MCFOA Newsletter, Volume 3, Number 2, April 23, 2007

For this issue of the newsletter, we’re going to talk about officiating as it is handled within GHSA. For all its importance as a governing body, GHSA is a relatively small organization. All officials in all sports are supervised by one of two Associate Directors. In football, our Associate Director is Dennis Payne. There is no way for one person to cover all that has to be covered in one sport, let alone all the other sports assigned to each Associate Director. That means that a lot of the work done in organizing the officials is done by the officials themselves.

First, there are the 21 local official associations. Each of these groups has a minimum number of officers that includes a President, Secretary and Training Officer. Typically, there is also a Booking Agent, Treasurer and other “vice president” level positions. GHSA counts on these robust local groups in many ways. They handle much of the training and organizational tasks that must be handled each and every year that would be completely unwieldy if you tried to reach all the way to the individual official directly from GHSA.

Second, in addition to the local groups’ activities, GHSA has instituted annual training camps. Four camps are conducted each year to try to make it as easy as possible for people to work these into their personal schedules. These summer camps stress common state-wide mechanics and are conducted by a training staff pulled from the local associations. The state training staff both sets the curriculum and delivers it. Starting this year, officials who wish to be considered for playoff games must have attended one of these camps within the past two years (2006 or 2007).

Third, there are mandatory rules/mechanics clinics delivered just before of the start of the season. These are the same clinics that the coaches are required to attend. The idea of having the same clinic for both coaches and officials is to expose both groups to a common perspective on the game and the changes in the game, especially in the rules, that occur from year to year. These clinics are delivered by both active GHSA staff members and by folks with years and years of on-field experience.

Fourth, all officials take a series of tests each year. The first two are open-book and cover the rules (Part I) and how to call the game (Mechanics). The last of these (Part II) is a closed book test that covers both rules and mechanics. Officials must score at minimum levels over multiple years to advance their careers.

When an official first signs up to call football in a GHSA-sanctioned association, he falls into the “Registered” category. This is the lowest rank for high school officials. After a couple of years at the first rank, officials can advance to the “Approved” category. In order to advance, they must make good scores on their tests each year and gather the minimum amount of on-field experience (“a good year”). After three more good years and making required minimum test scores, officials can advance to the highest level, “Certified.” All this is administered in a joint effort between GHSA and the local associations .