FRANKLIN — By now, it has become apparent that the official shortage in high school sports has morphed into quite a problem, and on a national level, no less.
This recent development can be attributed to a multitude of issues, many of which truly reared their ugly heads during the worldwide pandemic. Now the MIAA is attempting to combat the problem directly by partnering with a unique organization, RefReps.
“Your membership is saying that you’re the association of the Commonwealth,” said MIAA Executive Director Bob Baldwin. “What are you going to do to help us with the referee shortage? So, there’s a lot of things we’re doing. We’re helping sponsor some of the legislative bills, being behind those to make it safe for officials. But we need to set the tone with that, and we need to provide support and resources for the membership so we can grow the pool of officials.”
During a meeting that lasted nearly two hours Wednesday, the MIAA and its Board of Directors attempted to cover a wide array of topics, with the implementation of RefReps being one of the main points of discussion. The online-based officiating education system was originally discovered in recent years in Indiana, with the ultimate goal of drawing a younger crop of referees to calling games. The next generation, if you will.
MIAA Associate Executive Director Richard Pearson first met with the company in March 2022. He was intrigued.
“Plain and simple, we’ve had a shortage of officials across the country and in the state of Massachusetts,” Pearson said. “It’s a belief that one of the (solutions) is to get some younger and more youthful officials into it. But part of (the problem) is the time with instruction, and the time that all takes. I think the goal here, when they jumped onboard as a digital and technological platform, is an efficient, and maybe less time-consuming way to do instruction. Therefore, maybe you get people on the field faster.”
An interesting fact regarding RefReps – 67.4% of new referees who have signed up for the service nationally have been under the age of 34. Meanwhile, 86.6% of new applicants have expressed an interest in a long-term officiating career. As of now, the MIAA has obtained 103 licenses from the organization, one of which will go to each of its state boards. Pearson believes the Commonwealth could be using the new educational system as soon as this upcoming fall season if all pans out.
The MIAA addressed a few other topics of note during discussions, in addition to working on its upcoming fiscal plans. After a brief deliberation, Jean Charles Academy was accepted as the latest school member to join the ranks. The Lynn-based institution was voted in with a unanimous count.
Could the MIAA also be looking at updating its website even further? Since taking over as assistant director of communications last year, Jim Clark has helped oversee a complete revamp of the state’s power rankings system, and with plenty of success. Now, he says the company could be partnering with either Gravity Works Design or FusionPoint Sports, two sites dedicated to streamlining high school tournaments through their sleek web layouts. That said, this would not spell the end of Arbiter. The MIAA plans to assess things as the months progress.
“We’ve been having the internal conversation as to which direction we want to go in,” said Clark. “Like (Baldwin) said, we really want to try to wrap this process up sooner rather than later. But we want to give the Board of Directors the courtesy of seeing what our thought processes, and our options are, go from there.”