I have commented in the past on the fact that our officiating community is aging and that we needed to develop a plan for developing and rewarding officials based on their ability not based on tenure or affiliation with other officials and the assignor.

http://www.flowrestling.org/coverage/240...t-Head-position

I watched this video and it jumped out at me that one of the real problems we have is a significant number of officials who are physically unable to perform the job. This isn't about age or scoring but really about the safety and fairness to the wrestlers.

Officials need to watch this video and look in the mirror. If you cannot get into position to insure the safety of the wrestlers and to insure that you are able to apply your knowledge of the rules to the match then step out of the way and let some of the younger officials have a turn.

It is pretty simple, to me. If you are an official and you don't love wrestling and you are not doing it for the kids then you shouldn't be on the mat. If you complain about coaches, wrestlers, pay, or other petty stuff like having a video clip posted on this site then step down and let someone have a turn who is doing it for the right reasons!

Officials make $30 to $50 and hour while coaches make about $2 and hour but many officials command total respect for the coaches with mutually returning the same courtesy.

I am generalizing and I know there are exceptions but I think I am not in the minority when I say I am tired of having to see the same crew at the same tournaments year in and year out. There is only one official who is a year round professional official in this state so why aren't these assignments more fairly distributed so that we have a deeper pool of quality and qualified officials when it comes time for regionals and state? Why aren't these assignments changed up for the sake of eliminating the familiarity officials and coaches develop from a lack of change?

I clearly know that some of you will find this outlandish as it does scream out for an overhaul of a system that has been in place since the stone ages of wrestling in Kansas but remember, without change there can be no improvement.


What if performance is slipping?Obviously there can be many reasons for poor performance and age may or may not be a factor. But regardless of age, an employer can expect all workers to perform in a satisfactory manner. An employer is not required to accommodate a person solely because of his or her age.

If poor performance relates to a disability, an employer may be required to make a reasonable accommodation so that essential job functions can be performed. An accommodation might involve job restructuring, transfer or other strategies, which permit an employee to perform essential job functions.

Will:

As usual, you have some valid points, but, as usual, your message gets lost and discounted because of the tone. I have the same problem. I used to complain every year that the assignment "system" was no system at all but rather a buddy system. I probably would have done better to be a buddy.

Who has the ability to change the system if its broken? Isn't it the coaches? If you have any sway and influence over the coaches, get them to demand a rotating system of assignments. While it would be laudable if officials, as a group, saw the benefits of sharing the wealth, but that's not human nature when money is involved. Or, if you can only convince a couple coaches that you are on to something enlist their help and have them pick new guys. For example, get the Basehor coach, etc., to ask for a half dozen new faces next year for his tournament.

Right now under the current "system", any coach has the ability to tell the league assignor not to send an official to that school, for any reason or for no reason, and the assignor will comply. If the wrestling coaches, particularly those whose schools host the big, two day, tournaments, want to get young blood on the mat all they have to do is demand that it happen.

Over the years there have been younger officials, or officials from other parts of the country, show up on the scene and if they were good officials they did indeed work up in the system when openings occurred. So while there may be a pervasive "grandfathering" of assignments, true quality officials will rise to the top.

Finally, from where I sit, the officials that are working the most are the best, but that only makes sense. They are good because they get to work the most matches --practice makes perfect.

I actually witnessed a ref slapping the mat with his foot because he was to heavy to get down on the mat. He is still a ref at the high school level!!

I have see different officials at our duals recently. Not that the former were problems. But it is nice to see some changes.

We have the same crew and most of the tournaments. Most are doing a great job. But there has to be some young ones out there doing "kids" club that could be recommended.

"True quality officials will rise to the top" and "practice makes perfect" are good theories. They do apply to some of the officials. Unfortunately, there are some others that don't fit that profile. Cream does rise, but so does the stuff I leave in my toilet. It's not an across the board scenario. Some people know when to quit. Others do not. Compare Jim Brown and Michael Jordan. A system to evaluate officials would be a good thing as long as the system and whoever is overseeing it were fair and impartial. I have never had a job where I was not evaluated, but I also know that new systems tend to be just as flawed as the old ones. Ever heard of the BCS national football championship?

I find many of these comments very interesting. As a former highschool coach for 17 years and a former highschool official who worked 25 Kansas State Tournaments, I remember that every highschool head wrestling coach had the opportunity to recommend to the KSHSAA officials that they would like to see work post season tournaments. Those officials that received the most "votes" from the coaches would be given the opportunity to work the post season tournaments. I have been retired for several years now, but I think that policy still exists. Another comment about getting young officials more involved is that many young officials have told me that they just don't want to put up with the BS from many coaches. In many cases coaches have run-off good prospective officials. This is sad but true!

Horrible yet hilarious!

Sad deal . . .

I rarely comment in here anymore but thought I'd chime in on this. First and foremost I'd like to say I started officiating wrestling this year and in no way am I going to use myself as an example of what "good" is. I'm learning, relying on my experience competing in high school and working the sub-varsity matches I can get my hands on to improve. I also have a lot of experience officiating football and baseball, at the varsity and collegiate levels. My point is I've been around wrestling a little bit, and I've been around officiating a lot so I have following thoughts.

1) I agree with Will that a lot of officials are getting older and it would be good if the officiating crew got younger, their are however older guys who are doing a fantastic job. I certainly see crews getting younger at the college level in other sports. However, I'm a young person so I might be biased. I am, not however, campaigning for myself as a wrestling official. I wouldn't take a varsity tournament if it was offered to me simply because I still make too many mistakes on certain calls.

2) The problem with the assertion that the officiating needs to get younger is simply that while it's true, we have to have young officials (who are quality) to make it happen. Frankly there's a shortage of wrestling officials in the state regardless of age. There's like 263 wrestling officials. Over 1,000 football officials just for comparison. I'm rarely not the youngest guy on the mat, or field for that matter during baseball/football season.

3) Pointing out the problems are easy, pointing out solutions are difficult. Logically speaking, do I agree that hs officiating needs to improve? Yes. However, their is 1 way to make that happen and that's to have higher requirements, be it physical fitness, training, or a combination thereof. However, more requirements do 2 things. Drive up costs, for either officials, schools or the state, and drive officials away. We all know schools/state don't have any money. We already have a fairly light crop of officials so it leaves us in a tough situation.


I'll never sit here and be that guy who says that the officiating is great just because I'm an official. However, there's just logistical problems to improving it, especially in high school where money is tight and guys are doing it as a very part time thing.

Although there are MANY problems with the recommendation system lets just look at two that are very logical:

1. You have to KNOW the official to recommend him. This creates a situation where a coach/AD can be positively or negatively bias. They ask you to name five. If you are a coach you spend all of your time scouting wrestlers and knowing coaches. Why should a coach invest any of his precious wrestling time figuring out who the best officials are? The best official is a guy who just makes the calls, is consistent, and doesn't draw attention to himself. The best is a guy who you don't need to take time to know who he is so the reoommendation system is inherently flawed.

2. If you have the same crew officiate all of the tournaments every year, the same guys get all of the notice and exposure so the same guys get the votes. The process just keeps repeating itself. The AD tells the assignor he wants guys who are experienced and were at state. It is an endless loop where a guy has to suck up to the assignor or "know" someone. Without evaluations there is absolutely ZERO accountability and most are afraid to damage their relationship with the good ole boys. BROKEN!!

In closing, I know an official who sat out for eight years. He came back and got great assignments and a state tournament his first year back. Why? Because it isn't what you know but WHO you know.


I agree that the pool is shallow. One of the reasons is that many of the officials who are former wrestlers are competitive and they don't want to figuratively "ride the pine" while they watch a geezer gimp around and blow calls all day long. After about two years of FR and JV events they say forget it. There has to be a better way to distribute the jobs to add to the pool of officials. The problem is that the guys who are on the inside don't want to change it because it might mean they won't get their way any longer.

I officiate but I am NOT posting all of this because I have been shunned. I am posting this because I think it is a travesty to watch wrestlers who work their tails off get the short end of a terrible call from an official who is not physically equipped to perform the job. A wrestler who isn't in shape loses matches, an official who is out of shape just shrugs his shoulders when he blows a call and moves on to next the prime tournament assignment. ZERO accountability.

Accountability in the hiring of officials is on the administration and coach of the host school. Hire only those officials that you want working your matches. No official in any sport on any level can say that they haven't blown a call. What they must be able to say is that I have learned from that situation and hopefully it won't happen again. In my 17 years of coaching I not only scouted the opposing wrestlers but also thought that it was my responsibility to evaluate the officials so that I could give an acccurate recommendation to the KSHSAA as to who I thought would do a good job during the post season tournaments. I must agree that conditioning and fitness is extremely important but I have seen officials that were well conditioned but didn't have the ability to anticipate moves and motion and therefore were not in position to make a call. My point is that there are a lot of varying factors that makeup a good wrestling official with experience being one of the most important.

Just a quick question, how would someone attempt to become a qualified and able to officiate in tournaments?

If you mean varsity, and under the current "system," unless you are lucky, you would need to wait until there was an opening -- that would mean someone has died or retired or moved on to a "better" assignment. Then you would have to have made friends with somebody...either an official who has some influence over the assignor or, even better, the assignor himself. If you are a teacher or an ex-coach you've got an inside track. But even then, the politics of the situation might mean somebody might be better, or longer, friends so you'll still have to wait. You need to develop alliances and know who can help you along. But if you step on any toes you might not get a chance in any event, or might get booted.

If you mean JV, I think there are probably some opportunities, but it is difficult to improve your skills at this level because the quality of the wrestling. It's much easier to officiate good wrestlers. They finish their moves, don't do dumb things, and the coaches are stronger on their understanding of the rules. The pay is also a much less for JV work. A varsity tournament will pay $225+ and a JV tournament with more wrestlers will pay $150, and often you don't have an "extra" official to give you a break.

Jumper, all you have to do is call the KSHSAA and they will fill you in on the process. If you are a former wrestler and you have a sound mind and some decent reflexes you are well on your way. There are some excellent officials in the area that you can call to get some ideas on J.V. meets and junior highs that wrestle. Those are great places to get started. That is how all of them got their start and we are very very short of numbers of offcials in this state right now. Some of these guys aren't getting any younger (and neither am I). We always need new blood in officiating and in coaching. There is no secret to becoming an official though, get certified, go to as many clinics as you can. They hold regional clinics for officials all over the state. There are a lot of JV, freshmen, and Junior High stuff that you can get your feet wet in. It's just like anything else though , you just have to take the first step and work hard at it. If you want to PM me your info, I will try to line you up with an older offcial in your area that you can call and get some information from. They will help you, someone helped them at one point or another. Good luck.

Yes, as noted above, if the question is how to get registered with the state, that is an easy task. Pay the fee ($45), take an on-line test, attend a couple meetings locally, and you will be "registered" in Kansas to officiate. As noted, the KSHAA site has all that information. Getting assigned to officiate is a different process altogether.

Depending on where you live getting assigned sub-varsity isn't too difficult. and honestly most people would say $150 for an 8AM-3PM tournament is worth the while and often that's about what you get. While I agree with the comment that better wrestling is easier to officiate, I think JV is a great place to get better as an official because of the lower level. You'll learn quickly to recognize locked hands and other various illegal holds because they happen often. While you don't see it often at the varsity level it can be a big call when it does happen. A friend of mine lost a state championship match by 1 a while back, the 1 point he gave up on locked hands was a big one!