By Drew Stivers and Kaden Schartz, BHS Sports Writing
BUHLER, Kan. – To address the sports official shortage in Kansas, Buhler High School has taken a hands-on approach by offering a sports officiating class during the school day to students interested in becoming future officials.
Teacher and fellow sports official Brennan Torgerson is teaching the class to prepare more officials and make students more employable.
Torgerson shared his concerns about the shortage and hopes for the program.
“The end result is student-athletes are being affected [by the shortage of sports officials]. I am most excited to share my excitement and passion for officiating by sharing my experiences. Hopefully, it will get our students interested in officiating as well,” said Torgerson.
There are currently 16 students enrolled in this course.
”It’s impactful because it gives you new opportunities in life to choose if you want to do something around sports instead of being in the bleachers or playing the sport,” said Dejia Lee-Mcglynn, Buhler High School junior and athlete.
“I’m looking forward to learning more about certain rules in volleyball and softball,” said McGlynn.
“The thing that interested me in taking the class was that it involved sports and that it sounded cool to take. I’m looking forward to officiating volleyball, softball, and a little bit of football for the middle school,” said Lee-Mcglynn.
Buhler High School Athletic Director Justin Seuser has experienced the struggle of finding officials for sports events.
“It is always a challenge for us to find officials for our high school sub-varsity and middle school games. We are blessed to have many staff members in the district that are registered officials and work many of our HS and MS games,” said Seuser.
If all 449 high schools across Kansas offered the class to at least 10 students, then the number of eligible sports officials would increase by almost 4,500. This would make it much easier to find officials for sporting events in the future.
To learn more about this course or if you’d like to share your sports officiating experience with the class, contact Buhler High School at 620-543-2255.
