.jpg/:/rs=w:1353,h:451)
Sports Officiating is in Crisis
There have been fewer officials every year for over a decade ...
The Sac-Joaquin Section is HUGE ... There are nearly a quarter-million (250,000) students in our section … From a marketing standpoint, that’s a HUGE audience … If we tap – even a fraction of it, we can make great progress … 0.1% of that audience is 250 people …
Why is recruiting sports officials so difficult? …
- Timing … Everyone thinks about officiating after games start … Official's training occurs much earlier … Our fall sports training will start about 07/01 … That’s nearly 2 months before the first games … We need help getting the word out earlier …
- “Side Gig” Competition … 30 years ago, sports officiating was a predominant way to earn extra $$$’s … It was the original “side gig” before this employment field got its name … Since that time, the internet has helped many other, more flexible income streams prosper … Several delivery services allow flexible, part-time hours on demand with high compensation & less effort training than sports officiating …
- Volunteer Organizations … The official’s associations are volunteer organizations … They receive no funding from the section or its member schools … They are self-funded training organizations …
- Sportsmanship, Fan Abuse & Many Years of Training …
How can you help find more sports officials? … Help us publicize our group startups before each season starts … If we can get timely information to our school families concerning training, we can more efficiently guide interested community members into officiating …
SO … Here’s the answer … Just "1" … Just “1” more official for each sport will make a huge difference ... Given almost 200 schools in our section, imagine what nearly 200 more football officials section-wide could do to keep all "Friday Night Lights"games covered with full crews ...
WE NEED YOUR HELP to get the word out ... Together we can do this & make a BIG DIFFERENCE ...
How can you help?
· Include this & other upcoming fliers in your parents periodic school-wide email distributions ...
· Post a flier to your athletic department website ...
· Email fliers to alumni & former parent distribution lists …
· Provide fliers to graduating players as well as their parents …