Sports officials needed for the 2016-17 season

“Anyone who works with kids gets the joy,” he said. “There is an ability there to be a positive influence. Being a part of that, giving back to the community and working with coaches and athletic directors is rewarding. I have that, so I am passing it along.”

Across the officials landscape, there has been an 11.4 percent drop in football, 4.5 percent for soccer and 10 percent in volleyball.

Basketball officials are down 23.5 percent, wrestling referees have dipped by a 26.5 percent margin and baseball is down 12 percent and softball has gone from 438 in 2010 to 356 last season.

In addition, McFadden said there were 315 individuals who just completed their first year, and another 483 who have one-to-three years of experience.

There are also 941 officials with 16 or more years of experience.

Of the 3,316 officials in Oregon, 28 percent are 45 years old and older.

“Simply put, it is an aging group and, at some point in time, that age will catch up to a point where individuals are not able to do this anymore,” McFadden said.

The Oregon School Activities Association requires member schools to use certified officials.

As more officials retire or are unable to do games, there will be schedule conflicts where officials will not be available to work, forcing schools to reschedule, cancel, or otherwise adjust to the number of officials available.

Interested parties can call 541-340-1900 or log on to www.osaa.org to do the registration process.

They can get information from www.oreofficials.org as well.

After registration, individuals take a test, an online course they take for officiating principles for 40 minutes.

Then prospective officials spend 15-20 minutes watching a video.

Everything in the rule book is also on a searchable database.

If not sure of test answer, test takers can bring up the database and it brings up every scenario.

For 1A varsity games, officials can earn between $40.50 and $64.50 a game, the highest for football, wrestling and volleyball.

At the peewee level, officials can make $33.25 per game and, at the middle school level, two games would be $70.

If initial fees are unaffordable to some, McFadden said his organization will spend the money to get a person up to speed and those costs will be deducted after each game, so cost concerns should be eliminated.

McFadden welcomes conferences and said he and some of the other veteran officials are there to help with some of the younger groups of people, as they gain more experience.

There are meetings where video is used to instruct officials on the proper fundamentals and techniques and after every game, they will get immediate feedback on newly-instituted evaluation process.

“It teaches us what we need to work on,” McFadden continued. “With officiating there is a human element to it. Nobody is perfect, but the more feedback we get, and the more tools that are available, we can all get better every game.”

There is so much to gain, in both the present and future, and McFadden is hopeful that more men and women take advantage of this opportunity.

“The more people we can get the better for all of these schools,” McFadden said. “It is fun and rewarding. You could be doing something else, but being a part of these kids’ lives makes it worthwhile. I love it and I know there are other officials here with us that love it too.”

The Mid-Columbia Football Association will be holding its rules meeting 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 17, at The Dalles Elks Lodge, 2620 West 2nd Street.

Anyone interested in officiating, not just football, is welcomed to attend a pre-meeting at 6 p.m.