Inside the Toxic World of Youth Sports Officiating

"A sports environment that tolerates abuse of officials is a sports environment that tolerates abuse.”

Hi friends, including our new subscribers – thank you! It’s been so cool connecting with many of you already. I love your youth sports stories, the passion you have for this newsletter, and your ideas on how to grow this community. There’s so much easel here, and I can’t wait to keep exploring. Today, we spotlight one of the most serious issues in youth sports – officiating. No, I’m not talking about the ref who neglected to call what was clearly a sea of fouls on your poor child. I’m talking about the whole landscape which is often toxic for current refs and not exactly appealing to prospective ones. Are there solutions other than mandating certain parents and coaches wear a muzzle to games? Let’s explore.

Troye Adams exits a Northern California ballpark at 10:45 PM after calling balls and strikes for five straight youth travel baseball games. He’s light on his feet and in a chipper mood. Today went relatively smooth. Sure, Adams had the usual string of testy parents yelling at him. Are you blind? What kind of shitty zone is that?  But he didn’t have to eject any coaches, and no one called Adams, a Black man, the n-word as they have on other days.  

Baseball umpires are not alone when it comes to unsavory job conditions on the youth sports scene. Hockey refs, youth football officials, soccer refs. Name the sport and if you’re making the calls, chances are you’ve subjected to some level of abuse. The rising costs and professionalization of youth sports (sigh) are only escalating bad behavior as every call or non-call comes under more scrutiny.

Why would anyone want to do this job?  For the most part, they don’t.

The New York Times reported that 50,000 high school referees quit between 2018-2021, per a report from the National Federation of State High School Associations. That’s a 20% drop.

The verbal abuse is everywhere. Officials first must live it, then they’re exposed to the worst of it on social media.  Add in low pay, no real benefits to speak of, and a minuscule chance of progression (only the most elite of the elite refs get a crack at the college level), and well, it’s not much of a sell to the general population.

Adams, who is in his 50’s, has been umping for 16 years. It’s not much pay when you consider gas prices and that he often splits a hotel room with fellow umps for those late night to early morning turnarounds.  Adams says he typically is forced to eject one coach every day he umps. Often, it’s the parents crossing the line but since he’s not allowed to eject fans, it’s the coach who must take the fall. Still, Adams remains an umping staple because, like most veteran officials, he’s numb to the constant criticism. He has to be.

“Ignorance is bliss,” Adams says. “I have to ignore it and move on. I don’t take it personally. I just feel terrible for the players whose parents are yelling.”

While the $56 he earns umping 8U-12U games and $61 for 13U and up supplements his day job as a custodian at a college in Alameda, CA, it’s the love of the game and love of the kids that truly keeps Adams behind the plate.

“The rapport I have with so many players, I think it’s the coolest thing. I love being able to teach them and talk to them. I think it’s a different perspective when I tell them the same thing their coaches are telling them.”

(Troye Adams poses with a team from Nevada. Photo courtesy of Troye Adams.)

Adams points out that it’s only a select few who tarnish the experience, and that most players and coaches are decent. But those select few are tantamount to why we are amid an officiating crisis. No one wants wants to be verbally abused for doing their job.

Officially Human, an Illinois-based company whose mission is to “restore respect to game officials and recognize them as authorities on the fields and courts,” recently conducted an extensive “state of officiating” survey of over 18,000 officials at the high school level and below in 15 states. The results were illuminating.

Some highlights:

-  50% are over the age of 55, and 45% say they have 6 years or less in their careers.

-  66% believe their area doesn’t have enough officials to work games.

-  Soccer (77%), field hockey (75%), lacrosse (73%), and baseball (73%) are the sports officials cite as having the most shortages.

-  The top reasons officials quit: verbal abuse from parents/fans (60%) and verbal abuse from coaches (50%)

-  80% believe fans don’t know the rules of their sport.

-  70% rank love of sports as the top reason for officiating.

These officiating trends are the key culprit of a mass exodus that is having a deeper impact on youth sports than a lack of bodies to call games.

“A sports environment that tolerates abuse of officials is a sports environment that tolerates abuse,” says Dave Patterson of Colorado Springs, CO, who has officiated everything from volleyball to basketball to hockey over the past 20 years and is now deeply entrenched in officiating recruiting and development.

He sees the toxicity as not only turning off officials but prospective youth sports parents as well. “Imagine a person comes to watch their niece or nephew, sees the abuse and then thinks, ‘When I have a kid, there’s no way I’m putting them in this environment.’”

Patterson says he fears most for those officiating sports like soccer and basketball where there are no barriers between fans and refs. And even then, It’s not just fans and coaches that bring the vitriol. In 2013, soccer referee Ricardo Portillo was killed in Utah when a 17-year-old player punched him for pulling out a yellow card. Portillo sustained serious internal head injuries and died seven days later. The case of Portillo is an outlier but there is an inherent element of danger within the current state of officiating.

There’s also a gender issue, and not just because of the environment. While women are breaking the officiating glass ceiling in a multitude of professional sports, it’s extremely difficult to recruit them at the youth level. “It’s a boys club, a closed off place,” Patterson says. “It’s not a welcoming environment. Officials are very critical of each other.” Misogynist idiots like Claudio Reyna aren’t helping matters. One effective recruiting tool for umpires is the Bring a Friend program but that usually results in dudes bringing dudes.

So, if officiating is becoming more toxic and most officials are men with AARP cards, what does the mean for the future? Well, it’s rather grim unless something changes and fast.

Increased pay is always a good start – and youth sports can probably afford the hit – but Patterson does have a few interesting ideas that are aimed at a massive cultural shift.

Mandate leagues to take a pledge.

Patterson, who is from Canada, says some Canadian hockey leagues don’t allow parents to enter the rink unless they have completed a Respect in Sport course. It’s a course that trains parents to essentially not yell at anyone, including the refs.

Coaches typically must undergo background checks and complete SafeSport training aimed at awareness of physical and emotional abuse of kids. Mandating parents to operate with a base level of respect seems like a logical extension.

More protection for junior refs.

When hockey refs are starting out in Colorado, they are often overseen by a senior ref like Patterson who can train them in real time. He also notes that some leagues have an official under 18 wear a brightly colored armband which is designed to remind parents and coaches that the official is a kid as well. Have some patience and humanity.

Photo by Ross Bonander on Unsplash

Signage.

Patterson says posting a number of signs about respecting the game and respecting the refs can go a long way, citing Hockey Canada’s, Canada’s governing body for hockey, campaign about officials.

“The asshole never saw the poster in the rink and thought, ‘Oh, that’s me,’ but the asshole’s friend felt more able to say, ‘hey man, cut it out.’” It empowered the bystander.

Basic understanding.

Some coaches and parents expect youth sports refs who are either doing the work pro bono or making a minimal amount to instantly understand the deep intricacies of the sport’s rulebook. Patterson says when he trains umpires who are starting out, he hones in on the core rules. Mastery of ball/strike, safe/out, and fair/foul are expected. But knowing how to rule a complicated interference on the fly? That’s the stuff that only comes from game experience.

Until some of these changes or others like them are implemented, youth sports remain a breeding ground for abuse. Officials know it and are peeling off. New officials are not signing up, and those that do aren’t sticking around for the long haul.

If you’re a sports league that doesn’t want to see every little league game and youth soccer match turn into anarchy, you better figure out a way to make officiating more desirable. Status quo isn’t cutting it.