By Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw
New information out this summer confirms what I have been telling you for a couple of years: the number of people who are umpiring and refereeing youth sports is shrinking.
The problem has reached a point at which something has to change.
According to a report released by the National Federation of High Schools, the body that monitors and regulates prep sports for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the
average age of sports officials is increasing.
Their survey got anonymous responses from almost 36 thousand officials from around the country, and it showed the average age of those responding was 56.68 years old. That compares to 53.29 years old in 2017. In every survey prior to these, the average age was less than 50.
The questions to ask, of course, are “why is this happening?” and “What can be done to turn it back again?”
Behavior is where it starts.
In the survey, officials were asked “Is sportsmanship getting better or worse?”
68.8-percent said it had gotten worse. Over half of those who filled out the survey said they had worked a game where they feared for their safety at some point in their career because of an administrator, coach, player or spectator behavior.
Nearly 12-percent of the officials who responded said they had been physically assaulted during or after a sporting event. That’s about one in every eight officials.
It didn’t all start during COVID, but a lot of officials retired during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
That’s when even officials had to wear masks, and that made a difficult job even more difficult.
Add to that the fact that young people who were no longer playing in high school and college were not making the transition to become an official in the sport they participated in at a rate comparable to those who were stopping because of their age or the pandemic.
You can see where this is going.
When it comes to pay, you won’t be surprised to hear that officials believe they should make more money to do what they do because of the way they are treated.
No doubt, some fans would say they don’t see why they should be paid a dime.
That’s all very predictable, right?
Now, with a smaller pool of men and women to pull from when it comes to filling games, athletic departments are forced to call on certain officials more often. That is not good for anyone.
There is a saying in the officiating handbook that encourages officials to be vigilant about things like where they eat before the game or where they stop afterward. The point was “it’s not the impropriety; it’s the appearance of impropriety” that we should be worried about.
Officials shouldn’t take too many games at the same school.
Schools don’t want that either, but they have to fill these game dates.
After all — if there are no officials, there are no games.
You can also probably understand that when you officiate too many games, you are more likely to burn out. An official who goes from two games a week to four, for example, is going to have games on back-to-back nights.
Physically, you get tired faster. Mentally, you get pushed harder.
Even the most even-tempered official runs the risk of losing their cool or becoming overly defensive when a fan blurts out something or a coach asks a fair question.
When any of us work too hard and too long, no matter what line of work we are in, our brains start malfunctioning.
In the study we referenced earlier, 37 percent of those officials who responded said they felt pressure to accept more games than they were comfortable with.
So, what do we do about it?
The first thing we can do is to put youth sports back into the proper perspective.
Quit yelling at the little league umps. Quit yelling at the summer basketball refs.
You are not helping.
In fact, you are making things worse.
But there is something else you can do … if you have the courage to do it.
You could pick up a whistle or slap on a pair of shin guards and become an official yourself.
You’ll be more active, so you’ll improve your health.
You’ll find that the pay isn’t that bad, and those game fees can add up pretty fast.
And you might just find that it’s fun … if you let it be.
