5 Partnering Officials With Coaches, Parents and Student/Athletes Mike Morgan Athletic Director/Head Football Coach Colfax School District

When you think about Coaches and Officials…

The Perfect Scenario Parents Want to Coach Officials Want to Watch Coaches Want to Officiate

Find out who’s in the room How many of you officiate: Football Basketball Baseball Volleyball Wrestling Soccer-other How many year’s of experience Rookies 2-10 years of officiating years of officiating years of officiating Over 30 years of officiating

W HO AM I? In HS, umpired adult fastpitch softball JH/HS basketball official Mentored by Frank Deymonaz, Ralph Dannenberg, Norm Ingram, Karl Johanson Worked LSCS Women’s College Basketball State “B” Championship Game-1987 Coaching for over 30 years/AD for past 9 years Numerous league awards for Sportsmanship WIAA “Sportsman of the Year” 2001

Are High School Sports Different These Days?? Looking at the newspapers, we read stories such as: Cheer parent in Texas shooting a cheerleader after her own daughter did not make the squad. A parent who comes out of the stands and attacks an official after a game. Two parents fight each other in the stands after comments about which of their kids should be starting running back. A T-ball coach pays one of his players $25 to beat up a teammate with mental challenges so he wouldn’t be in the game for the league required three innings. A coach of a youth football team comes off the sidelines and hits an opposing player that clipped his son.

A Sure Sign of the Apocalypse… A 45 year old basketball coach at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Enola, PA. has been accused of trying to bribe referees to fix church youth league games!

CONFLICT

T HE B EGINNING

Perception vs Reality FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS. How many F’s are there in this statement? 3? 4? 5? Correct answer…..6

Perception vs Reality FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS. How is it that we can all look at the same thing and get different answers?

A Coaches Perception of Officials Arrogant Inconsistent Secretly pulling for the other team Lazy Blind

An Officials Perception of Themselves Fast as the wind Always in position Never seen a call they didn’t like Could coach better than that coach Still attractive to teenage girls

A Fan’s Perception of Officials Idiot Moron Idiot

“O FFICIAL ” F ACTS Bob Still, public relations manager for the NASO, which has more than 16,000 members For every 100 that join up… 33 will quit after one year Another 33 will quit after two years Losing two officials for every good one we find

W HY AREN ' T MORE PEOPLE INTERESTED IN OFFICIATING ? “They don't have the respect that was there when I started 20 years ago.” “The rookie officials don't have enough time to mature while officiating”. “Officials are expected to start perfect and get better.” “Kids are more in your face.” "Years ago, if a kid ever gave an official a hard time, the first person that got into him was the coach”. “The second person was probably the parents.” “Now parents are coming to you after the game, running you down to tell you "That was a horrendous call,' where they never did that before.”

E DUCATION Target our: Administration/Coaches/Parents/Student- Athletes There is really no difference in people, we are all professionals Understand that our roles are different Don’t confuse the roles As an AD/Coach/Parent-Model good behavior and instruct and demand it from your student-athletes, coaches and parents

Changing our Perspectives Perspective-Remember the F’s? Coaches, parents, athletes and officials each need to recognize what the other side looks like. Respect for the position. We don’t tell… – Farmers-Crops/Police-Investigations. – Dentist-Fillings/Lawyers-Practice Law. But in our society, it is okay to tell… – Coaches-How to coach/Teachers-how to teach. – Officials how to officiate.

The Key Ingredients in the Partnership Student/Athlete Officials Coaches Educating our Youth Parents/Fans

How Officials Can Help Competent Confident Humble Hustle Consistent Mentor

Questions And Answers

Colfax School District Office Cell “Often times the task ahead of you is not beyond your ability, but simply beyond your work ethic” Mike Morgan Band Director/Athletic Director/Head Football Coach