Athletics and Boosters: A Critical Partnership
Many of our coaches have recently shared their thoughts and concerns with me about the quality of officiating at their games. I would like share my perspective on this topic. I fully understand that officials at the high school level are not always of the highest quality. However, I do not see it improving a great deal in the near future. Fewer and fewer young people are choosing to become officials because of the abusive behaviors of spectators, parents, coaches and players towards officials.
With this in mind, I would like to share a different perspective:
- It has been my experience in my 35 years in athletics that it is a rare occurrence that an official actually determines the outcome of a contest. It is even a rarer occurrence when a call has been overturned because of the protests of a coach or player.
- The teams you coach will model your behavior on the sideline. A coach who is constantly complaining about the officiating will have a difficult time restraining his/her players from doing the same. A coach’s behavior will have a strong influence on how parents and fans respond to the game officials.
- Constant complaining about the officials creates a negative energy to the game. Your players’ focus quickly becomes the officials and not the execution of the game plan.
- Successful teams move on very quickly from bad calls and focus on the game itself. I would tell my players that the officials have no bearing on how well we play. The only person allowed to speak with officials should be the coach! Players I coached who complained about the officials would be immediately removed from the game. If you follow this rule, the likelihood of having a player disqualified from the game is remote. I can almost predict which teams will have issues with officials based on the behavior and perspective of the head coach.
- I would also recommend that coaches not share any derogatory or negative comments about the officials with players or parents. It is very easy to use poor officiating as an excuse for poor performance. There is an avenue to evaluate officials, but it should be done privately and with the athletic director sometime after the game has concluded.
- If a coach has a concern about player safety, he/she should ask to speak with the official privately, not in public view. It will only escalate things!
- It has also been my experience that teams who are constantly berating the officials rarely get the benefit of close calls. One of the worst things is to have a team that has a reputation for disrespect and poor sportsmanship. Officials speak to each other about the poor sportsmanship of certain schools and these schools are usually more closely scrutinized.
- Coaches would do well to teach their players to do their best at all times and disregard the calls of the officials. Use the call that went against you as motivation to play harder, not make excuses or complain more.
- During my time in Passaic County, the Bergen/Passaic Umpire’s Association picked a sportsmanship award winner each season. As the baseball coach at Clifton High School, we won the award six different times. Although we won many games and championships during that time, I am most proud of the sportsmanship awards we received. I truly believe our winning was a side effect of doing things the right way and treating everyone – opponents, spectators, and officials with respect at all times, regardless of how they treated us! We convinced our players that if were fundamentally sound and executed the program’s principles and game plans, the final results of the game had very little to do with our opponents or the game officials.
- The real truth is that missed calls usually even out over the course of the season.
- Make sportsmanship and respect towards others a priority this season. You just might find your teams are being more successful on the field as well because they are more focused on the task at hand.
Sincerely,
Paul Pignatello
Supervisor of Athletics
Montville Township High School
100 Horseneck Road
Montville, NJ 07045
