shortage of football officials

[cowbyfan1]

I see hope for my association. We were lucky enought to have like 25 or 30 new officials start last year. Some that I saw look really promising. Others will need some work.
We have a pretty high number of guys that are long or getting long in the tooth and getting these new guys to take and stick is really important.
I am going into my 4th season and have just gotten onto a crew and have been able to white hat my first varsity game last season. Had a blast and overall the crew I had kicked a$$. While the opportunity to "move up" in the association wil be there sooner than later, I will really miss a number of the older guys that either have or are going to be hanging them up in the next few years. One guy in perticular is hitting 50 years of calling this year and he has really helped me. This is supposedly his last year to call.
As far as recruiting goes we use person to person as well we have had some guys get onto the local radio sports talk show to recruit.