Track and field officials depth needs a boost | Opinion

It’s not unusual for small talk to occur at a track and field invitational — it is a long day, after all, even for the diehards.

But one bit of small talk at a recent invitational is worth noting in this space.

A longtime area track and field official approached me between events he was starting with a simple request.

The next time I have a chance, he stated, the topic of numbers depth for people in his profession should be broached.

“We’re not getting any younger,” he told me.

After almost 20 years covering area high school track and field, neither am I — but that experience week after week across Northeast Ohio and beyond drives his point home.

We see the same faces at invitationals. For coaches, and for people like me regularly around the sport in the spring, we know them all on a first-name basis.

That’s the problem.

They do a great job.

We love having them involved in the sport.

But if it’s the same people, that also implies there isn’t an influx of new blood.

Suggesting the official shortage is common knowledge is understating the point a little.

In this space, various incarnations of this subject have been explored. Earlier this year, the results of a nationwide officials survey were addressed and highly alarming. The disclosure by the OHSAA last year some sports had seen as much as a 40 percent drop in the number of officials is horrifying.

It would be wonderful to see official depth in all sports increase — don’t get me wrong.

But allow me to make a case specifically for track and field on this occasion.

For all the awful stories out there of officials who are essentially bullied out of the sport by abhorrent fan, coach and athlete behavior, track and field may be the least stress-inducing in that sense.

You have the same, tight-knit community who gets there’s a task ahead and respects your right to perform it.

A common joke at officials’ expense — which, by the way, is on the comedic value scale of “take my mother-in-law ... please” — in sports such as basketball and football is, “You’re missing a good game, ref.”

When was the last time you saw a track and field official heckled?

That’s because, for one thing, people can be a little more sensible in these surroundings, and for another, there isn’t a whole lot to be angry about.

Track and field is a sport in which — for the most part — officials are afforded the chance to do their jobs with respect and without ridicule.

When was the last time you saw a track and field coach berate an official?

It’s not to say it hasn’t happened, of course, but it doesn’t happen often.

In my years covering the sport, only a few tense moments are particularly memorable.

One was a Chagrin Valley Conference meet one year during which a team title race was decided by a 4x400-meter relay disqualification over a runner wearing gloves on a cold day. The rule is on the books — and yes, I still contend it’s a dumb rule that should be amended someday — but the officials had to enforce it.

Another was a Western Reserve Conference meet — but that was because of a scoring error and the head official had to suggest to a league full of coaches as a result that their athletes should contest a 400 heat again after a 4x4.

And, as anyone who had a vested interest will attest, things got a little heated after the boys 1,600 had to be run again last spring at the Division I Austintown-Fitch Regional. But even for those who didn’t like the decision after a runner pileup on the homestretch caused a conundrum, you can at least credit the officials for trying to make what they believe was a fair decision.

The most common DQ in track and field is on relays with exchanges out of the zone. Coaches are called to the finish line tent. They know why, they clarify which exchange it was and they move on.

Again, none of this is to suggest track and field officiating is an easy job or doesn’t have its stress.

But for those who know the sport best, and who want to give back after their days as an athlete, parent or coach have concluded, officiating is a great, hands-on way to do so.

We need more starters to bellow their best “on your mark” and “set.”

We need more field event judges to oversee events, interact with those athletes and let all us know who’s up, on deck and on hold. We need more zone judges.

We need more expertise so this generation of officials can rest easy with the future of their craft.

We need more people to become familiar first names.

For more on becoming a certified official in track and field, visit the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s checklist. Check out USA Track and Field’s process of certification as well.

It’s not that we don’t adore the officials we have.

But for their sake, it would be wonderful to have more friendly faces for small talk and — most importantly of all — to administer a vital job.

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