Be the Referee: Officials Demographics

October 29, 2015

This week, MHSAA assistant director Mark Uyl discusses the importance of recruiting young officials so they may gain experience now and prepare to replace veterans wearing the whistle.

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment - Officials Demographics - Listen



A daily activity of the MHSAA is to recruit more officials in all of our sports. There is an urgency to try and bring new, younger people into the game as the current average age of an MHSAA registered official is 51.86. 

Young officials are needed now so they can gain experience and be ready to step into the varsity and tournament ranks when many of our aging officials are ready to hang up the whistle. With players getting bigger and faster all of the time, it is important that our officials keep up with the pace of play, and the more younger, athletic officials we can recruit, the better off all of our games will be.

Past editions:
Oct. 15: Make the Call: Intentional Grounding - Listen
Oct. 8: Playoff Selection - Listen
Oct. 1: Kick Returns - Listen
Sept. 24: Concussions - Listen
Sept. 17: Automatic First Downs - Listen
Sept. 10: Correcting a Down - Listen
Sept 3:
Spearing - Listen
Aug. 27: Missed Field Goal - Listen

Be the Referee: Calling Intentional Fouls

February 1, 2018

In this week's edition, assistant director Mark Uyl discusses when basketball officials should call an intentional foul.

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Calling Intentional Fouls - Listen

At the end of any close basketball game, it’s an accepted part of basketball strategy for the team that’s behind to foul and send the team in the lead to the foul line.

This year there is a point of emphasis nationally dealing with intentional fouls. Intentional fouls should be called whenever a player obviously neutralizes an opponent’s obvious advantage, or when contact occurs with an opponent who is clearly not in the play, or when that contact is not an attempt to play the ball.

Certainly excessive contact remains as one of the types of intentional fouls. A team merely trying to foul on purpose does not make it an intentional foul.

Past editions
January 25: Points at the Edge of the Mat - Listen
January 18: Behavior Warning - Listen
January 11: Ice Hockey Safe & Sound - Listen
January 4: Why No Shot Clock - Listen
December 21: Coaches Responsible for Equipment - Listen
December 14: Mentoring New Officials - Listen
December 7: Dive on the Floor - Listen
November 30: Wrestling Weight Monitoring - Listen
November 23: Ejections - Listen
November 16: Toughest Call - Listen
November 9: Hurdling - Listen
November 2: The Survey Says - Listen
October 26: Helmet Comes Off -
 Listen
October 19: Goal Line Rules - Listen
October 12: No 1st-Year Fee - Listen
October 5: Athletic Empty Nesters - Listen
September 28: Misunderstood Football Rules: Kicking - Listen
September 21: Preparation for Officials - Listen
September 14: Always Stay Registered - Listen
September 7: Other Football Rules Changes - Listen
August 31: Pop-Up Onside Kicks - Listen
August 24: Blindside Blocks - Listen