[stripedofficial]

Officials will never get any better unless requirements and regulations are changed. They're several states that have taken steps to rectify the situation but unfortunately Kentucky is not one of them. Here are a few things that have helped in other states......

*The officials have an association just like any coaches association, and they have a recruiter in different areas of the state. Most are retired officials. They recruit athletes and former coaches and anyone else they feel would make the cut.
*Each official is required to attend 4 six hour courses for each sport they wish to officiate in. If he/she wants to officiate in another sport, then they will have to attend that same course for the specified sport. At the end of the course, a written exam is given, and depending on the score, they will be issued a probationary officials license for that individual sport.
*After you receive your license, you're assigned a mentor, and will be required to officiate at the middle school level for a set amount of time. They will gradually move up levels as they are graded on each game. Once you reach a certain level that will be when you can move up to high school or even college games.
*Each area is assigned a game reviewer for each sport and a lot of times it is the assigning secretary for that sport. They will grade each game and you will receive a grade and feedback.
*Each sport will also have a disciplinary board that will decide on anything protested.
*Any violations will result in either, suspension, a drop in level, fine, or even expulsion
*All games that have rookie officials will also have at least two tenured, high level officials also apart of that crew.
*Post-season games will be determined by the levels the officials have met. The grading aspect of the new system allows for officials to be dropped to lower levels depending on any infractions. Which means, just because you have been officiating for twenty years doesn't mean you will have a high enough level to officiate post-season and/or championship games.
*Every summer and off-season of any sport you are certified in will be time for all rookies to move up and get part of their required hours in. Veteran officials are also encouraged to do the same.
*Each year, every certified official will be required to renew their licenses. This can be done by one four-hour course that will go over everything you've already learned as well as any new rules and regulations for that particular sport. Anyone that fails to renew will not be put on the officiating list and will have to retake the full course in order to do so if an abundant amount of time has gone by.

Thats a nice thought but 2 things. Take the 14th Region for example. This year had about 25 ellidge officials total to call total. Out of only 25 people willing to do this now with the rules as they are, how will we ever find the people to create a system of officials? Now take into account most of those officials either work in a school system or played in a system. The assigner has to move those 25 guys of all different abilities around these schools.

The second thing is your idea has a lot of ideas that involve people doing things for free. I'Ve learned no one works for free. Those trainings and videos and assessments and evaluations. Those people gotta be paid.

[baseball1974]

Thats a nice thought but 2 things. Take the 14th Region for example. This year had about 25 ellidge officials total to call total. Out of only 25 people willing to do this now with the rules as they are, how will we ever find the people to create a system of officials? Now take into account most of those officials either work in a school system or played in a system. The assigner has to move those 25 guys of all different abilities around these schools.

The second thing is your idea has a lot of ideas that involve people doing things for free. I'Ve learned no one works for free. Those trainings and videos and assessments and evaluations. Those people gotta be paid.

Sorry I should've been more clear. These are not my ideas. This actually is part of a proposal put together by a Midwest state's high school athletic association. Also, part of the proposal that I didn't post(because it was too long) explains how they believe the new system will be put into place over a five year span. These are also going to be paid positions, and it sounds like they are wanting to add certain duties to already established positions so they won't have to create more. Once they are able to start an organization then sponsors and other partner organizations will be apart of it, which will help off-set some of the cost. The organization also requires fees, just like all coaches associations. It will basically be set up the exact way as most coaches organizations. In regards to needing more people to officiate, that is where an area recruiter comes into play. A lot of people will say they don't get into things like that because they don't know how or the process. Just having that recruiter alone will boost a lot of interest. That's why the five years was set into motion. By the time that is up, there should be enough people to where the full system can go into affect. The officials there now will hopefully end up being the ones mentoring the others after they get certified themselves. The five years also is there so they can account for "wash-outs." I'm sure some will feel they don't need it and would rather quit. When this was emailed to me a few weeks ago I thought it was great, and like everything else, there will be a few kinks to iron out. However, a system like this will not only bring back a sense of respect to officials, it's also going to attract more and more athletes that aren't wanting to go into coaching after college. I can tell you from personal experience, an official that has played the game at a high level is a lot less likely to be challenged by coaches during a game. I think this type of system and accountability will weed the bad ones out.