Students interested in becoming a sports referee, umpire or official can get started in a basic training program offered at Cabrini in February.
The Colonial States Athletic Conference and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association have teamed together with four other National College Athlete Association Division II and III conferences to publicize the launch of the START program.
START, Students of Today are Referees of Tomorrow, has the goal of getting new officials in all sports on collegiate campuses.
“As the years go by, referees get older and older and they need to be replaced, so in getting students and staff members from schools involved we are giving back to sports,” CSAC commissioner Amy Friedman said.
“With officiating fees and other costs, it was a bit of a challenge to find officials, especially in lacrosse and softball,” Friedman said.
After many years of discussing what a great idea starting a program like this would be, five commissioners signed on to help register more referees.
To get more publicity drawn to their creative program, each commissioner sponsored a school from Cabrini to Penn State University satellite campuses had signed on to help in the goal of recruiting new officials.
Not only is the program helping students become registered sports officials, it is also opening increasing opportunities for scholastic officials to advance to the intercollegiate level and “allows students to catch a financial break because they get paid for helping out,” Friedman said.
The program is aimed to help recruit potential referees for baseball, softball, men’s and women’s lacrosse.
The program will be held on the first three Wednesdays of February.
The three sessions will run approximately 75 minutes, starting at 6:30 p.m. in Founder’s Hall in Room 358, the Iadarola Center Lecture Hall, the Grace Hall Board Room and the Library Conference Room of Cabrini College.
They will be serving pizza as a dinner treat and although the program is primarily for students from any college, others interested in becoming officials are most definitely encouraged to attend.
“It’s not about the number or people that show up, as long as one or two show, we will continue to train officials,” Friedman said.
On the third meeting, students will be offered to take the PIAA officiating test for the sport of their choice free of charge.
Those who pass will receive a clicker as an equipment gift to help starting out the newly registered sports officials.
They will also have the opportunity to be assisted in getting involved with local officiating chapters so they can begin officiating PIAA-sanctioned events as soon as possible both at school and in their hometown.
“It is such a great way to keep people active and participated in the sports they love to do,” Friedman said.
If there are any questions or concerns, e-mail Amy Friedman at: afriedman@csacsports.org.
