The demand for highly qualified sports officials is increasing, according to some Hawaii high school athletic administrators.

“The officiating shortage is a difficult cycle,” Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive director Chris Chun said. “It takes a lot of time and effort to be a great official. It’s demanding, when you combine this with their jobs and families. It takes a special person, and we need more to get involved. Most (fans) don’t express their appreciation, but rather displeasure at certain calls. This leads to less people willing to serve. Obviously, the less officials we have to choose from impacts quality.”

Matt Sumstine, the HHSAA’s assigner of officials for the football state tournament, said that on a typical regular-season Friday night with as many as nine games, 80 top-level officials out of 120 overall would be ideal. In actuality, Hawaii has 80 (of varying skill levels) overall.

“Just enough is not enough,” he said. “If all of the officials (of varying skill levels) are working the games, you can’t have a tier system and crews moving up by levels. One referee may max out at the intermediate level and one may some day progress to the NFL.”

Aside from older officials retiring and others relocating, Sumstine thinks some are staying away because of games televised in high definition. Even some veteran officials are turning down TV games, he added.

“It’s easy for someone watching on TV to see that a player’s foot is a quarter-inch out of bounds,” he said. “It’s not so easy for a referee who might glance away for a tenth of a second because some 250-pound players are barreling toward him.”

Sumstine, however, is a believer of videos as a teaching tool, and he’s been providing training videos on the Internet to a worldwide following for 10 years.

Chun sees the wrath referees endure.

“It especially pains me to see what is said at my son’s youth league and intermediate games,” he said.

Stan Ono, who assigns high school wrestling officials statewide, said 26 available officials would be ideal, but that he has a pool of 21 who are being overworked.

“We get about a dozen inquiries of people wanting to be an official each year, but a lot of them don’t show,” Ono said.

In Oahu Interscholastic Association basketball, there are 82 officials available.

“That is not enough,” OIA head hoops official Alton Mamiya said. “We need up to 100; that way some of the guys can be resting. Some are doing games seven days a week. When 12 to 15 are also doing college games, our list is way shorter.”

Newer officials’ dedication level is not as high as the the old-timers’, according to Mamiya.

“They don’t have the time to come to the clinics or camps nowadays,” he said.

In football, Sumstine believes the shortage is due to a lack of organized statewide recruiting.

“In most other states, the state organization runs everything,” he said. “In Hawaii, the HHSAA only runs the state tournaments. Too many people (leagues) want it their own way. I would like to see more cooperation among the leagues, where recruiting, training and evaluation is a coordinated effort.”

Sumstine plans to start a junior-league football officials group as a feeder for JV and varsity, and he hopes Hawaii’s high school leagues will make it a prerequisite.

Looking to answer the Call?

Anyone interested in becoming a high school sports official can call one of the following organizations/leagues, which can refer you to the head official of a specificsport:

Hawaii High School Athletic Association 800-4092

Big Island Interscholastic Federation 974-6610

Interscholastic League of Honolulu 533-4541

Kauai Interscholastic Federation 274-3506

Maui Interscholastic League 984-8000, ext. 1235

Oahu Interscholastic Association 421-4394