By Ben Cox
School sports officials are being lost quicker than they can be replaced. It’s a growing national trend that has put youth sports in dire straits. The local average age of officials is mid to late 50s. The loss of the number of officials has caused some football games to be rescheduled to Saturdays due to availability.
Local officials are trying to help train those who are entering the profession by giving them the knowledge and the know-how to empower their confidence and skills as the new season of school sports begins this fall. They are also trying to close the gap in the number of officials needed to keep youth sports on schedule.
Local veteran official Aaron “Ice” Eisfelder said that after officiating a preseason game a few years ago, he realized there was a gap in training new officials after they were certified. Eisfelder says that through a partnership with Jacksonville High School Head Football Coach Mark Grounds and the Illinois Coaches Association, he was able to put together a “boot camp” for new officials in a live situation.
“Coach Grounds was able to put together to come out and do modified contact 11-on-11 football action for these officials to be able to look at, and have us have a live, on-field instruction for them at the same time,” Eisfelder explains, “It’s not the typical seven-on-seven action that most people do during the summertime. It’s full alignment and everything. It gives us the opportunity to put officials on the field with them, kind of point them in the right direction to give [the officials] that foundation.”
Eisfelder says it will give the new officials the confidence to step on the field and have the right direction to start the season, usually in an underclassmen contest. Eisfelder’s local connections helped with the boot camp; he currently belongs to the Land of Lincoln Officials Association in Springfield, and he recently became president of the Central Illinois Football Officials Association.
Eisfelder says that after explaining the concept to officials with the IHSA, they were given the blessing to put on the camp. The clinic, or camp, for high school officials is called “Gridiron Guardians Boot Camp” and is led by a roster of experienced instructors.
Twelve teams from nine schools were able to participate on Saturday, July 19 at England Stadium and the Bruner Center on the Illinois College campus. Eisfelder says the day acted as an initial tune-up for the football training camp season that starts in August. Teams were able to get several snaps in before heavy rains came and washed out the afternoon. Attending schools included Jacksonville, Quincy, Breese Central, Hillsboro, Centralia, Mahomet Seymour, Carrollton, Williamsville and Routt.
Eisfelder says there are plenty of opportunities out there for people to get involved in officiating. He says you can contact him directly via getbetter@gridironguardiansbootcamp.com, the two local officials’ associations or the IHSA to get started on the journey to certification.
Eisfelder says there is also plenty of help available, “We get two provisional licenses a year that the associations can put forth names and sponsor with the IHSA so we can plug people in right away. We can help them find gear so they don’t have to go out and lay out the full amount that it would cost to buy new stuff. We got plenty of guys in the area that have equipment they’re willing to donate to get guys going. It’s very easy to plug new people in. My crew alone, we have 45 underclass games that we’re looking to fill and we try to put two veterans with two newer officials on the field for an underclass game to really help them along. There’s plenty of opportunity. It’s just people deciding if they want to take that leap and get into it.”
For more information about the boot camp for high school football officials, visit gridironguardiansbootcamp.com.
