Help Wanted (article on recruiting new officials)
 

From the local paper.
Help wanted: High school refs and umps - StarTribune.com

Full disclosure: I know basically everyone interviewed for this piece.

Interesting, and not a shock whatsoever.

There are schools in WI here that pay as little as $50 (I think bumped to $52 this year) for a varsity football game and some others within an hour away that are at $70. Games in the Milwaukee city conference they have to pay the chain crew just to get people down there. I wouldn't do a game there for $250...and no, I'm not joking.

I have 24 years in and don't do this for the money, but $52 to work a varsity contest with all that is entailed these days is ridiculous, IMO.

"Sportsmanship issues”? I'm embarrassed for some of the kids the way their parents and coaches act, and it isn't trending the way you'd like to see it either.

SAD, and oh so true.

It sounds like a typical situation across the country.

Peace

I hear Ya. In Colorado we just got a token (i.e. insult) $1 per game raise. Now we get $57 for a varsity contest...obviously we are not in it for the $:o$

The issue to me is at the youth level, which is where new, aspiring officials are going to go get their start and where their first impressions are formed. This is where things go off the rails. I am not against volunteer coaches. I have coached myself.

Any organization who fails to take swift and decisive action against a coach who speaks or acts inappropriately is doing all of us a disservice. Its not the arguing/griping, its the not knowing when to stop arguing/griping.

The vast majority of scholastic coaches, most of whom here are paid staff, have much more to lose if they conduct themselves inappropriately. Sure there may be the occasional "brush fire" but all in all, I feel like I have, at least, a decent relationship with the coaches in our area.

HLin NC-I never take anything a coach does or say personally.If you have a coach that is acting in an unsporting manner you have tools at your disposal to get them to behave in an satisfactory manner and if not remove them from your field/court. I think newer officials are sometimes afraid to use those tools and when they see a coach acting in that manner they forget that.

I thought it was a very well written article that addressed some serious issues we're all going to have to address at some point. Mainly that the officiating population in many areas is not getting younger, especially the group ready for top assignments in any sport.

Perhaps, the most important skill we can develop, and one of the most difficult to (consistently) master is; keeping calm in the face of a storm. Unfortunately, it's a skill earned from learned experience.

A favorite quote (from Patrick Swazey in the movie "Roadhouse" instructing a group of Bouncers about dealing with emotional behavior, "Be nice until it's time not to be nice", which fits our environment pretty well.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/local-sports/3809466-declining-involvement-calling-games-has-officials-concerned

I know all the guys in this article. I am one of them. The reporter failed to include some of my points. I told him the problem with coaches is correctable if AD's would evaluate coaches the same way that teacher are evaluated. You would never accept the coaches' behavior in the classroom. If schools spend al this money on athletics because it is an extension of the classroom, teaching valuable lessons, etc., it is not working. Also, I said that school boards and administrators must realize the seriousness of the situation. We will literally not be able to cover all the games, especially sub-varsity.

In ND we get 77 for a varsity.

In SD, for varsity, they raised it to $100 to make it more attractive. I'd be interested to see if it works.

Our state is offering "Officiating 101" classes as an elective in high schools beginning this fall. I believe the students will be able to help call middle-school games at some point in the curriculum.

The purpose, of course, is to expose students to the art of officiating while they're young, and hope some of them will take it up after they graduate.

I am a softball umpire here in AZ.

We are desperately trying to recruit and retain officials for both HS and summer league play.

I have spoken to several HS and club based softball teams about the players taking up umpiring when they are done playing and the most common response I get is:

No, thank you. I have seen the crap you guys take from my parents and the fans while I have been playing for the last several years. I don't need that.

That is the truth. Combine it with employers that don't want to be flexible, it is a wonder we get anyone to want to work games.