Madison in the Morning

Madison in the Morning

Madison in the Morning, keeping Madison informed weekday mornings on 1310 WIBAFull Bio

 

WIAA officials shortage reaches ‘crisis mode’

MADISON (WKOW)- The WIAA is in dire need of licensed officials as the total number of registered officials has declined by 39% from 2010 and is down by 1,400 in just the past year.

"So now we are in crisis mode where other states had been before and we weren't, now we really are," WIAA Assistant Director Kate Peterson Abiad said. "I don't know why people aren't coming back after the pandemic, but it's not just those people, we are losing additional people."

In high school football, there are 543 fewer officials than there were in 2020. High school Athletic Directors are seeing the impact firsthand as they are having to re-schedule games just as they did at Dodgeville this week.

"Extremely rare. This is our first time playing on a Thursday night for football," Dodgeville Athletic Director Joey Martin said. "We put a June 1st deadline for this game for the Mineral Point game if we couldn't find officials, we were going to have to move it, and that's something we definitely don't want to do."

"There's a lot of Thursday games, and there's a lot of Saturday games too, so we just have to adjust our availability and get the games covered, and we're working really hard to get new people," Brian Kenney, official for 30 years, said.

This could be just the beginning as the number of registered officials for basketball and wrestling has declined by over 40% since 2010. The WIAA has been working to get to the bottom of it.

"There have been national studies on why officials are walking away, and it's in large part because of the way they feel they are being treated by the fans, and in some instances by the coaches, by the athletes," Peterson Abiad said.

The WIAA Board of Control is making the recruitment of officials a top priority in this year's agenda.

"If you have been licensed in the past or you've not been licensed and you'd like to be an official, we need you," Peterson Abiad said.

More at WKOW 27 News


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