KHSAA still looking for more officials
Nov. 9—In an effort to combat increasingly low numbers of licensed officials throughout the state, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association is partnering with RefReps as a way to recruit, educate and retain a new generation of referees.
RefReps offers sports officiating education that high schools and colleges can provide to students as an elective course in their curriculum and has been partnering with other states' athletic associations across the country.
According to KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett, building interest with a younger crowd should help eventually boost the number of officials.
"The KHSAA is excited to partner with RefReps as a strategy to help promote our mission to address the shortage of licensed officials across Kentucky," he said. "As they have proven in other states and demonstrated throughout this adoption process, they will be invaluable.
"I am happy with the work that (KHSAA) associate commissioner Butch Cope has done to help us work toward a shared goal of providing education content to help recruit new officials and therefore increase retention."
More than 300 high schools and colleges in 36 states feature Intro to Sports Officiating classes from RefReps.
According to Scott Bottoms, who was recently hired to a newly-created position as the KHSAA's supervisor of officials licensing, there's a dire need for more officials — in all sports.
"To be real honest, we are aiming for anybody we can get to sign up," Bottoms told YourSportsEdge's Larry Vaught last month. "There have to be some young adults who have graduated from high school and did not go away to college that have an interest in sports. They could get a little exercise and make a little money. Hopefully, there are a lot who have had an interest in officiating but just never stepped forward to get registered and get training."
Bottoms, who was a basketball official for 30 years, will oversee the process that licenses nearly 4,000 officials and 80 assigning secretaries in the commonwealth. He also knows those numbers are dwindling, evidenced by the KHSAA urging schools to play recent high school football playoff games on Thursdays and Saturdays to avoid a personnel crunch.
An overwhelming amount of high school officials cite verbal and physical abuse as the top reason they don't want to continue. In a 2023 survey of more than 35,000 participants conducted by the National Association of Sports Officials, 39.9% of all responses said parents cause the most problems with sportsmanship, and 68.6% say sportsmanship is only getting worse.
With so many referees heading for the door, nearly 80% of officials have taken on more officiating assignments due to the ongoing shortage.
"As I go to games and watch how people behave, it upsets me and is disturbing," Bottoms added. "I think if this pattern continues, we will not have enough officials for their children to keep participating in sports. I know people think you are just saying that, but it is true."
In addition to its RefReps partnership, the KHSAA also offers a junior program for ages 14-to-17 as a way to offer an introduction to sports officiating.
RefReps will host informational webinars at 9:45 p.m. Monday and at 11 a.m. on Nov. 20. For more information, visit khsaa.org.
