The low number of available officials for high school sports is now at a critical level.

And not just at the varsity level. The shortage affects the sub-varsity and middle-school levels, too.

The lack of officials, in nearly every sport, has become a real problem throughout Colorado. And in Pueblo.

Not only are the numbers of state and local official associations way down, but quality has suffered.

It's a issue that won't go away.

In Pueblo, the search for officials remains an ongoing battle. It's especially noticeable at the high school and middle school level.

Basketball, baseball, football, soccer, softball, swimming, volleyball and wrestling officials associations constantly are trying to attract new officials -- and keep them.

In addition, there aren't enough officials to cover the number of games or events school districts are requesting for varsity and sub-varsity games. That has had a profound affect on the way games are serviced. It's a numbers game. More schools, more sports, more participants. Not enough officials.

Officials' groups are getting older and recruiting has been at a standstill. That's not a good combination.

The formula doesn't work: As more officials retire and less join, numbers go down.

It's become an officials drought.

WHY SO LOW?

There is a myriad of reasons why the officiating numbers are so low:

The pay, some of the lowest in the country, isn't worth the headache

The cost of uniforms and annual national, state and local dues are expensive

The commitment to attend classes and keep up with rules is time consuming

No one likes to get yelled at by coaches, players, fans

All of that adds up to less participation as officials associations scramble to remain upright.

Ron Garcia, president of the Pueblo basketball officials association, said many young officials are forced to start out at the lower levels and those games oftentimes are the most difficult.

"The hardest part for the young officials is that we start them at the middle school level and that's the hardest level to officiate," he said. "Parents and coaches are brutal with them and they don't want to stick around and put up with that.

"I just don't think many people want to officiate any more, to be honest. All the stuff they have to put up with. The younger generation doesn't want to be put in that situation."

Garcia said that of the 70 officials in the local group, only 10 are under the age of 30.

It's similar in softball where local president Cal Martin said the average age is close to 60.

"I would imagine our average age is in the high 50s, if not close to 60," Martin said. "One guy who does summer ball is 82."

Martin said he's heard every excuse.

"People don't have the time, it takes too much time to get trained," said Martin, who gets four or five new recruits every year. "It's not something people aspire to be. People are very busy and there are so many other things going on. They don't want to put in the time and effort.

"For new kids, all they see is dollar signs. But once they go through all the training and then listen to the coaches and parents complain, they get out."

Larry Rogers, area director and assigner of prep soccer officials in Pueblo, said the No. 1 issue with the officials' shortage is parents.

"Some of the parents are just brutal on officials," Rogers said. "Most of the parents are good, but there are some who are pretty bad."

Why are they so bad?

"There are lots of judgment calls and sometimes we miss a call," Rogers said. "We're human and we make mistakes. The parents are terrible about how they yell at referees. It's always been a problem and it's just getting worse."

Garcia believes most coaches and fans mean well but competition and winning takes precedent.

"I hear it all the time," Garcia said. "People tell us they don't know how we do what we do and they respect us for that. Yet, they are the first ones that will yell at you. Especially when their kids are involved."

Pueblo Football Officials Association president Jim Sprague said officials used to be teachers and because of PERA (state retirement), that number has dropped drastically.

"When I first started, 65-70 percent of officials were teachers. Now, we have maybe three in our group," he said. "We're 49th in the U.S. in pay (for football). When PERA started taking a percentage out of their pay, it was a big enough chunk to drive teachers out of officiating.

"Plus, dues have increased to $90 for old and new officials and then new officials have to pay $200-$250 for uniforms. They have to work four weekends just to pay off what they've started with."

In volleyball, it's not so much the outside pressures of parents and fans that keeps the numbers low, but the wide service area and getting to the sites on time.

"Our biggest issue with officials is when the matches start at 4:30 p.m. we have to be there by 4 p.m. and people can't get off work in time," Pueblo volleyball officials president Kathy Cox said. "We keep finding a way to get it done, but our service area keeps growing and more schools are asking for our help.

"We serve 19 schools and nine middle schools with 22 officials. Ideally, 10 more would be great. We get a couple new recruits each year and keep them a year or two. The nice thing about volleyball is we don't have problem with fans and parents like the other sports."

Swimming is laid back and officials rarely are questioned, but it happens.

"We've been booed off the deck before," said Pueblo swimming officials president Bobbi Hall. "Swimming is more of a friendly, non-contact, non-aggressive sport that doesn't come with all that anger. That's what makes swimming special."

Like the other sports, Hall said they could use more officials.

"We have 12 but only about six who can get off work early enough to do a meet, including me," he said. "We do have issues finding people and can always use more."

Centennial High boys and girls soccer coach Jeff Sterling said he's noticed changes as well. Sterling has coached boys and girls soccer at Centennial the past 21 seasons. His boys have won 12 league titles and his girls have won the last four.

"Parents can be brutal, and I've noticed the abuse from fans and spectators has become more difficult for referees in the last five or six years," said Sterling, a social studies teacher. "It's gone from simple criticism of a call to more extreme. Parents will get upset and just keep going. They won't let it go and they won't stop."

With a shortage of soccer officials, junior varsity games sometimes only have one official working a game. Varsity games often have two officials instead of a full three-person crew.

"Having one referee, that's really difficult," Sterling said. "You can't make a lot of the calls because you're not in position to see what happens at times. It's impossible for one referee to enforce the rules. That's hard on everybody."

With such a small pool of officials, referees typically work games at the youth levels as well as doing high school games. And virtually everyone knows who they are.

"I will hear parents call referees by name, and that's just wrong," Sterling said. "I will hear someone say, 'That's a bad call, Larry.' That's just not right."

Rogers said the criticism will especially take a toll on referees he is trying to develop.

"Young referees take it personally and they quit," Rogers said. "They don't want to hear it."

Added Sterling: "We get very few young referees. They receive a lot of criticism. You need a very thick skin. I think parents are more outspoken these days. Our society is more like that now."

Sterling said he talks to his parents and his players every year about the officials.

"We talk in our parent meetings and tell them that they're doing the best they can," Sterling said. "And I tell my players to be respectful to the referees."

Rogers said he's asked coaches for help in dealing with vocal parents.

"I think some have tried to help," he said. "But ultimately there's not a whole lot they can do."

Rogers said there have been cases where fans have had to be removed from games.

"It doesn't happen very often, but we have had parents removed when they get too derogatory and may be using profanity," he said. "We have had to stop games and have security remove parents. You try to ignore what they are saying, but sometimes you can't."

RECRUITING

Recruiting officials is an ongoing battle. Officials groups are becoming older and younger recruits aren't joining. If they do, they don't last long.

Garcia said most years eight to 10 newbies sign up to become basketball officials. By the end of the season, only a handful remain.

"We've tried to recruit from the colleges and been to the high schools," Garcia said. "We've tried so many different avenues. It's one of those jobs people don't want to do any more. I don't know what we're going to do when we lose the veteran officials."

Garcia explained what transpired with one aspiring official who appeared to have a bright future.

"We had a basketball player from the college who we felt was going to be a great official," he said. "He was doing a scrimmage and people were going nuts on him. We told him that 'you'll get better, just keep working at it.'

"He threw me his jersey and said, 'I can't take this, I can't handle this.'

"He was going to be a good one. But who wants to get yelled at? Any other job when you have a great day at work you get rewarded. Not at this job."

Sprague says it takes a couple of years to keep a new football official.

"It's kind of like fishing, you have to hook the new official at the financial end," he said. "Once he gets in there for five or six years then you've got him and it's hard to quit because it gets into your blood. But it takes a while for those young guys to get there.

"We've tried all the conventional ways to recruit, including social media. Word of mouth seems to be the No. 1 way of recruiting. Right now, we have six and the problem is you start with six and may end up with two."

Handling or not handling abuse has been an issue to keep young officials, according to Sprague.

"Initially we put (new officials) on the wings," he said. "They used to get yelled at by the coaches and you heard very little from the parents. Now, it's the other way around. Parents just berate them when they leave the field. Young guys don't want any part of getting yelled at. They don't want to take that abuse. I see it more and more. Parents are getting more intense."

Sprague cited an example where a young official quit abrutly.

"A second-year official worked a varsity game on a Friday night and there was a close call at the goal line," Sprague recalled. "The next day he did the junior varsity game for that same team and was berated by the coaches. He told me 'there's not enough money in this to take that kind of abuse.' He literally officiated for two more weeks and quit."

Rogers has tried virtually everything to increase his soccer numbers.

On three occasions, Rogers had the Chieftain publish an announcement that they were looking for officials.

Nobody responded.

Boys and girls soccer are among the sports scrambling to find officials. Boys soccer is played in the fall in Colorado and girls in the spring.

Rogers said the total number of high school soccer officials in Pueblo has dropped from 20 to eight at the prep level.

"There is a tremendous shortage statewide," Rogers said. "Our numbers are down at all levels of soccer."

Rogers, 69, has been an official since 2001. He coached soccer before that.

"I can't retire," he said. "I'd like to, but we have no officials to take my spot."

OPTIONS

Because of the lack of officials, school districts have been urged to play on different days of the week in order to have their games -- varsity, junior varsity and freshmen -- covered.

But that has been a slow process as districts are unwilling to change, citing administrative coverage as a problem. Plus, Friday night football games, for example, yield big money for schools and districts. Changing to Thursdays and Saturdays would put a dent in the gate and concessions.

"We have to go on different days, we can't cover the games," Garcia said about basketball. "There were games last year where we had to go two-man (varsity, rather than three-man) because we didn't have enough bodies."

In softball, umpires many times do two or three games in a day, traveling all over the city.

The Pueblo group covers high school and middle school games throughout town, plus Florence and Canon City.

"We have to prioritize," Martin said. "We start with varsity and go down. We make sure all varsity is covered with two-man. Then we try and get all the JV games covered. If we don't have enough, we'll send guys out to middle school to do one man.

"We've had to scramble somewhat to get at least two people everywhere. Some people do JV at one school and middle school some place else."

SOLUTIONS

So, what's the answer?

Martin isn't sure there is one.

"If there is, I'd sure like to know what it is," Martin said. "We've formed committees on recruiting and asked for more pay. But with more pay comes more training and people don't want to do that."

CHSAA also is aware of the issues the officials are facing.

"They try to be encouraging," Rogers said. "They tell us to do the best we can."

Rogers said soccer officials make $50 for a varsity game and $38.50 for a junior varsity game. Officials pay state dues of $55 per year. New officials must also be part of the United States Soccer Federation, which costs $85 to join. New officials also must score 85 percent or better on a test to receive a badge to referee.

With so few officials, Rogers said they are working virtually every night during the season trying to cover all of the varsity and JV games on the prep schedule.

"This shortage is a very serious issue," Rogers said. "We've tried everything to get more officials, but it doesn't seem to help. I'm not sure what the solution is."

Sterling sees another challenge for soccer in trying to find officials.

"In some cases, not as many people know soccer and its rules as well as they do some of the other sports like football, basketball and baseball," he said. "There is not as big of a pool to pick from where people are as knowledgeable about soccer. I think that hurts our numbers as well."

Rogers continues to be involved with soccer for a number of factors.

"I love the sport and I love trying to make a positive impact. I don't do it for the money," he said. "The game needs to be all about the kids and their safety. And it's about sportsmanship and conducting yourself in the right way. I think some people have lost sight of that."

Said Sterling: "I really feel for the referees. They are out there doing games almost every night. It's tough."

Garcia believes the core of the problem lies in actual game play where better support would lead to less abuse from coaches, players and fans.

"It would help if fans were educated. A lot of them don't know the rules," Garcia said. "Plus, if administrators would help us out during games, that would help."

letofsky@chieftain.com

csesker@chieftain.com

officials PAY & DUES

2017-18 SEASON PAY

Baseball: Varsity: $58; junior varsity $43; freshmen $43

Basketball: Varsity: $58; junior varsity $43; freshmen $43; middle school

Football: Varsity: $58; junior varsity $44; freshmen $37; middle school $50

Soccer: Varsity: $50; junior varsity $38.50

Softball: Varsity: $58; junior varsity $43; freshmen $43, middle school $25

Swimming: Varsity: $49; junior varsity (dependent on heats)

Volleyball: Varsity: $47; junior varsity $35.50; freshmen $35.50; middle school $45 (2 games)

Wrestling: Varsity: $58 for dual, $156 for tournament; junior varsity dual $44; middle school dual $44

DUES

Baseball: State: $80. Local: $20

Basketball: State: $95. Local: $50

Football: State: $90; Local: $20

Soccer: State: $55; Local: None

Softball: State: $80; Local: $20

Swimming: State: $50; Local: None

Volleyball: State: $86 Local: $10 (not mandatory)

Wrestling: State: $65; Local: None