LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — Starting next fall, Hempfield School District in Lancaster County is offering a new course to address a big need.
That need is the constant shortage of officials at sporting events.
It’s a shortage across leagues ranging from club, AAU, Jr. high and varsity. They all have something in common, the lack of officials and needing to schedule games around availability.
Hempfield hopes the program encourages the next generation of officials as schools struggle to find enough for games.
Uncontrolable circumstances, like the weather, make the problem worse.
“When you have a game that’s delayed or postponed whether it’s the weather or whatever, it’s not an instant, 'Oh yeah, we’ll just move it here,' because we have to make sure we can get officials," said Ryan Landis, Hempfield School District's athletic director
Central Pennsylvania saw it early in the fall sports season, when storms swept through the area. Games were rescheduled for Saturday and even Monday.
Hempfield School District is trying to address and solve the problem through education.
“There’s a couple different things we hope they take from this class; they’ll at least appreciate the challenge of being an official, how it’s not an easy job," said Mark Ashley, the health and physical education department coordinator and boys soccer head coach.
Ashley says the Black Knights will offer a sports officiating health and PE class next fall.
“Some of these student-athletes will pursue this as a part-time job. So, it’s an opportunity to earn some extra income to help fill a need in the community," he explained.
Several schools around the keystone state offer this class to students.
This course isn’t as easy as sliding into home plate – it’s a rigorous memorization of rules and regulations students will be tested on throughout the semester -- preparing the future refs for the National Federation of High School Athletics test.
“It’s a case of trying to recruit the next generation because it is something you need to be active enough and fit enough to do and high school athletes are. They just don’t have the knowledge and hopefully the course will do that," Ashley said.
Ashley says the course will try to focus on the top four or five sports of the students choosing. The course will be available for juniors as a PE credit and seniors as an elective.
Students that pass the NFHS test will be eligible to officiate.