 Welcome to the sports playbook where we discuss solutions to issues that impact sports. I'm your host, Angela Hazelett. Today's guest is Jillian Franklin, the Assistant Commissioner for the Battlefield Basketball Officials Association. Today, we're going to discuss basketball officiating the battlefield as officials. Let's get to it. Welcome, Jillian. Thank you for joining us today on the sports playbook. Thank you for having me. I'm excited. Jillian, you have a really long, rich history of being a basketball official and now serving as an Assistant Commissioner. Talk to us about how you got to where you are today and what was the process? How did you get involved with basketball officiating? I, that's from playing. I've played all my life and I was definitely the player that complained about the zebras, right? There's always a zebra's fault. My dad coached me my entire life and I remember riding home in the vehicle, like, you know, so-and-so wouldn't have missed this foul and put us on the free-thor line. We would have won that game. So I distinctly remember coming home one day and he said, you know what, I've got a solution. I'm going to fix you. I'm like, fix me. What are we talking about here? And he said, you're going to officiate. And I'm thinking that he's joking. I asked mom, is this a joke? And she said, what your father says goes? Like, okay, this will be interesting. Yeah. I'm like, well, I've never rapped. Like I play, I don't rap because well, you're about to learn how to rap. And he had set up a part-time job and the winter time for Youth Girls Basketball and Youth Boys Basketball Officiating for Rockingham County Parks and Recreation. And one of my fellow teammates also complained just a little bit. So her parents decided to do the same thing. And it was great, a great experience. But I think it paved the way not just for my career, but also my current officiating career as well. All of these years, I honestly didn't think that I would be doing high school basketball or more or less an assistant commissioner. But here we are. I do it because I love the game. I truly love the game. I want to give back to it. And I want young girls to see that they can still be involved in the game outside of a player and also for the integrity of the game. I love it. I love the game of basketball. That's why I do it. So walk me through when you first started officiating, this was at your father's direction in response to your complaining about the officials that you experienced during game time. How did that change your attitude and your mentality and your approach towards officials and referees as an athlete? It became, thank you, Mr. Ref. Thank you, Miss Ref, after games, before games. You dapped the refs up just out of a sign of mutual respect. I remember walking into my first game to officiate and my heart is pounding worse than I was playing. Like this is what is going on here. And Roger Michael, he actually mentored me and helped me with officiating because I knew nothing. I knew the calls, but to actually look at it from that perspective, a different lens, you're looking for travels, fouls. If they stepped out of bounds, instead of just ball watching where the ball goes and your head's following the ball, now there's so much more that you're watching and learning from. So the scary moments then to now and I just get excited when I step on the court. Like we've got this, let's have a great game is what I tell the crew, let's have fun and just enjoy the game just like the kids. We're only part of the game, that's all. And the officials role is a really important part of the game. As you mentioned previously, athletes, at least the perspective is that officials can make these game changing decisions and calls. And so that is a big impact, is a big influence on the outcome of games. And talk to me, you mentioned being nervous or that there's athletes that have these perspectives of maybe complaining about officials, but how do you go about recruiting officials to do what you've done all these years? That's a great question. So I go out to the community, I will send out flyers or at public relation events and talk about officiating and I always tell individuals, especially working in Parks and Recreation, we're a fundamental league. So this is where players learn to play, coaches learn to coach and officials learn to officiate. That's how I learn. That's what Parks and Recreation is great for. So you don't have to be perfect at the game and knowing the game. It doesn't matter if it's basketball, baseball, football, et cetera, but be willing to learn. That's a big component. Be willing to learn, have a lot of patience and have grace as well. And yeah, and for them to understand, it's a way to also give back to the game or be involved in a different aspect than a spectator or coach. Some are terrified of coaching. Okay, that's fine. What about officiating? And there's different levels. You don't have to do high school or scholastic for that matter. You could officiate Parks and Recreation where it truly is meant to be fun and enjoyable. Yeah. Meant to be being the operative word. Yes. Right, meant to be enjoyable. Let's talk a little bit about a recruiting challenge. We have, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, the average age of officials is 53 years old. Yes. This population continues to age. There's a concern for who's gonna replace these officials. What are you doing to recruit the younger generation? The younger generation's much different in that they tell us, well, we were told, don't let anybody disrespect us. So when they see these videos on social media or at games, their big question is, why would I want to come out here and be yelled at? And it's like, well, while you do see that, unfortunately, the 10% that's extremely bad is what outweighs the 90% of the good in the game. And you have to remind them of that and remind them that you're always gonna have challenges. There's always gonna be at least one bad apple at the game. You can't control how people react. Their feelings, big emotions, because their child is playing, they want them to win. And sometimes to an extent, they're living through their children during these games. But also, we need the younger generation. They're the future. Just like we tell them within education, you're the future, truly the same thing applies with an officiating. You all are the future. We have a lot of, speaking of 53, a lot of officials that are in their 50s and they're ready to retire. And they tell the coaches, it's been 30 years I've been doing this. It's time for me to walk away, but I'm still out here because it's hard to not only recruit, but more importantly, retain. So oftentimes the struggle is retaining them after the first or second season. It's the big thing that we see. And trying to just, again, encourage them that it'll be okay. One game at a time, and don't let the bad games outweigh the great games, essentially, you gotta hold on to the good. So it sounds like what you're saying is, maybe recruiting is not as big of a problem, but it's the retention piece. That's the challenge. Yes, I know for us, retaining them after the first season, typically, okay, the second season where it gets dicey, our local soccer association said that the first year is the most difficult year in retention. But for them, they've noticed if they can retain them for three seasons, then they have a lifelong official for their association, which is awesome. Yeah, definitely. Why would mods in another challenge with younger people might be the transitory nature? Like, if they don't stay within a community, it might be hard for them to kind of consistently be part of a team program or if they're having families and other life challenges and work challenges that kind of get in the way of serving in that role. Are we experiencing a crisis when it comes to a shortage of officials? I believe so, and I say that because we had well over 100 within our association pre-COVID and post-COVID. Our numbers have fluctuated between 65 and we're currently at 72 on our roster. But of that 72, 10 or not, ready to officiate this season. So that leaves you 62. And essentially, as you just said, those that have careers or families, that goes back to the human element that I tell folks, like, these officials, they're human. Their husbands, their wives on game days, they're spending more time to provide a service for you and your child than they are with their families, right? And we have to remember that as well. Yeah, that's an interesting point. So the numbers, you are expressing that the numbers have dwindled post-COVID. Is this a COVID issue? Is this a generational issue? What is this crisis? I can do things that cause me less headache issue is what a lot of our officials who end up retiring or walking away, they said, hey, like I found that my new hobby is golf. Or I found that I can go officiate volleyball for sometimes more money. I mean, money is a key factor. And I don't get yelled at the way that I get yelled at during basketball. Folks forget like with basketball, you're enclosed in an area versus a football where you can't typically hear somebody yelling at the top of a set of bleachers, right? You're on the field and all you can hear is the coaches and the players. But for COVID, many people found different hobbies that were more fun. And they also, the quality of time, going back to again to that human element, they said, I didn't realize how much time I spent away from home until COVID happened and how much I missed out on spending time with my son and other or my kids or travel, whatever the case may be for them. So they wouldn't make advantage of having that time back. The time was the biggest factor. Again, also with the money part, I can go do something else and make just as much money or more, but with less stress. Yeah, yeah. So kind of reprioritizing things. Let's dig into the money piece because at the collegiate professional level, we're talking a pretty significant check and change for our officials' pay. It can be several hundred dollars to thousands of dollars versus we're talking scholastic and recreation, maybe 25, 50 bucks, right? That's a pretty big difference. Absolutely. How does that, because you're trying to recruit for more of the grassroots youth type of level officials. So talk to me about those competing challenges and interests when the potential to earn more at the higher level exists. It is a challenge in that for years, recreation, especially as you just mentioned, $25, that's being generous. When I officiated, I remember making 750 per game and I look back on time, you know, 25 years ago, I'm like, oh my gosh, compared to now. And many places still pay $15 to $25. I simply will not do it because I know what I'm worth and my skillset. I pushed other parks and recreation departments to pay your officials. It's a double edged sword in the sense you complain that you are getting folks that aren't qualified, but that's what you're gonna pay for versus if you have a veteran official or a state qualified official coming out, they're gonna expect more than the $25. So for here in Fredericksburg, we are now paying $50 per official for a two-man crew and 55 for a single-man crew. And our officials are so thankful. I've been the catalyst within my surrounding area that the association will come to me. I'll make sure that we can work it within our budget and then it allows, you know, in a sense leverage to negotiate with other parks and recreation departments. And on the NCAA side, as we both know, you make significantly more. I know a lot of Division III, they're paying $500 per game. High school varsity, we're at 97. That's significantly right, significantly different. So if you're already traveling for some of our folks, two hours depending on where they work versus where their high school game that is, and they're gonna spend the same amount of time on the road to go do a college game, I'll be the first one to say, go do college. Not just about the money, but the exposure that you get within college and the opportunity to move up because there's always an assigner watching the games, looking to recruit another official. Then of course, your bigger games for the NCAA, your big conferences, many of them pay $3,500 a game. They can make a career out of it. Wow. Something can do. There are several that have made a career out of it. Yeah. And you mentioned these assiners that are kind of watching and recruiting talents. And is that a moment of pride for you if one of your own gets recruited and then pulled away? Or is that a- Absolutely. Yeah, it's a bittersweet moment because gosh, there goes one of our good ones, but at the same time, you want them to grow. We've got some officials that are in their 30s that truly want to be an official at the higher level, division one and potentially the NBA, go for it. If you have the flexibility to do it and you're able to attend the trainings and create the network, absolutely go for it. And it also gives you leverage when you're talking to the younger generation, like, hey, look, we have however many officials that are now on officiating on the higher levels and that are continuing to progress their careers. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I can be motivational to know that there's a growth trajectory for some of these younger officials that there might be a future for them. Serving as a referee. But let me ask you this. You mentioned some of your numbers have gone down as far as trained and qualified officials, but let me ask you this question. Has the demand for an increased number of officials increased? Are more games being added, more leagues? Is there a competing associations that have folded? You know, is the demand increased? Is that another factor contributing to this crisis of a shortage of officials? That has, I'm not sure if you saw how the youth sports industry, the worth, has nearly doubled during the pandemic years alone. And there are significantly more games all throughout every level, whether it's parks or recreation, travel ball, AAU, travel and AAU are much different contrary to what most understand. So that also takes away from the current officials because they're independent contractors. That's what folks don't realize. They're not required to officiate. And we have to remind all of our contract schools, hey, everyone's independent. They can work for multiple associations and if these associations are asking them to come referee for $30 more, they're going to go up the road for $30 more. I think it's great on the grassroots side that there's an increase in games because we want our youth involved. I just understand also that it can make things difficult when you're trying to assign and cover all the games as well. We have some leagues that for parks or recreation will run from 9 a.m. tip-off and their last game is at 8 p.m. And with that said, we actually did a survey this past season and our officials have said we do not want to referee a game later than a three o'clock tip-off time. So that was one of the negotiations, hey, one on your Saturdays, three o'clock is your latest tip-off time. Because remember, again, they're humans. They don't want to be out here five to nine p.m. on Saturday. They wanted to enjoy part of their Saturday, especially when they just did a double header Friday night. So, Jillian, what if instead of at the really grassroots level, if instead of having qualified trained officials that are getting paid, you have parents and coaches out there doing the job, and officiating, getting exposure to a getting experience, but also supporting the development of the youth. And maybe even appreciating how difficult it is. Is that a solution to solve this crisis? I think it's a band-aid over part of the crisis. And I say that because there's difficulty in getting coaches to coach or parents to coach. And the biggest drawback is I've heard past two years across field hockey, soccer, and basketball, the leagues we offer for my department. I'm terrified of the parents. Jillian, have you seen the videos? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. And I laugh, not that I'm laughing at them, but I truly feel them like, yes, I have. And I officiate, trust me, I deal with this all the time. I also coach, so I get what you're saying. But again, it's reminding them that we're a fundamental league. So for me, I'm focused more on let's just get parents to coach, because that's a big issue. We just need volunteers, because it's volunteer-based to give their time and coach. And then we can work on the officiating, at least if now we have an association covering the games. It makes life a little bit easier on the administration side. I just don't know. Also, what happens when a parent says that wasn't out of bounds, you don't know what you're talking about, and then your parents are going at it and forgetting, we're just here for the kids. We're here for it's all about them and their experience. And to remember, they're gonna remember this negativity far better than they're gonna remember scoring their first goal of their career. So don't let your actions and emotions overshadow what we're really here for. But that's been a struggle is getting parents to coach. And for our department, we rely on parents to volunteer coach. So I've actually kind of included that in my signature line. Let them know, like, hey, we need you. And it'll be okay. So my thing to encourage them is, I give them a packet, a Doritos packet for every sport to help the process. And I also say, like, hey, what about co-coaching? So you and I can come together and co-coach. So there's less stress on you or I taking on the team as a head coach, so we can collaboratively take it on together. Yeah. So youth coaching crisis as well as an officials crisis. It is. Let's talk a little bit about the recording aspect because many games are being recorded now either officially or unofficially. You know, with fans on the sidelines with their cell phones or, you know, official game footage. And that footage can be used to scrutinize the gameplay call of referees. Talk to me about that. What do you think? Are you pro recording of games and is that a good educational opportunity or a chance to change play calls on the field? How do you feel about that? So per National Federation, film is not allowed. It's something that we, it's not implied in the games. On the NCAA level, I know it's at different points in the game, which it can be applied. I think it's a beautiful thing on the National Federation level that it's not applicable. I love it. Otherwise, we'd be spending all of our time at the table reviewing film versus having a flow of the game on the side of uploading it to social media. We actually, there's a couple of official association groups on Facebook that I am a part of. I use it as a learning tool. A lot of officials and I will share the video and it'll be, well, what do you have? And you listen to what they have and give the rule and the basis. And then I'll say what, you know, what I have. Sometimes you miss it. Hey, that's the human element. We're in perfect. Spectators, coaches, parents, players, all of us are in perfect out here. We're not gonna get everything. Also, folks don't realize when you're recording, you might have a better angle than what the official has. It really is all about angles as well. Now, and on the training side that you mentioned, we actually have a mini camp annually every year in November leading into the season for officials and video is involved where you're filmed and you can go in the classroom and sit down and watch. And we also get evaluated throughout the season and your game films included with your evaluation, which I think it's great for the officials. And that's just not on the high school side, on the collegiate side, they oftentimes are having to review their film at halftime. That's how quickly that they have access to their film. Wow. But yeah, I think it's beautiful on the National Federation side that it's not applicable. It was just sad and a complete chaos. For now anyway. For now, yes. For now. Yes. And let's talk about abuse in sports, fans, coaches, players, treating officials with disrespect. Talk to me about that. How do officials control and manage the game? What power and authority do they have? What remedies do they have in those environments? So upon arrival to a school, the first thing that we should do, which I do, I find your game day administrator. Sometimes it's not your athletic department director. Sometimes it's your principal, assistant principal. Sometimes it's a teacher. But it doesn't matter. I just wanted to know, who is my game day administrator? Because if I have issues, I need to know who am I coming to to handle these issues. I say that because folks forget, officials are only at the game for two reasons, to adjudicate the rules and to keep a safe playing environment. We are not game day management in regards to taking care of the fans or handling them, having to eject them. Now sometimes that does happen. If it's not handled, I had to do it at the end of this past season. I stopped the game and said, you can go ahead and call the sheriff's office now and have them send officers over because we will not resume this game until they are gone. And this behavior was going on when I walked in for the JD game. And so I had warned the AD and it just became where the girls are crying, the parents are distraught and they needed to go. They took away from, again, why we're here. And after they were out of the gym, everyone started yelling, thank you so much, misrep. And you could just feel the pressure in the room lift. And you hate doing it, but if I have to to protect the kids, and that's what I tell folks, I'm not here for anyone else except for the game and more importantly, these players is why we're here. Folks forget again, like I said, we're here to adjudicate the rules and to keep a safe environment. And we're really part of the game. We do not determine the outcome of the game. When we get told, you caused us to lose the game. Okay, well, I didn't tell your team to miss 15 layups. I didn't, 10 free throws. I didn't say call a certain play that you decided to call in this situation. Where is the accountability for how your players played? The made shots, the missed shots, the mis-defensive board to opportunities, officials are just part of the game. Just like the players and coaches are, we're nothing more, nothing less. We don't determine the outcome. And we definitely don't try to include ourselves in the game by any means. And sometimes if the abuse gets so bad, especially if you're close, I will often say, hey, I will gladly pass along the commissioner's number or my number. We welcome you because we need more officials for all sports. And that usually makes them kind of sit up tight and they don't say too much more. If you wanna join us, please join us on the dark side. We need you because there's not enough of us to truly go around for all of these games. So the more, the better. Be part of the solution, not the question. Yes, absolutely. And what about officials? I've been at games where officials have, maybe there's some pride at stake, have kind of stepped up to a person that kind of gotten engaged in an altercation. What kind of education or tolerance do you have for officials who may respond in kind to fans who are being somewhat abusive? So we tell our officials, we're not here to obviously have that confrontation. And sometimes also it's, when you hear what's been said to them, because we don't know what's being said. It's like, okay, now, like I don't commit it, but now I can understand why you were so emotional and why you said what you did, or not necessarily said you did, but stepped towards a coach or even a player. Some of the things that were told are here on the court, people would be amazed at some of the things that are said. So we do not encourage it by any means. As always, take a step back. If anything, tell your partner, switch. You know, if you get to a timeout, say, hey, I need to get off this side, especially if it's a coach that is just riding you for the entire game, I need to get off this sideline. Get me off this sideline so I can breathe, hear myself think, and take a moment, and then I'll be good. Learn to walk away is the other thing. And we also will put up our hand and say, coach, that's enough. Like I've had enough and you put a warning in the books to let them know that that's your official warning the next time it's a tech, and we move on. And oftentimes, believe it or not, you'll have coaches come up to you after the game or at halftime and apologize. Like I was out of line. That's the part that most don't realize is that you do have some that are even players. I apologize. That was my bad. That's all me. Like, we're all good. And I tell people, I don't take it personal. I'm going to the next play. Just like, you should just move on to the next. We're good. And I'll tell coach, hey, we're good. It's all good. It's nothing but love out here. Let's enjoy the game. That's a really positive attitude. So that's fantastic. Have you ever had to cancel games because of lack of officials or maybe there's certain games and rivals that officials prefer to officiate? So have you ever had an issue with being able to adequately staff a game? Yes. So actually, and Arbiter is a system that we use for signing. I think probably all the associations use them. You can block out schools that you simply do not want to go to. Now that blocks you from going to that school, but it doesn't block you from, say, seeing them when they're on the road. But we also have had issues with rescheduling. I've experienced it before stepping it to my role as the assistant commissioner where the commissioner would call and say, hey, Jillian, I don't have any officials for your games tonight. Can we reschedule? Absolutely. For soccer, I've had it. They don't have officials. So I'm proactive. I said, you know what? I'm not canceling these games. I am going to find a solution, especially when you get the rainy seasons. I reach out to the local high school. I work with their varsity soccer team and it gives them an opportunity to come out and experience officiating, relearn some training, but also put a little extra cash in their pocket as high schoolers as well. So being proactive and coming up with solutions when you do have the moments where you don't have enough officials to cover your games. Yeah, that sounds like a very creative solution. What would you say is your biggest concern for the future of officiating and the future of the sport? Kind of our final question of today. With officiating, my future concern is the age that you spoke about earlier. The average age is 53 years. It's not old by any means, but it's certainly not young. And the sets of have say 16, a set of legs are ages 16 to 30. And we really don't have the gap between ages 25 and 35 to feel that void. And these officials that are in their 50s, their 60s, it is time for them to retire. And I'm not saying that they're not great or they can't keep up. I'm just saying it's time for them to live their life and if they want to do something else, go do that. So that's my concern is, how are we going to fill this void when we are going to have a mass exodus due to matriculation? We're there, every association experiences it. We're going to have it here in the next few years, ourselves, and we're already coming up with solutions or trying to think of solutions. How do we, again, recruit officials as far as youth sports go? It's going to be very interesting. As long as we continue to have the pay to play that mine said that I paid for my kid to be out on this court, you know, with that you're going to put them out on this court because it's my money and I'm spending $20,000 a year. It just adds a level to me of negativity of why we're really here and what youth sports is about. It's for the child that wants to try something new. The kid maybe who has a dream to play pro for the young ladies whom think I need to get in shape, not just young ladies, young ladies in, young men as well. It's sports are, it provides camaraderie, teamwork, accountability, discipline, learning to work together. So until we can kind of get back to that foundation, I don't fear for it. I know folks like myself continue to fight for it so we're going to be okay, but it's concerning. So we need more to continue to step up and be more vocal and educating, you know, at the end of the day, we have to educate the parents, the coaches, the players, everyone, you know, what youth sports is about. Thank you for educating us today and your insight into basketball officiating and the battlefield of officials. So thank you for your time. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Thank you to our fans on the sports playbook. On our next episode, our guest is Catherine Norr who will discuss with me the future of sport. We will see you then.