Have you ever wondered where you could learn to ref any kind of sport? Did you know there’s an official name for this? It’s called sports officiating and we offer it right here at LHS! There is a lot that goes into sports officiating no matter the level, because of how fast certain sports are such as football, basketball, and soccer.

In a lot of sports, officiating (better known as reffing) is a common topic attacked by fans. In high school it’s no different. You’ll have parents and family of someone yelling at you, the coaches, the players, etc. No matter how good of a referee you are, you’re almost always going to have people chirping towards your ears. 

One of the most underrated parts of being a sport referee at any level from middle school and above is you have to kind of be in shape. In sports like basketball or soccer even as a referee you need to run just as much as some of the players while also having to watch every little move each player may do. In football you’re always at risk of taking a blow due to the equipment worn by most of the time bigger humans. In sports like wrestling, concentration is as important as ever before. Making sure both competitors aren’t being dirty or using banned moves. Volleyball reffing is simple as you sit up high, interfere with the game as little as possible, and only call the obvious illegal plays. In baseball and softball it’s tough because it’s so fast and slow at the same time.

This class also can help with life skills throughout life such as communication. A big part of being a referee is being able to communicate to players and coaches.

“Communication is absolutely a key part of being a referee.”

If you can learn how to be a good communicator early on you can do just well in the real world.

Interestingly enough there are classes for being a referee all across the country. In order to be a referee there’s some old, some young, some short, some tall, and really any gender. It’s mostly a male job, but as time has gone on more and more women have become involved with officiating even in football. 

Refs are key in just about every sport that exists and at the end of the day they are all human. No matter what sport you may want to ref each have their own challenges that make the job tough and complaints from many fans.