Making Officials Feel Appreciated at High School Athletic Contests

No red carpet is necessary, but schools that can provide a proverbial welcome mat to sports officials working at their facilities will find those efforts help keep officials in the avocation and better ensure there are enough officials to cover all contests.

It’s the little things that make a huge difference. None of them is hard to do, but they require a little preparation and effort to execute. Here are some tips for extending hospitality to your sports officials. These small steps can make officials feel appreciated for the role they play in high school athletics.

Before the Contest
Communicate early. If there are changes to the time, date or site of a contest, reach out to the assignor and officials. Officials understand that changes can happen. More than 24-hours notice is highly recommended, especially if the changes are significant enough that the originally assigned officials might not be able to work the contest anymore. If new officials need to be found, there needs to be enough time for the assigner to do their behind-thescenes work.

Pass along key details. Especially for officials who haven’t worked at a school before, letting them know where to park, which doors to enter, who they should contact on arrival, etc., can help them get where they need them to be. No one is likely to complain about a school overcommunicating about details. The less an official has to worry about finding where to go, the more officials can be mentally focused on the officiating tasks of the day. Also, if there are special events taking place at the contests, such as homecoming or senior night, that’s good information to relay in advance as well.

Day of the Contest
Greet the contest officials on arrival and have someone lead them to their dressing facilities. It’s not a good start when the officials wander around, eventually find an entry table, ask where to go and get shrugs in response.

Some schools use student activities groups to serve as officials ambassadors. They escort officials around the school from arrival to departure and assist them as guests. It’s a little touch that makes a big impact on making officials feel welcome and valued.

Certainly, not every facility has a changing area or locker room set aside just for officials. Not every locker room is going to be large. But there’s one critical thing: that space needs to be secure. Officials shouldn’t have to worry about their stuff, and they should have a private space to conduct their business.

If the space isn’t secure, or there are coaches — or even players — coming and going through a space, it’s detrimental to the work those officials need to do. There have been cases with officials being plopped right into the visitor’s locker room. Sometimes, facility constraints might pose challenges, but officials should not have to share the same room with one of the teams. That’s a recipe for trouble.

There needs to be a sanctity to the official’s locker room. Officials need space to prepare before the game, review those preparations at halftime and, then, conduct a postgame review, which might involve official activities, such as preparing postgame reports that need to be filed with the school or state association. And after a tough game, it’s good to have that private space to decompress. Especially for sports like basketball, where there is a high level of physical activity by the officiating crew, access to showers is recommended.

Another appreciated touch: Have available some bottled water or sports drinks, and perhaps some energy or granola bars. At a minimum, make sure officials have access to water. Depending on the sport, officiating can be physically demanding.

During a contest, officials should be able to focus on what is happening on the court, field, diamond, pitch, deck or mat. They should not have to deal with unruly spectators. Ensure a game administrator is present to deal with those situations, and that all game site staff is aware of their roles in handling situations with spectators.

After the Contest
It is imperative that the person with the keys to the officials’ dressing area or private restroom is present (including at halftime and the end of the contest) to let the officials in their “safe haven.” Too many times, negative situations can arise when officials are left stranded outside their dressing room.

After the officials are changed, have a security guard or other staff member escort the officials to their vehicles. It’s critical that officials are safe from arrival to departure from your school.

Finally, schools should ensure timely payment of officials is made. Nothing is worse for an official than having to track down payment for services rendered. If there is particular paperwork required in your district as part of that process — whether that’s providing a W-9 or something more — make sure that’s clearly outlined, and that links or forms are provided. Many times, officials have made inquiries into lack of payment only to hear, “Well, you never filled out X form,” but the official was never told that paperwork was needed.

The little things a school does can have a huge impact on keeping officials in the avocation and reducing the impact of the shortage of officials.

It’s a challenging job to officiate, and little steps schools take to provide the best environment for officials to do that job will not only help retain officials, it will help officials focus better on the actual officiating tasks.

The best way to approach hospitality for the officials is to remember that athletic administrators, coaches, players and officials are all part of the same interscholastic family. If schools treat officials like family and greet them at the door, offer them something to eat or drink, provide them with a safe place to stay for a couple of hours and make sure they get safely on the road, they can’t go wrong.