Stenersen's View Blog - Earning Their Stripes

Earning Their Stripes

Oct 15

Written by: Steve Stenersen
10/15/2012 5:35 PM

The NFL’s recent officiating debacle provides the perfect example of what can happen when improperly trained officials take the field in any sport. Unfortunately, the lack of consistent, national education and training requirements for officials has been an issue in men’s and women’s lacrosse for many years. With the exception of college officials, national certification requirements for which have been in place for a number of years, the responsibility of educating and training youth and high school lacrosse officials has been largely the responsibility of independent local officials associations. While these associations continue to play an important role in the sport’s development, the way they train and evaluate youth and high school officials varies widely because, prior to US Lacrosse, no standardized officials training and certification requirements existed. This longstanding inconsistency has resulted in significant differences in how games are called, which is compromising player safety to a greater and greater degree.

Thankfully, lacrosse officials associations now have the opportunity to require a national education curriculum for their officials at all levels of play, which has been developed by US Lacrosse and its Men’s and Women’s Game Officiating Subcommittees. The adoption of standardized training protocols for officials according to this national curriculum, along with the adoption and consistent enforcement of nationally-published youth and high school rules, would seem like an obvious step in assuring the sport’s responsible growth and, most importantly, player safety. But some officials and/or their local officials associations have been resistant to adopt this philosophy choosing, instead, to perpetuate regional differences in how the game is officiated and played.

Officials deserve our appreciation and respect for providing a service, under often challenging circumstances, that is so fundamental to fair and safe competition. But I believe they must also be held accountable to meet educational standards that are consistent with that responsibility. Because of the essential role they play, officials are uniquely positioned to provide leadership and exert influence to improve the quality of the player experience, as well as their own working conditions.

Assignors within local officials associations, who are contracted by youth leagues, high school associations and tournaments to provide qualified officials to games and events, also play a critical role. Too often, they enable tournaments to register more teams than can adequately be serviced by assigning officials to 5, 6 and even 7 games a day in the heat of summer. I’ve attended dozens of tournaments, both as a parent and administrator, in which officials have either refused or not been unable to run the field. No one can argue that officials are not at their best after 5 or 6 games in 100 degree heat, so why do assignors agree to compromise the quality of the officiating services they are paid to provide, the safety of players and, to some degree, the wrath of parents by agreeing to such working conditions?

Lacrosse officials associations, assignors and the officials they represent have a powerful option -- refuse to accept assignments that require working conditions (rules or game schedule) that inappropriately jeopardize player safety or game integrity, impact the quality of their performance, or increase their own liability exposure. Leagues and tournaments will quickly adjust, I assure you, because they desperately need officials.

Just as important, youth leagues and tournament organizers must demand that their investment in officiating services – typically their biggest expense – is contingent upon the assignment of at least two qualified officials, properly-trained according to US Lacrosse-established education standards and rule mechanics, to every game. In many cases this won’t happen unless consumers – the parents who care so deeply about the safety of their children, as well as the opportunity lacrosse can provide, exercise their influence to make sure that officials, leagues and tournaments are each doing the right thing. US Lacrosse is doing its part, as well, by launching our Gold Stick Standards of Excellence as a way for parents and administrators to differentiate between lacrosse leagues and events that follow national best-practices…and those that don’t. To learn more, visit www.uslacrosse.org/GoldStick.

P.S. I know what you’re thinking – the relative shortage of lacrosse officials requires their ranks to be stretched in order to meet the increasing demand. If we limit the number of tournament games an official can work in a given day, for example, tournaments won’t be able to invite (collect fees from) as many teams, and kids won’t have the “opportunity” to play as many games. Here’s a news flash – kids don’t need to play more lacrosse games, especially if the quality of experience is poor. Playing more lacrosse games doesn’t make young players better…better instruction makes a young player better. Time off from lacrosse makes a young player better, as does participating in other sports. Tournaments and many clubs aren’t focused on making your child a better player…they’re focused on making money.

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138 comment(s) so far...

Re: Earning Their Stripes

Additional information about the US Lacrosse officials training and education program is available online at www.uslacrosse.org/officials.

By USL on 10/22/2012 5:39 PM

Re: Earning Their Stripes

You bring up some very good points. The safety of the players should be the number 1 concern. Overall, it is in the best interest of the game as a whole, when educated officials are there to implement the proper safety precautions and provide for a enjoyable playing experience.

Lacrosse Shorts

By Lacrosse Shorts on 10/29/2012 11:31 AM

Re: Earning Their Stripes

Steve,
Terrific blog post. I officiated lacrosse for 7 years, coached for several years, and been a parent on the sidelines at competitive youth lacrosse tournaments for many years. I am very concerned that many tournaments, especially larger tournaments, present a time bomb waiting to go off, in terms of certified, qualified, experienced, officials, and officials who are in good enough physical shape to supervise the safety of the game.

We're addressing children running around with metal poles being swung at and jabbed at other children, in a competitive game environment. We have young players learning to control their emotions, tempers, and physical or muscular control, while they are running. And we need to provide for as safe an environment as possible, within the context of a competitive sporting contest.

Many tournaments have become too big--too many teams playing to have adequate officials on the field. Folks of good intention appear to be inadvertently placing revenues ahead of player safety, when game officials do not have adequate skills, rules knowledge and physical conditioning to provide a safe competitive playing circumstance. Large tournaments assign the better officials to the high school and U-15 division games, understandably. As a result, in many larger tournaments, the U-13 and U-11 division games often have very new, or rather old, officials on the field.

I've seen it this Fall, and I am angry about it.

I understand there are not enough qualified officials. Many tournaments are too big to pull in adequate numbers of qualified, and in good shape, officials. We must not overlook the importance of officials being in adequate physical condition to run with the players. When the officials cannot run with U-11's in the first tournament game of the day, you know there's a problem. Games get out of hand when the official is regularly not able to get into position. It becomes a clear safety issue.

When I sign a Waiver for my child to play in a lacrosse tournament, should I not be confident that somebody has vetted the lacrosse officials on the field and has made a determination that the officials' professional competence and physical ability to supervise the game for the players' safety? Who is doing that? And, if it is not really being done, other than by "a wink and a nod" I suspect the US Lacrosse insurance program may need to have its reserves reviewed.

How can I know in advance whether my team is attending a tournament where the officials really are "certified" by someone? I appreciate the US Lacrosse Level 1, 2 and 3 Officials Certifications. How do I know whether an official is certified by US Lacrosse, or has been re-certified? And how do I know the certification standards of various other certifiers of the lacrosse officials who we find assigned to the games at a tournament?

I can live with a bad call and a bad no-call from time to time--as long as the game is safe and adequately supervised for safety. But we adults need to look out for the safety of the kids.

I have witnessed a number of officials at larger tournaments who are not adequately knowledgable in the rules, and who are not adequately experienced to be officiating a competitive tournament in a manner that provides for the safety of the kids. I have witnessed even more lacrosse officials who are not in shape to do the job. When the trail official cant regularly run across the midfield into the offensive half of the field when the ball is in the attack box, let alone the lead getting into the attack box, then the game is not being safely supervised.

Look, even the best officials get older and fall out of shape. When they do, it does not necessarily follow that they should continue to officiate games at competitive tournaments, but be assigned to the U-11 and U-13 games.

I urge US Lacrosse also look into certifying lacrosse game officials' physical condition, as well, as uniform skills and experience certifications.

By Gerald Goulder on 11/7/2012 1:50 PM

Re: Earning Their Stripes - and related matters

Steve - great thought - a great idea and long overdue.

In a similar vein, I offer the following. I am coaching on the girls side, and have been involved with a good HS Club team for several years. I couldn't agree more, and also wish to weigh in on the last comment regarding tournament play - for its relation to what has been happening at the girls HS Club level of tournament play this fall is something that I am also very concerned about.

On the girls side, we have a problem of ever-increasing violence at the upper class teams on the HS Club level, and it seemed to get worse with each tournament this fall. I have asked around and my opinion in this regard is shared by other coaches, parents, and players, too. While I believe the problem starts with the coaching practices at some of the teams, we do have the tools in place to stop it - the various rules and 'points of emphasis' - provided, of course, that the referees are ready, willing, and able to enforce the rules.

To me, 'ready' implies knowledge of the Rules and of the ever-changing nuances of upper-level play. 'Willing' means that they are determined that play should proceed safely, within the rules, and that 'honor the game' is given more than mere lip service. 'Able' means that they're in condition and can get up and down the field so they can see what is happening, on-ball and off ball, throughout the games.

One other simple suggestion to remedy this problem is to add a third referee at the upper class levels of HS Club play - think 2013/2014 for the season we all just finished. Yes, I know that there is a shortage of trained referees - and clearly, they should all be playing off the same sheet of music, so to speak, but I will bet that most participants and teams would be willing to pay a little more to have a well qualified third official on the field in the upper classes of Club play.

One more thing - I have not seen this problem at the HS level; nor do I see it at the college level. Curiously, it seems to be limited to the top two classes at the HS level, and it IS getting worse. Something's got to be done, or we'll likely see some truly terrible injuries and great pressure for more protective gear on the girls side.

By j r d collins on 11/23/2012 10:03 AM

Re: Earning Their Stripes

Steve,

Thanks to you and USL for taking on a stand regarding National Certification of officials, AND for developing the Gold Stick Standards of Excellence. There are far too many leagues and "elite" programs that do not have the best interest of the game and players at heart. You have said it like it is: many of these programs are designed to make money.

The Gold Stick Standards of Excellence should at least provide an opportunity for parents to make informed decisions regarding tournaments and programs. Keep up the good work!

Betty Ann Giles

By Betty Ann Giles on 11/23/2012 10:03 AM

Re: Earning Their Stripes

Steve,

Good comments.

I'd like to add that advocating for national umpiring standards is something that most USL (and former USWLA) umpires have been working on since the beginning (i.e. even pre-USL). We umpires embrace high standards and testing (both on rules and fitness) and good working conditions (i.e. safe fields, reasonable number of games).

If an umpire is a member of USL, and therefore getting the email and notice of Steve's blog post, that umpire is probably already a member of a USL-sanctioned board that follows the training protocols that the umpiring group (at least for women) has developed over the years.

Unfortunately, the "officials and/or their local officials associations [tahat] have been resistant to adopt" "certification" or to following training protocols are the same ones that do not require USL membership. They are probably not the ones reading this message.

Coaches, leagues, and tournament organizers can help by requiring that any organization from whom they obtain umpires be USL members. This will help ensure they are adequately trained.

Linda

By Linda Thayer on 1/1/2013 4:43 PM

Re: Earning Their Stripes

Steve, you make some good points. As such I would ask that US Lacrosse consider either a national physical fitness standard for officials or consider increasing the number of officials who are assigned to certain USL events like Festivals and LAREDOS.

As a LAREDO clinician I have seen out-of-shape officials who are incapable of handling multiple games in a day in hot weather. But the number of participant refs in the LAREDO was limited by USL. Since officials pay to attend a LAREDO anyway it it less of a burden on USL.

I know that the LAREDO goal is to provide an attendee with as many observations as possible. So it's a fine line on keeping safety in mind and having too many officials on hand.

We have danced around a national fitness standard before. With the changes in the game making it faster such discussions should be brought to the forefront.

By Clint Bond on 1/1/2013 4:56 PM

Re: Earning Their Stripes

Great point, Linda, but please note that your comment refers only to women's officials at this time. US Lacrosse-member men's officials are not yet required to meet national training standards in order to maintain their membership, so US Lacrosse membership does not guarantee that a men's official is properly trained...although we are working to change that in the best interests of player safety.

By Steve Stenersen on 1/1/2013 4:56 PM

Re: Earning Their Stripes

Thanks, Clint. I believe that both of your comments are worthy of consideration.

By Steve Stenersen on 1/1/2013 4:57 PM

Re: Earning Their Stripes

Steve
I appreciate your support of officials and the need to have qualified officials who are physically able to officiate games at all levels. This was a great blog post! I do find that tournaments tend to require officials to work many games in a row to save on expenses and that concerns me from a safety viewpoint.
Clint makes an excellent point that officials have to make a commitment to be in shape to adequately cover the games in addition to having a knowledge of the rules and how to apply them. At the college level, it will be even more important to be in shape with the new rules and quick restarts. LAREDO is an excellent program and can be one of the avenues to require fitness, but each district should also address this. Tim McCaffery has sent out a memo from Roy Condon in District 1 to inform all officials of the importance of conditioning. In addition to having a knowledge of the rules, officials need to make the commitment to get in shape. When I reached 66, I found that I could not keep up with the college game but know I can still contribute at the high school level. After 35+ years of officiating both in Oregon and Massachusetts; I decided to retire from the college officiating ranks but continue to officiate high school games. My contribution to the college level will be as an observer. As with all sports, the athletes are getting faster, bigger, and stronger. We need to recruit and develop younger officials to keep up with this trend.
I expect in the programs for officials at the National Convention that fitness will be an emphasis. We need our officials core to grow with younger officials but also utilize the knowledge of our senior officials. US Lacrosse has made a tremendous commitment to train and recruit officials as the game we all love continues to grow at a astounding rate. Hopefully, as officials, we can can continue to help this growth with a safe and rewarding experience for the players.

By Sky Goodrich on 2/22/2013 1:06 PM

Re: Earning Their Stripes

I'm surprised to hear about this shortage of officials for tournaments. I'm an experienced official and, while I'm not as svelte as i was in my 20s, I'm in decent shape.

Yet, I never hear about opportunities to officiate tournaments out of my District. Heck, I could probably bring 3 or 4 officials with me.

Perhaps there needs to be better communication between districts.

Have stripes and flags, will travel.

Scott

By Scott Patterson on 2/22/2013 1:07 PM

Re: Earning Their Stripes

Steve, Great comments from everyone. I am entering my eighth year as a NFHS Rules official in lacrosse and eleventh in football. I have only 1 comment; there are 20 players and 3 man mechanics does not work anymore in lacrosse. The game has gotten too fast. We need more than three officials on the field. The field is bigger than a football field and moves as fast as basketball. In my opinion, it is time for at least 4 man mechanics and 6 man is a better way to go. High school football is moving in that direction for the assurance of player safety; so should lacrosse. Thank You