Five NCAA Division II and III conferences in the Middle Atlantic region, along with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA), are launching a grass-roots campaign that targets student-athletes as potential game officials in various sports.

The “Students of Today are Referees of Tomorrow” program (START) aims to recruit new officials for college sports and increase opportunities for existing scholastic officials to advance to the intercollegiate level.

The five conferences combining to work with the PIAA are the Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and the Division III Capital Athletic Conference, Centennial Conference, Colonial States Athletic Conference and Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Corporation. 

The idea of meeting with the PIAA about officiating emerged during a Division III commissioners meeting in July hosted by Centennial Conference Commissioner Steve Ulrich. Ulrich and PSAC Commissioner Steve Murray, CAC Commissioner Tom Byrnes and MAC Commissioner Ken Andrews then met with PIAA Executive Director Brad Cashman, Associate Executive Director Bob Lombardi and Assistant Executive Director Mark Byers to exchange ideas. CSAC Commissioner Amy Friedman joined the group for the second meeting.

Representatives of the state high school associations in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia were alerted to and endorsed the program. Several of the conferences are hoping to expand the program to those and other neighboring states in the future.

Member institutions of the conferences hosting the pilot programs will be offering classes to become a registered sports official with PIAA or their sister association in each member institution’s respective state.

“START will encourage college students to continue participating in the sports they’ve played all their lives,” Murray said. 

Byrnes agreed, calling sports officiating “an honorable avocation” that can lead to other opportunities, such as coaching or athletics administration.

“It’s also fun, a great resume builder and a nice way to earn a little spending money,” Byrnes said.

The initial courses are to be offered during the spring semester at several college campuses. The pilot programs, tentatively scheduled at York (Pennsylvania), Franklin & Marshall, Cabrini and DeSales, will aim to recruit officials for baseball, softball, and boys’ and girls’ lacrosse in February 2009. 

The three sessions will run approximately 75 minutes and cover general concepts in officiating that cover all sports as well as sport-specific rule book sessions. Although the program is primarily for students from any college or university, others interested in becoming scholastic, and potentially collegiate, officials are encouraged to attend.

At the end of the third meeting, those attending will be offered the opportunity to take the PIAA officiating test. The PIAA will waive the normal testing fee for college students with proper ID. 

Those that pass the test will be assisted in contacting local officiating chapters so they can begin officiating PIAA-sanctioned events (and other intramural, youth or recreation league events) as soon as possible.

-Courtesy Tom Byrnes of the Capital Athletic Conference