I think that there are some great suggestions being offered.
Using your presentation there is still an opportunity for errors. If there is one official, calls could still be missed, calls can be missed with 2 officials. Sometimes officials cannot attend or do not want to attend the tournament due to the travel, time involved and/or difficulty of the tournament. How would other districts feel if they did not have equal representation? i.e. - 10 officials from a single district.
Officials are required to attend a KSHSAA rules meeting and take an online test. There are also clinics offered throughout the state. None of this can replace on the mat, live competition experience. This experience can take a long time to develop. Kids wrestling is extremely difficult do to the environment, the expectations and nature of our sport. There are a lot of people that try to officiate and quickly realize that it is not an easy job and abandon officiating. There are lessons learned every week. Middle School, High School sub-varsity or, even High School varsity cannot fully prepare you for a kids tournament.
KSHSAA has kicked around the idea for an officials ranking system for a while. Personalities, friendships, prejudices, etc, can come into play and affect objectivity, this is human nature. Here are some ideas for ranking or grading criteria how many individuals have the knowledge or experience to grade officials.
How many coaches and even some officials could rank officials on these basic fundamentals, there could be other grading criteria added. There is more to becoming a capable official that meets the eye.
Appearance
On time
positioning
Communication
mechanics
Rule Knowledge
Rule Application
Issue Handling
Ideas
A list of officials that are being used every week can be posted. This could be supplied by the lead official or the tournament director. I could post the names and official numbers. I am hesitant on posting pictures, Im not sure other officials would be receptive of having their pictures published either.
In the past we had been issued patches with official numbers to attach to our shirts that would assist with identifying the official. These numbers are still assigned. The problem with this is that if a young official only had 1 shirt they might have to remove the patch prior to working other events.
Some officials might not be certified. We would only have a name. Maybe you could request the hometown or phone number. Someone could do a follow-up to encourage them to become certified. I am doing this in district 2 currently.
Hire enough officials to have 2 officials on every mat at the state tournament.
Things to consider:
As an official we do not care who wins the match. Our concern is to call the match fairly to the best of our ability, ensure that rules are enforced and followed to the best of our ability, and insure that no one is put in a situation that could cause injury.
Officials are not perfect. Consider how many calls are made in a normal match and multiply it by this number of matches in a day. There will be hundreds of calls made. Then add the pressure of the State Tournament to this. Some of these are going to be easy, some difficult. Coaches, parents, and wrestlers expect calls and points to be awarded quickly. There is usually not time to stop and consider or think through the calls, our sport is based on action and reaction, in a good match, things can happen very quickly.
Thoughts
This must be a partnership, both parties need to work together to provide solutions.
We are short of officials throughout the state.
It is difficult to develop and retain good officials due to the environment that has been created.
If you do not notice an official all day long, he is performing an outstanding job.
Do you just acknowledge officials that make good calls (maybe in your favor).
1 or 2 bad calls (or calls you do not agree with) do not make a bad official.
Consistency is important, even if there is a bad official if they are consistently bad you know what to expect.
If you were performing to the best of your ability, and there were issues, how would you feel if your name was posted so anyone in the state can see it and comment about any issues real or perceived that occurred.
If an opposing coach knows that call was incorrect, show some integrity and inform the official the call was incorrect and refuse the points awarded. (Lets see how that flies).
I attend the state body meeting and the D2 meeting. I would welcome the opportunity to attend your district meetings. I had discussed with the board assigning a lead official for every district. I will bring this up again. I also try to send an outline to lead officials that I know of, that can be reviewed prior to competitions with the officiating crew.
With our current system it is important to vote for yout district officials.
Keith Ashpole
