The Official View: We Are Family
By
Brent Rice
MHSAA Assistant Director
September 8, 2020
By Brent Rice
MHSAA Assistant Director
Camaraderie – and a feeling of being part of a bigger sports family – is among draws for nearly 10,000 officials who register with the MHSAA each school year.
As “The Official View” returns today for the 2020-21 school year, we feature a trio of sisters who have embraced the avocation and also announce a social media opportunity to further draw Michigan’s officiating community together as we play again for the first time in nearly half a year.
It’s Official!
Officials Awards and Alumni Banquet: Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get together this spring as a group for the annual Officials Awards and Alumni Banquet. Because of the importance of recognizing officials for their service, dedication and contributions to the MHSAA, John Johnson and Faye Verellen-Brown in our office created an excellent virtual stand-in for the traditional banquet. Check out the short video montage HERE.
For those receiving 20-, 30-, 40-, 45- and 50-year service awards, they have been received in the MHSAA office after a delay in production by our supplier due to COVID-19, and they are being sent to you via USPS.
Mark your calendars for May 8, 2021. This is the scheduled date for next year’s Officials Awards and Alumni Banquet. Plan on joining us in person to honor and recognize accomplishments by MHSAA officials across the state.
Officials Deadlines: The registration deadline for officials has been extended until Sept. 14. Consideration for further extensions will be made as necessary.
Other officials deadlines (i.e., MIGS, schedule submission, rules meetings and exams as applicable) for all fall sports remain in place for Sept. 17. The MHSAA has provided Local Approved Associations with flexibility for the 50 percent minimum-attendance requirement. Officials in those sports should submit the schedule they were assigned to start the season. While this may change as the season progresses, it will suffice for the purpose of providing the MHSAA with the assignments each official receives.
MHSAA Officials Facebook Page: To better engage and communicate with officials, the MHSAA has created a Facebook page specifically for all things officiating. Here, you’ll be able to get updates, connect with other officials and discuss rules, mechanics and plays for the high school sports you officiate. Please take some time to connect with us and others by visiting this new resource HERE.
Know Your Rules
FOOTBALL In high school football, in what ways can a team score using a kick?
Ruling: There are two categories of kicks – free kicks and scrimmage kicks. Free kicks include kickoffs (place kick or drop kick), safety kicks (place kick, drop kick or punt) and fair-catch kicks (place kick or drop kick). Of these, only fair-catch kicks can score (because the receiving team may attempt a field goal from the spot of the catch).
Scrimmage kicks include field goals (place kick or drop kick), tries (place kick or drop kick) and punts (punt). Of these, only field goals and tries can score.
NOTE: In high school an attempted field goal that does not score has the same effect as a punt.
It’s Your Call
SOCCER This newest IYC involves a trick play by the team in red. On this corner kick, players of the red team begin running out of play and around the back of the net. Then, one of those players reenters the field just as the corner kick is made, heading the ball into the net. Does the goal count? What’s the call?
The Official View: We are Family
If you were to ask any of the Bedrosian sisters a way that young women can stay physically active, learn skills that can be applied to their daily lives and make some money doing it, they undoubtedly would tell you “officiating.”
Each of the women (Sara Bauman, Leslie Bedrosian and Alex Bedrosian), who all graduated from New Lothrop, spend much of their winters on the hardcourt doing just that – officiating MHSAA basketball games. And last season, before COVID-19 caused a premature end to the basketball season, the sisters were able to work a three-person crew together for the first time.
Sara, 23, said she started officiating after meeting veteran official Mike Clark, and as a way to stay connected to the game she loved. “At that point in my life I had already coached, but I wanted something closer to what it felt like to play,” said Bauman, now a third-year law student at the MSU College of Law.
Leslie and Alex, both current college students themselves, said they each started officiating after following in their older sister footsteps and for similar reasons. Leslie said, “I love being a part of the game. In addition, refereeing has been my income while I attend college. I’m thankful for all of the friendships and connections I’ve made and the people I’ve met who are appreciative of the work that goes into officiating.”
The impact officiating has had on their lives is not lost on the sisters. Alex, 19, looks at officiating as a challenge.
“Being a female official can be tough, but I feel like it only makes me more confident and has given me a desire to show people what I am capable of doing,” says the youngest Bedrosian sister.
Similarly, 20-year-old Leslie says that officiating has “helped me become more assertive, ready to talk to people and handle difficult situations head on.”
Sara said she hopes displaying those same traits will inspire women to also take up officiating: “It is truly the best feeling to have a female player come up to you in awe because they have yet to have a female officiate (her) game.”
This trio of officiating sisters gives credit for their quick starts to the camps they attended and all of the veteran mentor officials who have helped them along the way, namely Clark and Sharon Sawyers. Bauman and the Bedrosians are committed to continued improvement, working their way up the high school ranks and maybe even working at the college level. It’s clear they enjoy everything officiating has to offer, and we expect long and successful careers from all of them.
If you have an interesting story or an official you’d like to see featured, send details and pictures to [email protected].
PHOTO: Sisters Leslie Bedrosian (left), Sara Bauman (middle) and Alex Bedrosian are MHSAA-registered basketball officials and last year worked together as a crew for the first time. (Photo by Ashley Breiler.)
Former Cardinal Mooney Coach Earns Breslin Return as Official
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 31, 2022
Jim McAndrews felt anxious and excited both times he was on the floor during basketball Finals weekend at the Breslin Center.
But those feelings were a bit different as an assistant coach at Marine City Cardinal Mooney in 2010 than they were as a referee this year.
“It was different because I was worried about myself (as a referee) versus having to worry about high school kids and not making a mistake to screw it up for them (as a coach),” McAndrews said. “This was a little less pressure than that. With refereeing, you kind of just worry about yourself.”
McAndrews served as the head official in the Division 2 Girls Semifinal between Grand Rapids West Catholic and Detroit Country Day on March 18. That Breslin appearance came 12 years after he was an assistant for his brother, Mike McAndrews, during Mooney’s runner-up run in Class D boys in 2010.
He also coached with his sister, Susan Everhart, who led the Mooney girls to the Semifinals in 2008 and a runner-up finish in 2009. Those tournaments ended at Eastern Michigan University, but all of them gave him a rare look at the experience from two very different angles.
“I wasn’t walking in blindly,” McAndrew said. “I think what helps me in my officiating duties is having been there and knowing what the coaches are expecting and what they need. I think that helps me to communicate things to them. Being (at Breslin as a coach) and seeing that helped.”
McAndrews has been reffing since leaving his brother’s staff in 2011. That ended a long run in coaching which started in 1989 when he was an assistant coach at Mooney under Dave Jackson. After one season in that role, he took over the program and coached the Cardinals for a decade. That included coaching his brother, who he would later coach with for another eight years.
It didn’t even take a full season for him to get back on the court, albeit in a different role, after leaving the coaching ranks.
“I missed the game,” Jim McAndrews said. “Refereeing gives you an opportunity to get your competitive juices going a little bit. You get a little exercise, and the relationships you get to make are amazing. There’s nothing like being in the gym and talking hoops with other like-minded people: junkies. Basketball junkies. It’s a community, and it’s a really good community. We all want good stuff for the kids, and we want to help out. Plus, I enjoy seeing the local talent.”
McAndrews, whose full-time job is in automotive supply sales, refs mostly in the Metro Detroit area and the Thumb, working games in the Catholic League, Macomb Area Conference and Blue Water Area Conference.
Being a referee has not only allowed him to stay in the game and the high school basketball community, but it’s also introduced him to new people who have the same love for the game.
“This community really is special,” he said. “We’re not in it to get rich. We’re in it because we’re passionate about the game.”
This year’s Semifinal was his first, and he was joined on the court by Jerry Armstrong and Douglas Richardson. It was the trio’s first time together.
“That can be part of the challenge,” McAndrews said. “You have to be able to adapt to other people’s way of doing things that you’ve never met before. That’s part of it. It’s about officiating the game as well as challenging yourself.”
Another challenge of refereeing during Finals weekend is the increase of eyes on the game, and the extra pressure that can bring.
“In this particular case, it was my first time (reffing) on TV,” McAndrews said. “There’s commentators with replays, and there are different responsibilities in regard to timeouts. There was a little anxiety. I said to my partners that I’m just going to try to smile, be in the moment and enjoy it, because it’s been a crazy couple years. But your peers are watching, other referees are watching, and they’ll let you know if you miss something.”
The game went off without any issues, and the experience ended up being even better than McAndrews expected, as his kids were able to be on the court with him.
“It was fantastic,” he said. “I can’t think of a better word for it. My family was able to get involved, and we had first-class accommodations. My kids were able to be the ball boy and the water guy for me, so this wasn’t just for me. We were very appreciative of it all, and it was really, really fun.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Jim McAndrews works this season’s Division 2 Semifinals between Grand Rapids West Catholic and Detroit Country Day. (Middle) McAndrews, kneeling lower left, serves as an assistant coach during Cardinal Mooney’s run to Breslin in 2010. (Top photo by Hockey Weekly Action Photos; middle courtesy the McAndrews family.)