Ohio makes push to fill officiating gap with students

by Dan Holland

Ohio recently became the first state to recognize a sports officiating license issued by the Ohio High School Athletic Association as counting toward high school graduation requirements in the health career field, according to a Nov. 15 OHSAA press release.

The OHSAA also expanded its “Respect the Game” policies for the 2023-24 high school winter sports season. The program began in 2004.

“The officiating shortage has been building for the last 10 years in Ohio and across the country, and the pandemic certainly sped that up,” explained Tim Stried, director of media relations for OHSAA. “Today’s high school student-athletes have an opportunity to be the group that replenishes the ranks and ensures that interscholastic sports don’t miss a beat.”

“The number one reason that officials get out of the profession is because of bad fan behavior,” Stried continued. “The OHSAA re-launched the ‘Respect the Game’ program in the fall to help fight poor sportsmanship from the stands. We have seen good results so far and keep reminding people that if we don’t have officials, we don’t have a game.”

Currently, Nordonia Hills City Schools is the only district in the ScripType readership area that offers officiating certification courses to its students. The program, now in its second year, is offered in conjunction with the OHSAA and a company called RefReps, and replaces the state’s required two semesters of physical education for those who complete the coursework.

Nordonia High School Physical Education Chairperson Amie Cormell said part of the instruction is helping students recognize that “there will be fans, coaches and players that will question them.”

“So, we teach them how to handle conflict resolution, which is a life skill,” she said. “Learning how to handle those situations is important, along with encouraging the sportsmanship of the athletes.”

So far this school year, 12 Nordonia students have earned their certification as Class 3 OHSAA officials, which allows them to officiate OHSAA basketball games for grades seven through nine.

“You have students from the high school now out in the community refereeing youth games,” said Cormell. “It’s a K-12 connection within our district, where we have high school kids refereeing games for their younger peers. Then, those younger kids may decide that they want to be referees in high school.” ∞