Recruiting the Next Generation of Coaches and Officials [NIAAA]

By: Gary Stevens, CMAA - Thornton Academy (Saco, Maine)

Like many state high school athletic associations, the Maine Principals' Association (MPA) has developed a social media campaign to attract recruits to fill its depleting ranks of sports officials.

One of its messages was crafted as an appeal to an ever-critical public belief about the need to become part of the solution to this problem.

"Let's give it up for the unsung heroes of our favorite sports: The officials!"

The advertisement proclaimed, "They deserve our thanks for giving up their nights and weekends, so students can always play the sports they love. Sign up to suit up today!"

Joel Stoneton is the athletic director and head football coach at Winthrop High School, located ten miles from Maine's capital city of Augusta. Prior to a home basketball game in 2022, Stoneton heard a similar plea being read by his public address announcer.

He immediately turned to his clock operator Ed Baehr, a math teacher at Winthrop and long-time official in football, basketball, and softball.

"These messages aren't really working, Ed," Stoneton said to his colleague. "Wouldn't it be great if we could help out in adding people to your boards?"

Recognizing that future sports referees were sitting in high school classrooms around Maine – including their own at Winthrop – Stoneton and Baehr embarked on developing a semester-long course in athletic leadership that could contribute to addressing the officiating shortage.

Knowing he was also having difficulty finding qualified coaches to fill any vacancies at his small, rural high school, Stoneton recognized this program could serve that need, too. The result was "Exploring Careers in Sports," an elective class whose target demographic was high school seniors. The inaugural classes were conducted in the 2022-2023 school year.

Baehr and Stoneton were very intentional in their efforts. At the beginning of the semester, they offered a personality test to students enrolled in the program and identified the sports in which they were interested in serving as either officials or coaches. For those students leaning towards the officiating path, the instructors employed the assistance of area assignors responsible for administering the sports in which the students had expressed an interest in officiating. Students learned the NFHS rules for their chosen sports and proper officiating mechanics. Their final assessment for the course resulted in their officiating certification in those activities.

"Exploring Careers in Sports" also incorporated use of the NFHS Learn program to teach some fundamental skills in coaching. Given that all Maine high school coaches are required to complete five of the free courses offered via that platform ("Concussion in Sports," "Sudden Cardiac Arrest," "Heat Illness Prevention," "COVID-19 for Coaches and Administrators," and "Recognizing Signs of Abuse"), those programs are mandatory parts of the curriculum. Students who complete Stoneton's and Baehr's program are automatically eligible for first-year certification as a high school coach in Maine.

Although it will not be possible to fully determine the success of this initiative for many years to come, the Winthrop program is certainly taking a step in the right direction of addressing the crisis. With a captive audience of students, Stoneton and Baehr took advantage of their students' interest in sports to attack the problem head on.

If duplicated throughout Maine, it could be an impetus ensuring a robust roster of officials and coaches in all sports sanctioned by the Maine Principals' Association.