PITTSBURGH (100.1 FM and AM 1020 KDKA) It’s Wednesday night and the South Fayette girls’ lacrosse team is hosting Mars.
Tonight’s referees chat briefly with the coaches before the game. Luckily, this one went as planned. But across the WPIAL, a shortage of officials has forced some games to be called off.
Mark Keener, South Fayette School District Athletic Director, says "We've had one game - one boys' lacrosse game - that got canceled because of a lack of officials. So it is a bigger issue than it has been in the past."
Athletic Director Mark Keener worries the problem will only get worse.
Mark Keener: "So we have these officials that have been doing it for years and years and years and they're gonna start retiring and we're losing more than we're able to recruit. So it's gonna be an issue unless we're able to recruit a little bit better."
It’s not just officials… but coaches too… that are now in short supply. South Fayette is looking for head tennis coaches. But Keener says his counterparts at smaller districts are facing real challenges….
Mark Keener: "A lot of the times, the smaller schools have more issues with finding coaches and keeping coaches and sometimes they more trouble finding officials as well."
The shortage may be worse in youth sports.
Jay Fraser oversees the Deer Lakes Youth Baseball Association.
Jay Fraser: "The shortage of coaches and volunteers and officials is hitting us on every level."
From coaches to concession workers… finding help hasn’t been easy.
Jay Fraser: "Parents don't want to coach. They don't want to volunteer. They don't want to do that."
So what’s keeping them from stepping up to the plate? Local athletic directors tell us a number of factors… from difficult parents who interfere… to COVID fears and pandemic restrictions… and more competition from travel teams that pull from the available pool of players and parents.
Jay Fraser: "Travel baseball specifically has become a multi billion dollar business that has made it more and more challenging for local community organizations to have kids play."
While many youth baseball leagues are shrinking… Deer Lakes has seen modest growth in enrollment. Yet about 35% of volunteer shifts go unfilled and some teams have condensed.
But athletic directors are hopeful that as the pandemic winds down, more parents will return to the fields and courts across western Pennsylvania.
And they too will discover the sweet taste of small victories on the scoreboard...
and in life.
Jay Fraser: “What we hope, at least in Deer Lakes Youth Baseball, is that these kids learn the ability to work in a team setting, the ability to learn how to win and lose, to grow from adversity, and the ability to be coached.”
Mark Keener: "There's no better feeling than helping a kid be successful in something and think about all the coaches who gave to you. It's time to give back to the next generation."