In my opinion all officials at kids wrestling tournaments should be certified officials. I have my Bronze card, as I spent almost an entire day and $ getting it. I also had to pay for a background check, complete the safe sports requirements and pay for a USA card. The wrestlers have to have a USA card, and they have to be in their required uniform.
I am all for anyone getting experience, but are they really getting “their feet wet” when they have not even taken the test to be certified?
I was also pleased with the running of the tournament, but I was disappointed that a few of the refs were obviously not certified to officiate.
Troy, I couldn't agree with you more. Anyone wanting to officiate should read the rulebook and take the test, the same goes for the coaches but thats another topic. I too am bronze certified, have taken multiple coaching courses etc, safe sport certified, etc...
3 of the 6 young officials have taken the test and can be found on the USAKS officials list. Also, the three who were not certified were very good considering their lack of experience. Each young official had an older official working with them at some point in the day. Every official will make a mistake, young or old, those that want to get good at it will learn from their mistakes. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it kids is where that should happen, or at the least the lower levels of high school.
Fact of the matter was we were in a bind with 3 officials unavailable. A fourth had to leave early due to an issue at home. Nobody won a state championship yesterday, everyone hopefully learned from their mistakes, and in the end it was a good day. Another fact is we desperately need more officials and coaches berating a younger official doesn't help. I know I had to intervene on at least one occasion and remind the coach that the young official was a high school kid who is learning. As a coach, teach the kids to never let it come down to an officials mistake to cost a match. There were other opportunities to win the match other than the missed call that the coach was upset with.