South Dakota university takes aim at state's referee shortage

University of South Dakota partnering with South Dakota High School Activities Association to create sports official training curriculum, programming

About 50,000 high school referees, umpires, and other athletic officials across the U.S. hung up their whistles in the last half-decade, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

And in South Dakota, where there’s no shortage of kids wanting to suit up, just 1,600 sports officials are available, willing, and qualified to call high school athletic contests. And more than half of those are beginning to age out of the position.

That’s why the University of South Dakota is partnering with the South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA) to train more officials with a new program to be hosted by the Vermillion school’s Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management (KSM).

Ahead of the announcement, SDHSAA and the department engaged with students to collaborate on implementing training courses for future sports officials. And starting next spring, students of any major of study can enroll in two different two-credit, hybrid courses: officiating volleyball and officiating football. Upon completing the course, students will have the opportunity to officiate real high school and club sports events, providing them practical, hands-on application of their training while allowing them to earn extra income, according to the university.

“We’re trying to get younger people involved in officiating, and being able to talk to a couple of the classes in the KSM department here at USD was a great opportunity for us to get in front of about 150 students and share a little bit more about officiating,” said Jo Auch, assistant executive director at SDHSAA. “Almost everyone in the class was involved in athletics in some way, shape, or form, so it was a great opportunity to see if we could get them to continue on with that effort to officiate.”

The program uses the RefReps Officiating Education System, an online education platform that employs virtual reality-like scenarios, to allow students to engage in decision-making processes and make referee calls in simulated situations.

The program, which won’t be offered at any other higher education institution in the state, not only addresses the referee shortage but it also gives college students in Vermillion a chance to earn college credits.

SDHSAA earlier this year announced it was implementing RefReps programming in more than a dozen South Dakota high schools as well.