It’s a five on four basketball match in the gymnasium of Soldotna High School. A high school-aged referee intently watches the student players from a distance, whistle in hand before calling a foul.
The young referee is one of about 20 students enrolled in the school’s referee certification class. Coach Eric Pomerleau noticed a shortage of qualified referees on the Kenai Peninsula, and wanted to add a referee training component to the school’s team sports class.
“We need to get younger people involved in refereeing to keep the games going, because if we don’t have refs, we don’t have games," Pomerleau said.
Students in the class learn how to referee in softball, basketball, football, wrestling and other sports. The class is coupled with an online training course.
SoHi senior Hope Hillyer has played basketball for about a decade, and has always been interested in reffing the sport. But, she says it seemed intimidating.
“It makes it a lot easier to become a ref," Hillyer said. "A lot of these kids, I don’t even think they had reffing in their mind as a job, but now it’s opening up opportunities to become a ref.”
Hillyer says she’s learned a lot from the class and is hoping to ref basketball this summer and when she goes off to college in the fall. She says the class has also given her a new respect for referees.
“I think that, especially [for] some of these kids and some of these players, it’s a good thing for them to be put in the ref shoes," Hillyer said. "You gotta make really tough decisions really quickly.”
Trevor Michael is another senior enrolled in the class. He’s reffed middle school wrestling for awhile, but says some of the area’s wrestling referees are getting older or are retiring.
He says the class has helped him become more confident.
“It’s a dying art, for say. It’s just a great class to have and a great skill to learn,” Michael said.
The class has invited more experienced local referees to teach students. And, other schools in the region have taken an interest in implementing similar programs to their curriculum.
Pomerleau says the region’s referee shortage is on the brink of being unable to cover games. He says this can negatively impact school sports.
“The more referees we have, the more product we can put in our sports to give a better performance for our students and for our coaches, and our fans,” Pomerleau said.
Even if they don’t ref full-time, Pomerleau says a certification can help students earn extra money. He hopes the class will be an option for Soldotna High School students each spring.
