Finding new people to officiate high school sporting events has become an increasingly difficult challenge.
The number of certified officials across the state has dropped at an alarming rate and in Salem some high schools have had to move game times because of the lack of officials.
Last fall the Salem Football Officials Association had 89 officials, down from 120 officials four years ago.
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With all of the demands to cover games last fall, the Salem officials had to outsource to be able to cover all of the games.
“We were short anywhere from 21 to 25 officials on Wednesdays,” said Ken Woods, commissioner of the SFOA. “What I had to do is I had to hire some Portland crews and some Corvallis crews to come in.
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“I did that for three weeks in a row. And the rest of the weeks we were short one official. When we only have three guys out there, it’s kind of like we’re ball chasers. With four guys you can relay it back and you can properly cover the game. But it’s happening all over state. We’re short officials.”
To combat the problem and try to recruit new officials, the Salem Basketball Officials Association and the SFOA are putting on an Officials Job Fair from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Salem.
“Come talk to us, that’s what we want. All of those people up in the stands screaming because their kid’s playing, maybe you’re kid’s not playing,” said Steve Bulen, commissioner for the Salem Basketball Officials Association. “Come on and give it a try. Have some fun.”
The OSAA formed an Officials Recruitment and Retention Committee to combat the problem.
In the five-year span from the 2010-11 school year to the 2014-15 school year, there was a 16.8 percent decline in OSAA certified officials for all sports in Oregon.
In the SBOA, there were 142 officials last winter compared to 160 four years ago.
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“We’re like everybody else right now,” Bulen said. “170 is kind of where I would like to be. That kind of keeps everybody working and busy, but also allows us to cover all the games without killing my guys, because that’s kind of what we’re doing right now.”
Much of the decline in numbers is from young officials.
A report from the OSAA states that in 2010-11 there were 997 officials with less than three years of experience, while that number dropped to 537 in 2014-15.
With the pay and at times hours of officiating high school and youth games, college students seem a natural for recruitment of new officials.
“There are colleges we want to tap into,” Bulen said. “We’ve kind of decided we want kids who have graduated from high school. That’s more suited to what we’re doing.”
The football officials at trying a different tact.
They will be recruiting high school football players to officiate youth games on Saturdays alongside veteran officials
“What we’re going to do is we’re going to train them in June and July,” Woods said. “Once August rolls around, they’re on the field. And we’re going to provide the uniform. The only thing they have to provide is their shoes.
“What I will do is I may work them on other games. As long as they are trained to work at this level, I may send them to Silverton for three games.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, 503-399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler
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Officials job fair
What: A job fair for people interested in becoming football or basketball officials.
When: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 14.
Where: Dick’s Sporting Goods, 275 Lancaster Drive NE, Salem.