Youth sports leagues in South Carolina are seeing a referee shortage, including many along the Grand Strand.
Sports officials coordinator for the City of Myrtle Beach, Blake Goss, said he’s lost a growing number of referees over the last few years. He’s worried the continued shortages will eventually stop children from playing.
According to Goss, participation in the youth leagues is at an all time high. Approximately 500 children play in leagues that need referees to officiate their games. He said over the last four years, he lost approximately 30% of the referees and umpires each year.
“As we keep growing, and we don’t have enough officials, we could very well run into a problem where we won’t be able to benefit the children and the citizens who want to come out here and play,” said Goss.
Trent Spang’s 13-year-old son plays in a travel baseball league, as well as a basketball league. She’s worried the widespread referee shortage could cost him his opportunity to play.
“If they don’t have refs, we can’t play. We’ve sat there for 45 minutes waiting on umpires for baseball games,” she said.
According to a study from the National Association of Sports Officials, almost half of all officials have feared for their safety on the job. Spang said she’s certainly seen her share of intense parent confrontations.
“Oh yes, yes I’ve seen. They can get quite boisterous and holler at them. I’ve seen parents literally ejected from the games because they are hollering at these refs,” Spang said.
Though he’s had some problems with parents, Goss said the main reason he’s losing refs is a lot of veteran officials are retiring, and, “the younger generation is just not showing interest. They just get discouraged really early, really quick.”
