would be a good idea to get parents involved as well.