re: Youth/High School Sports Official Shortage

Florida cured most of that years ago. It became a felony to curse, confront or assault a game official.

First escort we got after the law passed ......Deputy said "Excuse me , I have to go and explain to that mother why she can be arrested for what she's doing right now."

There are not too many in the upper levels at High School that have the mindset to officiate a game properly. In Pinellas County, FL We got to the point that we made an example of the lack of education the coaches at al levels had in knowing the game. We carried a B- average on the exams ......the coaches? F without fail. Players would have been worse. We gave the coaches the same exam we took ......They found out they were not that educated in the game.

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I have often wondered why anyone would want to be a referee.

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giving back to something I got so much out of.

It’s a lot fun.

Gives me a reason to stay in shape.

I’m pretty good at it.

In all my games I have never had a hs treat or talk to me in a way that even remotely offended me. But I communicate well with people.

And it’s the last pure level of the sport

They target anyone interested in $50+/game.

You can submit your availability as you need. But if you can knock out 4 games on a Saturday = you got an extra $200 or more. Hard to beat that these days.

Some days/weekends you can get as many as 6-10 games. If it's a rotation of HS games you can cover your mortgage.

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Some days/weekends you can get as many as 6-10 games. If it's a rotation of HS games you can cover your mortgage.

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You are not going to get 6-10 HS games assigned for a single day, and most likely not even a weekend. Yeh, you can get that on the travel ball fields, not HS. There isn't one assigner who will do that.

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Some days/weekends you can get as many as 6-10 games. If it's a rotation of HS games you can cover your mortgage

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You are not going to get 6-10 HS games assigned for a single day, and most likely not even a weekend. Yeh, you can get that on the travel ball fields, not HS. There isn't one assigner who will do that

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The most games we can usually handle on any one Friday and not have to turn any games away is 7. We run 6-man crews here in Georgia, 7-man for big games and the playoffs. I didn't know just how much goes into scheduling until I became an officer last year. I was responsible for the flag football schedule and that alone was a lot. This year I am scheduling JV. All 4 of us(officers) help schedule varsity.

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Speaking for myself:

I do it for the love of the game

Stay in shape.

Friday nights is my happy place. There is no place I'd rather be.

The camraderie. Some of my best friends are fellow officials. We love having beers and talking ball

Helping kids learn sportsmanship and being a part of the game.

Having fun.

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Exactly. In fact the only drawback I ever experienced officiating wasn't the coaches or the crowds. It was the politics and in-fighting that occurred for officials trying to "climb the ladder" and get to the NCAA level of officiating from HS. Me...I just wanted to stay active in the sport and help kids and prevent kids from getting hurt.