COLORADO COACH- FALL 2018 SUPPORT OUR GAME OFFICIALS by John Burke, Executive Director Most successful coaches are very competitive and work immensely hard to gain success in the won-loss column of the team’s schedule. The coach spends an inordinate amount of time on his/her players, coaches, parents, administrators, all those inherently connected to the team. This is how the deal works and no one would argue the importance and/or significance of these entities. Unfortunately players, coaches, parents and fans in general often become so involved in the search for success that they forget to recognize and support a key member of the competition, the game officials. Too often our officials, particularly those at the high school level, are subjected to jeers and verbal abuse, all for a job that does not pay particularly well, requires long hours, and is done in one’s ‘spare’ time. Not surprisingly the number of high school officials in many states, ours included, continues to decline. This drop in numbers should be a warning call to all of us in high school athletics. Individuals who choose to become a high school referee do so for a variety of reasons. The most common explanations for becoming a high school official are as follows: 1. Give back to the community 2. Stay involved in the game they love 3. Help young people 4. Get a bit of physical exercise 5. Make a few extra bucks With the shortage of officials many of them can now work virtually every night of the week, and in the case of basketball, officiate multiple levels of competition per night, which can lead to physical and mental fatigue by the start of the night’s final game. Officials often must travel a great distance to a game and the minimum ‘per diem’ paid each mile driven does not do justice to the actual wear and tear of making the trip. We as coaches must place sportsmanship at the top of our list of lessons taught to our players and this goes for our behavior towards the game officials. Here are some suggestions for coaches to follow when reacting with game officials: 1. Promote integrity towards officials 2. Minimize selfish actions by your players and coaches 3. Maintain a non-confrontational attitude with officials 4. Focus on the teaching and learning of your own players 4. Show class in victory and defeat 5. Keep the game in perspective Coaches must take the lead in eliminating verbal abuse directed at the officials and should make it clear to players, coaches and parents that anything less than exemplary behavior towards officials will not be tolerated. Officials are a critical piece of any game competition and need to be treated as such. Colorado is losing referees each year and it behooves coaches to help recruit new officials to stem the attrition rate in order for our games to continue unabated. These are just a few of the areas that coaches continue to be role models in the interest of all involved. Good luck to all this fall season.