By Brent Killackey
You look out upon those in attendance at your association’s meeting. Where your members used to fill every chair, you notice more and more open seats. Over time, the meeting space that barely met your needs starts to look too big.
But that’s not the most pressing concern. That list of games from the schools and sports leagues are getting harder to fill with officials. The schools and leagues are accommodating by moving games to different nights, stacking lower-level games with varsity games or canceling games altogether. But that’s not a good way to do business, and doesn’t address the underlying problem: How do we address the shortage of officials?
Increased recruitment efforts tend to be the main focus. And, sure, recruitment has to play a role. Officiating associations need to make sure there’s a steady pipeline of new officials to replace those who move away or retire. Lower barriers to entry, such as reduced association fees for the first couple years, and help acquiring gear and equipment can help lure folks in the door.
But recruitment alone can’t be the only way to address the shortage — it’s important to keep more of the ones that are recruited. It’s an unfortunate fact of officiating that the number of new recruits who return for a second year often falls dramatically, and those numbers continue to shrink into the third year and beyond. Some of that is unavoidable as people realize officiating isn’t what they expected and decide it’s not for them. It really isn’t for everybody.
But more needs to be done to retain those officials who are new. Once you get them through the door, there must be efforts to ensure those officials not only get launched successfully, but also that they’re given the tools to successfully navigate the waters in the months and years ahead.
Far too often, officials get launched into the officiating world and they’re largely on their own — a sink-or-swim environment.
What’s needed?
• Better training after the initial round. One and done won’t cut it. Officiating isn’t an avocation where you can learn everything you need to know in one round of training. And even if you try to give officials everything you think they’ll need to know, it’s not realistic that they’ll absorb everything in one phase of training. It takes time and continual effort to master the rules and skills needed to be successful on the field or court. Some associations recognize that by creating tiered levels of training. Some associations, for example, has a level one class and a level two class, bringing back the second-year students to refine their officiating. But there also needs to be opportunities for continuing education for officials at all levels at association meetings and camps and clinics.
• Better feedback. Especially when we’re first starting out, good feedback — other than inane comments from coaches, players and fans — can often be hard to get. Sure, you can self-evaluate. But when you’re new, you don’t know what you don’t know. It’s helpful to have a system in place where new officials will get solid feedback that will help them improve — which can make the overall experience of officiating better, which will logically lead to more officials sticking around longer. The challenge is getting experienced officials, who have their own busy schedule full of games, to give their time. Some states have found creative ways to make this work, such as varsity officials taking some time before their game to watch the JV officials and offer input.
• Better mentoring. Make sure your new officials have channels to get important feedback. And make sure someone is there to give new officials the needed encouragement when the road gets a little rough. That does require some time on the part of veteran officials, but in every association there are people willing to give back to fellow officials if they’re only asked.
• Better sportsmanship. This one is largely out of the hands of local associations. But at the state and league levels, efforts need to be made to ensure environments where sports officials aren’t being run out by bad behavior. Taking criticism comes with the territory of being a sports official, but at a certain point a line is crossed and it’s understandable that some people will have had enough. Local officials and associations can, through appropriate channels, encourage state associations and youth sports leagues to stay on top of encouraging good sportsmanship. After all, it’s in their best interest, too, to make sure there’s an adequate supply of officials.
Brent Killackey is Referee’s managing editor and a high school baseball umpire.
Loading ...
