Initiative aims to bolster dwindling referee ranks for Las Vegas youth sports

By Casey Harrison (contact)

Friday, July 29, 2022 | 2 a.m.

A shortage of high school sports referees is so severe in Las Vegas that leaders with the Southern Nevada Officials Association fear they might not be able to staff all of the prep games in the seasons that begin next month.

But help, they hope, could be on the way.

A new partnership announced Thursday between the association and the College of Southern Nevada will seek to boost recruitment amid a “critical” shortage of referees and umpires to officiate local youth athletic leagues and showcases, officials said.

As part of the partnership, the association will have permanent offices at CSN’s campuses and access to the community college’s facilities to conduct meetings and training sessions, said Margo Martin, CSN’s chief of accreditation and institutional effectiveness.

Beginning in the fall 2023 semester, CSN will introduce a sports officiating associate’s degree, in addition to related certifications and coursework, she said. An estimated cost for the partnership was not given.

“It’s a true win-win-win,” Martin said, adding that more than 200 officials were at the college’s Charleston campus last week for the association’s inaugural training session at the school. “It’s a win for SNOA, it’s a win for CSN, but probably more importantly, it’s a win for the community-at-large.”

The partnership will entail the hiring of a recruitment coordinator to hire CSN students and an advertising campaign to spread awareness about the officiating vacancies, Martin said. Additionally, a specialized store will be opened at the Charleston campus, allowing prospective and returning officials to buy or rent uniforms and equipment.

Equipment costs and registration fees for a varsity football referee can cost more than $200, said Vince Kristosik, the president of the officials association, meaning the chance to rent equipment can make a big difference for first-time officials.

“That’s always a huge roadblock with us, once we tell them the upfront costs and it has to come out of pocket, a lot of people aren’t willing to do it,” said Kristosik, who has been calling games for more than 30 years. “(Now,) either in the middle of the season or end of the season after they start making some money officiating, then they have the option to purchase their equipment outright.”

Between retirees of the local police and firefighting agencies across the valley, as well as those from nearby Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman is hopeful the recruitment will jump once the public finds out about the need.

It was Goodman who helped facilitate the relationship between the officials association andCSN, they said.

“We have so many people that could take advantage of participating in this program as it goes forward,” Goodman said. “This is going to be electrifying.”

Marc Ratner, the commissioner of officials for the association, seconded the notion and added that the only prerequisite for becoming an official is having a passion for the game.

“You don’t have to be an athlete, you can learn to be an official,” Ratner said. “There’s so much room for advancement. It’ll turn into a vocation if you want it to.”

Before the pandemic, the association had roughly 1,000 officials, and that number shrunk to 676 by the end of last year, Kristosik said.

Many of those officials that left, he said, cited the low cost of working a game (about $71.25 for a varsity game, and can be as low as $27 for clock operators and other support positions), high costs of transportation and nasty interactions with overzealous coaches, parents and sometimes even athletes.

One confrontation at a Las Vegas community center in May garnered national attention after referee Perry Woodward was assaulted after a game. The incident — which arose after Woodward stepped in to help another referee who was being accosted by the trio — left Woodward with a concussion, bleeding on the brain, five fractured teeth, a fractured left ankle and bruising all over his body.

“When I tell you it’s bad, it’s really bad,” said Jeff Kaufman, head boys basketball coach at Coronado High School and chair of the Nevada Basketball Coaches Association. “A lot of guys that have been doing this for a long time and they enjoy it a lot. A lot of them are ex-athletes, they enjoy being around the kids and they enjoy being around the sport, but they’re not going take the abuse that they take.”

Due to the lack of staffing, a lot of novice referees are forced into working games that a more experienced official would have called in the past, Kristosik said. That can result in officials missing a call and exacerbating the tension with coaches and spectators.

“Every person that puts on these stripes, they put a lot of heart into it,” said Larry Hanson, who’s been with association for 32 years and is an assistant replay official for the NFL. “They put their time into it and they want to get it right.”

Kristosik and Kaufman both said they thought it was up to coaches to set the standard for acceptable behavior, whether it be themselves, athletes or the parents. If a coach is acting unruly toward a referee, they said, then others may see it as permission to act the same.

And while the issue of conduct at games may take time to fully remedy, they said, officials and the SNOA can hold up their end of the bargain by continuing recruitment and training efforts. CSN athletic director Dexter Irvin agreed, and believes it’s incumbent upon everyone involved to remember the point of youth athletics is to inspire leadership and sportsmanship.

“Our youths cannot play, they cannot be a part of these great things that we call sports if we don’t have these wonderful men and women that are officials here,” Irvin said.

“We have great support from our political leaders, from our friends, from our interscholastic leaders, but we have to step forward as a community and make sure that our youth had the same opportunities that we had.”