Will the game go on?

It can be argued that extracurricular activities are the best part of high school. Getting to play basketball or football or whatever sport (or other activity) that ignites your passion undoubtedly serves as a great incentive to not only go to school, but to also do well in your classes, and provides memories that last a lifetime.
Unfortunately, there is a crisis that could threaten the life of sporting activities at both the high school and middle school levels. Wyoming, as well as other states across the nation, is facing a shortage of both coaches and officials and the situation is only getting worse.
While Newcastle may not be in as serious a situation as other schools across the state, according to NHS Athletic Director Mike Gregory, it is still a struggle to fill needed positions for coaching staff and for referees to officiate contests.
“It’s getting tougher to find local officials,” Gregory admitted. “When I first started, we had a pretty good pool of referees, but there has been a lot of changes since then. Right now, we still have a decent pool to pull from, but that’s not the case around the state.”
Finding people to coach the numerous sports throughout the school year at both the high school and middle schools levels is also a challenge. Currently, there are 35 coaching vacancies posted on the Wyoming School Boards Association website and that is not a comprehensive list of what is needed around the state of Wyoming.
Locally, NMS is looking for two football, one wrestling, two basketball and one track coach for next school year. At the high school they need one football coach, and a head wrestling coach which has been a vacant position for over six years. Lee McCoy is, and has been, the head coach during that time, but he is Upton’s head coach so if NHS ever goes away from that co-op they are without a head coach.
The head coach position for girls’ soccer is open as well as both boys’ soccer positions, and Gregory noted that he is in the middle of a volleyball coaching change which will probably be filled, but there is a possibility of an opening there.
The high school does have a couple of teaching positions open, but unfortunately, applicants aren’t lining up down the block. In addition, those who do apply are not coming in with coaching endorsements like they did in the past.
“Colleges are not encouraging those seeking a teaching degree to get coaching endorsements like they used to, so I think that the younger the applicant is, the less likely they are to have some kind of coaching certification unless that’s their passion,” Gregory declared. “When I was in school, they talked about making yourself marketable by acquiring coaching certification, but I know they are getting away from that now.”
With a smaller pool of certified coaches to draw from, filling those positions from within the district is becoming more and more difficult. This is due in a large part to the negativity that surrounds the position these days.
“I would say that the pressure from the stands is the biggest drawback when it comes to people wanting to get into coaching,” Gregory sighed. “I don’t think a lot of parents truly realize what our coaches go through, not only here, but at a national level. They certainly aren’t doing it for the money, and they put up with a lot of adversity that eventually isn’t worth their sacrifices.”
By the time one figures the hours coaches put in, they are making pennies an hour, and possibly even losing money throughout the year. When off-season workouts, summer camps, and open gyms are factored in, these people are working year-round for a two- to three-month season’s worth of pay.
“Our coaches do the job because they are building a program. Winning and losing isn’t everything,” Gregory explained. “We’re trying to build character and teach kids life lessons. And it’s not just the Xs and Os that these coaches are facing, it’s what kind of night did Johnny have last night and that kind of thing. You almost need a psychology degree to coach these days.”
Gregory admitted that he doesn’t know the answer to get more people to pick up a clipboard because he knows that his coaches get frustrated because they sometimes feel they are not supported like they should be at different levels.
“I think if our fans would let our coaches coach, it would be a lot better,” he predicted. “These people sacrifice time with their own families to be there for the team, and they do it because of their passion for the game and for the kids that play. Eventually, it becomes too much if the abuse continues to pile on them.”
Unfortunately, the lack of people willing to coach is just part of the bigger problem because the number of certified and registered officials in Wyoming is dwindling as well. In an open letter to parents posted on the Wyoming High School Activities Association website earlier this year, Karissa Niehoff, executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations, in conjunction with Ron Laird, commissioner of WHSAA, exposed some alarming statistics regarding officials in the state
According to the letter, there are more officials over 60 years of age than under 30 so the law of attrition makes it clear that there will be a shortage of officials sooner rather than later. In fact, some areas have had to postpone or cancel events due to a shortage already.
“According to a recent survey by the National Association of Sports Officials, more than 75 percent of all high school officials say ‘adult behavior’ is the primary reason they quit,” the letter states. “And 80 percent of all young officials hang up their stripes after just two years of whistle blowing. Why? They don’t need your abuse.”
Gregory confirmed Neihoff and Laird’s claims by declaring that
fan behavior is probably the
biggest factor driving people out
of officiating.
“It is a probably a combination of dealing with coaches and dealing with fans, but it’s more of a fan issue I would say,” he began. “Refs know what to expect from coaches and they have the ability to deal with them if things get out of hand.”
If a coach gets too chippy in an official’s ear, they can issue a technical foul, a yellow card, or impose a penalty on that coach. However, their recourse for a loud-mouth fan is not as cut and dried. They can request that a game administrator eject the fan, and they can “T” one up, but they cannot clear the stands entirely. As such, officials must develop a really tough skin because they get a great deal of heckling from fans.
“It’s hard to know how to encourage people to put on the stripes because officiating high school and even middle school contests often takes place in a hostile environment,” Gregory began. “We are pretty fortunately actually, comparatively speaking, but it is tough. There are times you worry minute-to-minute whether your officials will show up, and you don’t relax until you see the whites of their eyes.”
Gregory is not alone in hoping that fan/parent behavior will see a marked improvement, because if not, the possibility of sports disappearing from middle and high school is very real. Without coaches and officials, there can be no game.