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Is $ the Answer to the Shortage of Officials?


Bobref

Question

This guy thinks so. I think it’s “an” answer, but not “the” answer.

https://www.carolinacoastonline.com/news_times/sports/article_99b0d308-9173-11ec-b038-77c3f1609b35.html

Only way to rectify shortage of officials is pay up

ZACK NALLY "Keep Pounding" column

Feb 19, 2022 

There was already an officials shortage before the coronavirus pandemic, but the last two years haven’t appeared to help the cause.

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) reported this week that a survey of state high school associations revealed that approximately 50,000 officials are no longer in the workforce since the 2018-2019 season, the last full season unaffected by the pandemic.

An editorial released by NFHS CEO Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff via HighSchoolOT.com detailed a situation wherein officials nearing retirement age were pushed into it by the challenges of the pandemic.

To address the issue, the NFHS is planning a first-ever National Officials Consortium Summit in April to address the vacancies and how new officials can be recruited. The summit will also be attended by the NCAA and more than 30 national-level sports organizations including governing bodies for Olympic sports.

The issue persists nationally, but we may see a significant impact locally as spring sports prepares for the new season in March.

At the conference tournament basketball games at West Carteret on Thursday, baseball coach Brooks Jernigan was on a Zoom call discussing options this spring concerning the umpire shortage. The potential challenges are so great that doubleheaders with four teams at one site was floated as a possible solution.

Just before the pandemic started, the N.C. High School Athletic Association reported an 11-percent drop in officials. A 17,000-person survey held by the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) in 2017 reported that there were “more officials over the age of 60 than under 30.”

Low pay, long training with little compensation and poor attitudes toward officials from coaches, players and fans are all primary reasons for the growing shortage. There is also the growth of fledgling sports, such as girls lacrosse and girls wrestling. Like the officials shortage of the 1980s due to a boom in soccer growth, the addition of more matches and games only compounds the already difficult situation.

The NFHS has created the #BecomeAnOfficial Program, but the recruitment efforts are falling short. The organization, among others, is calling for improved behavior toward officials to help encourage would be applicants.

In this reporter’s opinion, though, the shortage comes down to the almighty dollar. Officials are responsible for their own equipment, their gas and time spent in travel, and pay only ranges from $50 for a volleyball game to $100 for a basketball doubleheader.

Like many employers are learning right now, raising the pay is the only sure way to attract new talent. In the same way, winning makes problems go away in sports, money makes all the other challenges of being an official go away.

If you want more officials, pay up. That’s the only real solution and one that’s needed right now to avoid a debilitating problem that is only going to grow worse.

 

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4 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

I have no interest in funding trips to Florida. Just at a point in my life where everyone else’s kids aren’t a priority for me. 

But you mentioned to me about funding an anniversary trip/s.  That is what gave me the idea.

Everybody saves and spends differently.

5 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

I have no interest in funding trips to Florida. Just at a point in my life where everyone else’s kids aren’t a priority for me. 

Which is completely up to you.

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On 4/20/2022 at 12:39 PM, Impartial_Observer said:

I have no interest in funding trips to Florida. Just at a point in my life where everyone else’s kids aren’t a priority for me. 

Sometimes my oldest son tests whether my own are a priority for me.  Something about 16 year old boys that makes you think tigers eating their young might be on to something.

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23 hours ago, foxbat said:

Sometimes my oldest son tests whether my own are a priority for me.  Something about 16 year old boys that makes you think tigers eating their young might be on to something.

I often opined during my child rearing years, now having children of my own makes me understand why some species eat their young. 

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Saw this on Facebook. Notices like this are going to be more and more commonplace. And yet, when I turn on the TV, all I see is replays of Kyle Schwarber throwing an absolute hissy fit after he got called out on a pitch that, according to the TV strike zone, was an inch or two outside. And we wonder why it is proving so difficult to eradicate abusive behavior toward officials.

“Players and Coaches,

We are at a crossroads with player behavior.  Due to poor player behavior; we are losing umpires, losing field permits, and our game is in jeopardy. That MUST change. We must change to protect the game we all love and ensure a future where we are still able to take the field. We can no longer watch while players behave poorly each weekend. Players have become comfortable with mistreating directors, umpires, opponents, fans, and honestly anyone in the park. This ends now. We have given teams every chance possible to behave and have not seen the change we need. This has forced us to implement a much more strict policy to protect our game. This past weekend (Pikes Peak NIT) alone we had threats to “Take it to the parking lot”, players in an umpire's face, eliminated players antagonizing teams, slides with the intent to hurt opposing players, and in general, poor sportsmanship from teams all around. This was a relatively mild event. None of these things can be tolerated and are unacceptable moving forward. If you think any of these things belong in the game, please save us and yourself time and find another place to play. There are plenty of organizations that run events that will not be as strict and they will be a much better fit for you. We ask that you withdraw from our events now. Our park is not a place for you to come drink too much, smoke weed, and take out your frustrations from life on everyone around. We understand being competitive and having the desire to win, but many take it far beyond this and make it personal. Umpires are going to make mistakes and people need to learn to have a respectful conversation, instead of throwing a fit. We want to foster the spirit of competition and being the best players you can be. We will not foster treating people like garbage and trying to cause fights. Moving forward, teams that come to the park and cause issues will be withdrawn from future events. We will start suspending the whole team and having each individual player go through the appeal process if they feel they had no involvement. If you don't like that, then I suggest  you start checking your teammates and holding them accountable.  I am not going to waste our time and have a conversation any longer. I will remove the team from our events and we will move forward. We are ok if you disagree with this. You do not have to spend money with our organization. We are looking for teams that are interested in the most competitive and organized events possible. Please be honest with yourself and decide if our standards are a good fit for you, or if another organization has events that offer what you are looking for. We hope this will help ensure a bright future for our organization and give us the opportunity to focus on providing the best events possible without spending so much time babysitting adults and worrying about conduct. We look forward to our future events and moving forward with the players that are interested in developing their abilities.

Sincerely, 

Colorado USSSA”

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2 hours ago, Bobref said:

Saw this on Facebook. Notices like this are going to be more and more commonplace. And yet, when I turn on the TV, all I see is replays of Kyle Schwarber throwing an absolute hissy fit after he got called out on a pitch that, according to the TV strike zone, was an inch or two outside. And we wonder why it is proving so difficult to eradicate abusive behavior toward officials.

“Players and Coaches,

We are at a crossroads with player behavior.  Due to poor player behavior; we are losing umpires, losing field permits, and our game is in jeopardy. That MUST change. We must change to protect the game we all love and ensure a future where we are still able to take the field. We can no longer watch while players behave poorly each weekend. Players have become comfortable with mistreating directors, umpires, opponents, fans, and honestly anyone in the park. This ends now. We have given teams every chance possible to behave and have not seen the change we need. This has forced us to implement a much more strict policy to protect our game. This past weekend (Pikes Peak NIT) alone we had threats to “Take it to the parking lot”, players in an umpire's face, eliminated players antagonizing teams, slides with the intent to hurt opposing players, and in general, poor sportsmanship from teams all around. This was a relatively mild event. None of these things can be tolerated and are unacceptable moving forward. If you think any of these things belong in the game, please save us and yourself time and find another place to play. There are plenty of organizations that run events that will not be as strict and they will be a much better fit for you. We ask that you withdraw from our events now. Our park is not a place for you to come drink too much, smoke weed, and take out your frustrations from life on everyone around. We understand being competitive and having the desire to win, but many take it far beyond this and make it personal. Umpires are going to make mistakes and people need to learn to have a respectful conversation, instead of throwing a fit. We want to foster the spirit of competition and being the best players you can be. We will not foster treating people like garbage and trying to cause fights. Moving forward, teams that come to the park and cause issues will be withdrawn from future events. We will start suspending the whole team and having each individual player go through the appeal process if they feel they had no involvement. If you don't like that, then I suggest  you start checking your teammates and holding them accountable.  I am not going to waste our time and have a conversation any longer. I will remove the team from our events and we will move forward. We are ok if you disagree with this. You do not have to spend money with our organization. We are looking for teams that are interested in the most competitive and organized events possible. Please be honest with yourself and decide if our standards are a good fit for you, or if another organization has events that offer what you are looking for. We hope this will help ensure a bright future for our organization and give us the opportunity to focus on providing the best events possible without spending so much time babysitting adults and worrying about conduct. We look forward to our future events and moving forward with the players that are interested in developing their abilities.

Sincerely, 

Colorado USSSA”

One thing I've started seeing, and it seems to be with a preponderance of teams from outside of Indiana at travel games, is parents aggressively challenging almost every call that the umps make and starting early in pool play to set patterns of intimidation.  Saw over the weekend where parents were sitting on the fenceline between home and the dugout ... and not in the bleachers ... and yelling about everything including where the umpire was standing in the field.  The plate umpire finally had enough, ejected one of the people and called for a supervisor.  From what I could hear of the discussion, it was apparent that this program had been doing the same thing the day before in pool play and it was just the one obnoxious parent ... it was programmatic.  Sad thing is it was just an 11U game. 

Luckily I've only seen the item above, kids disrespecting the umps, a couple of times over the year, but I have noticed more and more kids talking back to their coaches or acting out during games and doing stuff like turning away from the coach when he's talking to them, talking back, throwing helmets, not giving the coach the ball when he comes to the mound to change pitchers, etc.  I can't believe parents let their kids do that; especially in a game situation.  My older boy was with me in the stands at the younger one's game one time when a kid on the opposing team started pulling some stuff like and yelling at his coach about being pulled from a game.  didn't help that the parent was also yelling at the coach for "taking him out too soon."  Realize that the kid had just given up his fifth consecutive hit in the inning and had already walked a couple of batters.  I looked at my older boy and shook my head.  He looked at me and said, "That wouldn't happen with us [he and his brother].  We'd be out in the car in the parking lot and getting ready for a long ride home and it would have nothing to do with the coach's decision."  I told him, "D*mn right!"  They both know, with a dad as a former coach, that my philosophy is you don't embarrass your coach in public and you don't challenge his calls.  If you disagree, you, the player, schedules a meeting with him and go to his office or stay after practice, and discuss it with him as adults ... even my 11 year old.  

Parents need to be better so their kids can be better so the kind of stuff in your post don't start becoming acceptable behavior as they get older.

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On 4/20/2022 at 10:44 AM, gonzoron said:

How many years have you been an official?

Gonna throw in MY answer.... 

 

Baseball:  38 Years  (9 State Finals) 

Football:  22 Years (3 State Finals) 

And apparently I am now a "Senior" citizen....  56, I guess I am OLD now.   😒

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9 hours ago, Yuccaguy said:

Gonna throw in MY answer.... 

 

Baseball:  38 Years  (9 State Finals) 

Football:  22 Years (3 State Finals) 

And apparently I am now a "Senior" citizen....  56, I guess I am OLD now.   😒

Yeah, those AARP solicitations are funny ... until you start looking for them in the mail. 🙂

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22 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

3B33DCF1-8E98-446C-82B1-E68C0DA62407.png

I would venture to guess most of those Baseball games were frosh/C games. 

This isn't even hitting at the trickle-down effect of youth sports.  Most weekly games for travel and most rec are down to a single ump and even tournament play is starting to see single umps in the field for pool play and even some of the early morning games on bracket play.

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25 minutes ago, foxbat said:

This isn't even hitting at the trickle-down effect of youth sports.  Most weekly games for travel and most rec are down to a single ump and even tournament play is starting to see single umps in the field for pool play and even some of the early morning games on bracket play.

 It sure what the answer is. The group that handles BA/SB officials at Grand Park are throwing money at them to get them to come. My SB partner has been going up there and doing BA 20 bucks for a hotel room by yourself, they’re offering free equipment and uniforms to new umps. He gets an extra money in their first game of the day. So this weekend his first game of the day he got $125.
 

All this is well and good, but all they’re doing is robbing umpires from other organizations. 
 

My last tournament I had four diamonds going. We were suppose to have a 3-man rotation on every diamond. Due to sickness, not showing up, sending a guy home, by Sunday I was down to two 5-man rotations, with an Ironman on one diamond the last three games. So parents when the tournament director is dealing with stuff like this like every day anymore, he’s probably not going to care that little Suzi got rung up on a pitch that was “foot” off the plate. Tell little Suzy to get the bat off her shoulder, his strike  zone has been all over the place all day!

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Well the IHSAA is raising the playoff game renumeration by $10 across the board at all rounds of all tournament officiating.  They are also DOUBLING the mileage from .25 to .50 per mile.  

Another tweak is to the 300 mile limit.  They are easing the limit to allow IN schools to play teams OUTSIDE of the 300 mile limit.... No further information has been provided in this circumstance.  

I am assuming that the changes in the BASKETBALL tournament will also be mirrored in baseball;  This would ADD to the number of officials that could attain Regional status and help them out with points to advancement, in both sports.  

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2022/06/23/ihsaa-basketball-tourney-format-changes-approved/7712674001/

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Another possible “answer” to the shortage is to get more females involved in officiating. The standard objection is “they never played the game.” That may be changing, at the grassroots level.

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/cif-unanimously-votes-to-make-flag-football-a-girls-high-school-sport/

CIF unanimously votes to make flag football a girls' high school sport

FEBRUARY 3, 2023 / 3:02 PM / AP

California approved a plan Friday to make flag football a girls' high school sport amid soaring popularity of the game and a push to get more female athletes on the field.

The move by the California Interscholastic Federation — the statewide body that governs high school athletics — makes flag football an official sport for girls in the nation's most populous state for the upcoming 2023-24 year. The plan was approved unanimously by the organization's federated council in Long Beach, said Rebecca Brutlag, an agency spokesperson.

Paula Hart Rodas, president-elect of the CIF Southern Section's council, said the goal is to get more girls involved in high school sports and tap into a widespread love of football by many who are loath to play tackle. Southern California schools spanning from Long Beach to Corona are hoping to start teams in the fall and the approval allows districts to add the sport to their budgets, Hart Rodas said.

"You can love the game of football and not love getting tackled but still want to participate," Hart Rodas said. "Flag right now is aimed directly at getting more girls involved in athletics by adding a different sport that we know girls across the country are interested in, but not willing to play tackle for a variety of reasons."

The move adds California to a growing list of states that have included girls' flag football in high school athletic programs, such as Alabama and Nevada. New York state's public high school athletic association took a similar step this week and expects to host the first state championship for girls flag football in the spring of 2024.

The vote in California comes amid a surge in interest in flag football among younger players in recreational leagues and burgeoning support from the NFL and teams such as the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, which have been running a pilot high school league for girls in Southern California.

Scores of schools signed up to participate in the pilot and those selected to do so — and the eager young players who played in it — have widely been seen as pioneers in the sport.

Paul Schmidt said being part of a start-up has been exciting for his 14-year-old daughter, who had never played flag football before she tried out for the team at Redondo Union High School, one of the schools participating in the league. Making the sport official should make it easier to secure field time, he said, and gives a boost to a tight-knit team of girls that has bonded around starting something new.

"She loves it, loves it. It's exciting to be in a new sport," he said.

Rising interest in flag football — in which no one gets tackled and a play ends when an opposing player pulls a flag from a belt around the ball-carrier's waist — comes amid concern about the risk of concussions and other injuries from tackle football.

In the decade leading up to 2018-19, the number of girls playing flag football in U.S. high schools doubled to 11,000, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Without the CIF's approval, California high schools could organize flag football clubs. But coaches said allowing official interscholastic competition will likely drive more schools to start teams and develop a pipeline of players.

Troy Vincent Sr., the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, wrote in the Sacramento Bee that times have changed since he played professional football, which back then was "broadly seen as a man's game." He said high school players might be able to play into college and beyond as universities have also ramped up the sport.

Vincent is also pushing to get flag football added to 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

"This is no longer just a backyard sport for girls' pickup games during family holiday gatherings," he said.

 

 

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On 2/7/2023 at 7:09 AM, Bobref said:

Another possible “answer” to the shortage is to get more females involved in officiating. The standard objection is “they never played the game.” That may be changing, at the grassroots level.

 

That may be the case, but often the mom's of priests are often a strong contributing factor to their following in that vocation.  It's one of the reasons that the current bishop fully supports girls being altar servers.

As a youth coach, we realized that, typically, the most important aspect to getting a kid into football and keeping them there was engaging and convincing the moms.  I think the gender shortcoming argument tends to one on shaky ground.

Standard argument that I've heard against girls playing the sport is the physicality of the game.  There's may be some merit to that as you get high up in the gameplay, although I think there are some guys on teams that would get their clocks cleaned by some girls that might play the game.  At the youth level; however, I think the differences are less defined and might just provide fertile ground for setting the hook for folks that might eventually be ripe for candidacy for officiating.

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I was on my 7th grade team but didn't play much. Played a lot more backyard football with friends. You don't need to have played to be a good official. You have to be willing to learn and understand rules, philosophies, and mechanics and enjoy the game. There tend to be more who played that become officials, but it's definitely not a requirement for guys. It shouldn't be a requirement for women.

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I have talked to numerous basketball officials, and for those of us who are "younger," officiating takes time away from the family.  I got into basketball officiating because when I was an AD there was a mass shortage in my area.  I've been an official since 2016 with no problems of filling up my weeknights.  When I had no kids or even 1 my wife was fine with me officiating.  But as time has progressed and now I have 3 kids, I have taken less and less games because I want to see them, help them with homework, and tuck them in at night.  I have games scheduled for next year, but I am thinking about hanging up the whistle because I want to be around my family during the winter.  I won't be able to in the fall because I coach football and coaching football is more important to me than officiating.

I do not know what the answer is but here is my shot (these are in no particular order):

1. Money

2. Time- (I dont know how we make it better)

3. Coaches (How they treat officials)

4. Fans (How they treat officials)

5. Number of games- (with the number of travel teams rising in all sports except football, what is more important the school season or travel season)

6. Acceptance of officials (Male and female)

7. Official education/transparency (tell officials why they are getting a lower rating from a coach or school or not advancing in the tournament)

I am sure there is more, but that is my two cents.

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