Innovate Sports Officiating With Design Thinking

Youth sports is facing a crisis that threatens the ecosystem of youth sports. Innovation—the ability to generate and execute new ideas—is needed to stem the negative tide of a declining and aging officiating pool and improve the recruitment and retention of sports officials. Without creative problem solving and innovation by many different stakeholders in youth sports, the benefits that children receive from participating in sports are threatened by the lack of qualified officials to referee competitive games and matches. This case pushes students well past the news headlines of angry parents yelling at officials and deep into several problem spaces that emerge from the application of design thinking. Students are introduced to design thinking and prompted to innovate solutions to problems framed using the design thinking process. Students can select a preidentified problem space, then work through an ideation session facilitated by the instructor.

Why You Don’t Have to Choose between Accuracy and Human Officiating (But You Might Want to Anyway)

Debates about the role of technology in sports officiating assume that technology would, ceteris paribus, improve accuracy over unassisted human officiating. While this is largely true, it also presents a false dilemma: that we can have accurately officiated sports or human officials, but not both. What this alleged dilemma ignores is that the criteria by which we measure accuracy are also up for revision. We could have sports that are so defined as to be easily (or at least more accurately) judged by human officials. A case from the recent history of science provides an instructive example. I argue that if we insist on human officials, we can still aim for maximal accuracy, though there will be tradeoffs. With compelling reasons to want accuracy in officiating, however, these tradeoffs effectively serve as a reductio against the use of human officials unaided by technology.

Identification of key performance characteristics of elite Australian football umpires

This research aimed to present a hierarchy of key attributes for Australian football umpires. Elite Australian football umpires ( n = 19) and their coaches ( n = 5) participated in this study. A list of attributes necessary for sports officiating was obtained from past research and adapted specifically for Australian football umpires. Umpires were required to rate each attribute on a scale of 0–9 (least to most importance), and provide a justification of its importance to performance. A modified questionnaire was developed with attributes removed or added, according to the first survey round. This research identified two cognitive attributes: knowing the laws/interpretations and decision-making as the two highest rated attributes, respectively. Psychological attributes composure and concentration were rated highly by the umpires, ranked as number three and five, respectively. The game skill attribute of teamwork was rated as the fourth highest. Fitness was the only physical attribute to be rated in the most important category. Results highlight the importance of cognitive and psychological attributes to elite performance; however, participant feedback suggests that the integration of all attributes is critical. This knowledge establishes an understanding of the key attributes for expert performance, and this information could be used by coaches for the assessment and development of Australian football umpires.

Women Referees’ Experiences Officiating Rugby Union

Five women rugby union referees who officiated in the New South Wales (NSW) suburban rugby union premiership were interviewed about their experiences refereeing men. After a comprehensive analysis of the interview transcripts, four themes emerged around barriers and challenges to women’s participation in officiating, these themes are: 1) Barriers experienced by women rugby union referees; 2) Success in refereeing male rugby union players; 3) Challenges of women participating in refereeing rugby union; 4) Ways to bring about change. The findings imply that there is discrimination and marginalization present in women’s sports officiating at male games which is in line with the literature in women’s sports coaching. The findings also suggest that women have to be superior and elite athletes with a history of success to be appointed to the best male rugby union matches. Support both on and off the field is crucial to the development and success of female referees.

Contributors and Constraints to Involvement with Youth Sports Officiating

<p>There is a growing concern about the shortage of sports officials and its impact on organized youth sport. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of psychosocial factors that impact involvement with youth sports officiating by comparing and contrasting the experiences of officials from two distinct sports. In-depth interviews were conducted with baseball umpires and lacrosse officials. Resulting themes were classified as either contributors or constraints to involvement with officiating. The most striking difference between the two groups was the support provided in terms of mentorship, training, and administrative consideration. The baseball umpires received greater support and this was a key factor in overcoming constraints and fostering a sense of community. Implications and strategies for recruiting and retaining officials are discussed. </p>