With sports expected to return in December, who will blow the whistle?
When high school sports restart this year, who will be behind the whistle — or as is likely the case — who will have their finger on the electronic whistle button?
Officiating is an often-overlooked obstacle to the restart of sports, which are scheduled to begin with winter sports practices on Dec. 7 and actual competition in late December or early January, depending on the sport.
“I think everybody’s kind of anxious,” said Nelson Woodhouse, commissioner of the Southeastern Wrestling Officials Association. “However, nobody wants to set that bar too high because nobody wants to be disappointed. Just (last) week, schools started sending me their schedules.”
Woodhouse and commissioners from football, basketball and baseball officials associations expressed cautious optimism that high school
sports would indeed happen this academic year and that there would be a healthy stable of referees to pick from in their respective sport.
There are 60 officials in Woodhouse’s association, and when he sent an email asking who would be available and willing to referee during this truncated and regulation-heavy season, all but two responded they were good to go.
“One guy said I’m not committed because this particular individual is not the most healthy and he’s kind of scared (of contracting COVID-19),” Woodhouse said, “but all my big dogs have committed to go.
Woodhouse keeps a tight ship, and that discipline will be an asset for a sport like wrestling, where there are so many variables in regard to skin-on-skin contact and the sheer number of wrestlers who can be gathered at one site for large tournaments and triand quad-duals.
“Wewant to make this as good and as fair for the kids,” Woodhouse said, “because A, that’s why I got into this. I saw somedisparity in refereeing and I said I think I can make it better. And B, I wanted to increase diversity and recruit young guys, guys out of the military that were wrestlers. I had the first two female referees in the state doing high-school-level stuff. One went on to become a bigwig with the Olympics.
“One of my mottos is be on time, be clean and squared away and be fair. When I got guys that aren’t doing that, they have a come-to-Jesus meeting with me.”
To keep his group mentally sharp the past seven months without competition, Woodhouse has regularly sent out training bul
letins and memos as refreshers, which are common among other commissioners like Rick Ennis of the Hampton Roads Basketball Officials Association (HRBOA).
“We’ll be coming out with links to different videos and we always send out different rules things anyway,” Ennis said. “Our rules interpreter may send them out via tweet, or we have a website, or we email people directly and say here’s five rules questions: What do you think, and here’s the answers.”
There are more than 200 officials in the HRBOA and fewer than 10 have opted out of the season due to health concerns, Ennis said.
The first meeting of the season will be virtual in the beginning of November, and Ennis already has his message planned out.
“I always preach that you gotta be flexible,” Ennis said. “My message at (the November meeting) will be to control the controllables. Take care of your business.”
Business has already begun for Rudy Rice, commissioner of the Southeastern Football Officials Association. Of the 180 officials registered in the association, 50 are being deployed to the small number of private-school games going on in the area.
When he asked how many were willing to officiate games at the start of next year when the shortened public-school seasons take place, “A huge majority said yes, they would still be interested. Most are pretty excited and willing to give it a shot.,” Ennis said. “… I do have several guys or girls that said they might not do it this year or they hate to commit, and I understand that.”
Chad Foltz, commissioner of the Eastern Officials Association Baseball Umpires, is continuously looking to add more officials to his ranks.
“For us, recruitment is
going to be a vital component over the winter and spring,” Foltz said. “We’re looking to add officials not just for scholastic baseball but recreation baseball.”
Recreation leagues are underway this fall, and Foltz has worked with the state’s guidelines to implement the proper restrictions.
“We’ve tried to mitigate items within the game itself that would not change playing action,” Foltz said. “An example would be the home-plate umpire not carrying extra baseballs. Each team brings their baseballs to reduce contact.”
Many officials in all sports have military jobs or backgrounds, which have their own set of restrictions that could hamper staffing.
“A lot of our officials are military-based,”and because of restrictions for them, they have to be more careful than a lot of folks,” Foltz said. “At the same time, we’re using health guidelines and policies to help keep ourselves safe, as well as players and coaches.”
Foltz hopes all 150 of the baseball officials in the association keep him updated with their status and health concerns.
“You have to trust in the judgment of folks you work with,” Foltz said. “I ask that they keep me abreast of any health concerns or situations that arise and I do the same in the fall recreation leagues we work with in terms of availability.”
To join an officials association, all the commissioners say the best way is to contact them directly, and those interested can find contact information on the Virginia High School League website, vhsl.org.
“We’re always excited when we can officiate sports,” Foltz said. “It’s what we love to do.”