GETTING IT RIGHT INSPIRATION, MOTIVATION, ELEVATION Oh Captain! LeCaptain!

By Joe Jarosz

It was Sunday, May 21, and the sun was rising over Green Bay, Wis., on a warm spring morning. In the shadows of Lambeau Field, hundreds of runners were preparing for the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon. For many of them, it was no different than races they had prepared for their entire running life. But for Ironman competitor Bob LeCaptain, a his arm was sinking into the mattress, he said. He tried rocking a little bit and using momentum to get himself up. LeCaptain’s wife, Tracy, witnessed the activity and remembered signs of a stroke. She knew time was of the essence and called 911.The family was thrown into emergency mode.

To illustrate the community aspect of the officiating industry, LeCaptain remembers that one of the responding EMTs was a fellow Green Bay-area official with whom he worked basketball. “The brothers and sisters in the stripes are there when you need them,” LeCaptain said.

Support from the Green Bay Officials Association poured in after the stroke and during his recovery. Various officials picked up dates when LeCaptain was supposed to referee basketball last season and dozens of officials reached out to his wife and family in support. As LeCaptain summarizes, the officiating community really rallied.

September 2022 came along and LeCaptain was released from the hospital. His progress with physical therapy was quick and a running connection with his therapist got him thinking about running more and more. “When what you really enjoy doing in life gets pulled away from you, I began thinking about running and decided I would take that part of my life back,” LeCaptain said. He made a New Year’s resolution to run a marathon.And in May, he accomplished that goal.

Recruitment at Alta Vista Park

Redondo Sunset Softball in Redondo Beach, Calif., is attacking its officiating shortage with a recruitment push for young umpires. The organization is so committed to the effort that commissioner Colby Cano joined a group of junior umpires for an eight-hour USA Softball training session.

“We had staffing issues like everything else in the world,” said the longtime coach and first-year commissioner. Leadership felt a need to add diversity and youth to the group to ensure assignment coverage.

League administration began a junior umpire program, focused on recruitment and mentoring for younger female umpires. The group covered costs to get each junior umpire started. Registration with USA Softball, insurance, uniforms and equipment were all paid for. Junior umpires just needed to show up for training and soak in all the mentoring they could get on the diamond from veteran umpires.

SOURCE: EASYREADERNEWS.COM

Dust Devil in Jacksonville basketball referee from the Green Bay area, it was an improbable, incredible feat to be at the starting line just 279 days after suffering a stroke.

No one expected a weather emergency on a sunny May afternoon at a Fort Caroline Athletic Association field in Jacksonville, Fla. But 17-year-old umpire Aidan Wiles sprang into action when he saw a dust devil starting to rotate around home plate.

As LeCaptain, 46, prepared for bed on Aug. 15, 2022, he was experiencing a headache. Because he couldn’t fall asleep, he attempted to get up to retrieve some medicine. As he tried to get out of bed, it felt like

LeCaptain was the viceprincipal at Green Bay Preble High School before his stroke and is currently on family and medical leave as he works his way back to returning to his career in education administration. He began officiating basketball with his dad and brother while he was in high school. LeCaptain said running and officiating have led him to meet incredible people and he is looking forward to increasing his participation in both avocations as he continues his recovery.

Joe Jarosz is an assistant editor for Referee *

Dust devils tend to form on hot, sunny days with light winds and are usually created by surface heating that causes dust-filled vortices. A 7-year-old player was caught up in the rotation and the quick-thinking umpire lifted and carried him out of harm’s way.

The player’s father said, “A kid that had the presence to do that, it’s just special to see. He had great parents raising him.” No one was injured in the weather event and the game was able to continue without further incident.

SOURCE: FOXNEWS.COM

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Higher education took on a new meaning when two British women completed an advanced officiating course in Scotland.

Determined to break new ground, two officials enrolled in a Performance Enhancement in Sports

Officiating program at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland, with hopes of earning a Master of Science degree. The program is a spinoff from a blended (online and face-to-face) learning course for top-level coaches launched by the university in 2016.

After decades of career work, two British women, Christina Barrow, from Sale, and Clare Daniels, from Mildenhall, were among seven to apply for the program’s initial launch in September 2019. Since they were both looking to learn more about their crafts through an academic lens, they chose a path leading them to a pioneering program that has given them a unique perspective to bring back to their sports.

By Leah Berard

Barrow and Daniels have had international onfield experience as officials in their respective sports of netball and rugby (union). They are both currently off-field leaders, coaches, mentors and performance assessors/ reviewers. Barrow is an umpire for England’s national netball Premier League, technical official for England’s Netball Super League and is the World Netball International officiating manager. Daniels was an English national rugby union referee and has served a few roles since her onfield departure, including match development officer for England’s Rugby Football Union and international match official performance reviewer for World Rugby. Barrow found out about the program through Twitter and applied just one month before the course launch. “I knew I wanted to be involved in a learning environment in a structured way and get accredited for it,” she said. “I had looked at sports management previously, but there’s a lot of in-person time and it seemed expensive.”

She filled out the application and had an interview with two course leaders, including Dr. Duncan Mascarenhas, associate professor of sport and exercise psychology and coaching. As the leader of the program and a former video producer, he used his skill sets to develop materials and modules based on the coaches’ blended learning course the university previously launched.

Since Barrow already had an honors degree (equivalent to a higher standard of classes taken in a bachelor’s program), it made for less application work. However, the program does allow for flexibility. Although the entry requirement is honors or above in a related subject, such as sport or exercise science, they also consider those who have proven professional work experience within the industry.

That’s the pathway Daniels took to get into the program, as she went straight into the workplace at 18. “The time wasn’t right for me to go to university at that age,” she said. “When I received an email from England’s Rugby Football Union promoting the program, I decided the time was right to explore academia.”

In lieu of the undergraduate degree, Daniels’ 12 years of experience at England Rugby was sufficient. “This unique course is an example of why education need not necessarily begin with or indeed end with university,” Mascarenhas said. “Students can apply with experience rather than qualifications, and a master’s course of this standard enables students to confidently pursue robust, evidence-based research projects that can have a real impact on their sport.”

Mascarenhas is no stranger to officiating and the highperformance environment. He has been a basketball official since he was 17 years old and is currently a touch rugby referee, making the English and Scottish panels in both sports. He’s a psychologist as well as an associate professor, with more than 20 years of experience working with elite sports officials. England’s Rugby Football Union is one of the clients that had sought his expertise in sports psychology, and that is the avenue through which Daniels found out about the program. Through personal and professional connections, he initially relied on oldfashioned word-of-mouth to attract applicants. However, he is anxious for word to spread through more channels.

Mascarenhas started recruiting a mix of administrators, coaches and high-performance officials in 2019. He promoted the program through social media channels. He primarily asked people and officials he knew in his professional and social circles if they or anyone they knew would be interested in the program. Now they have more of a social media recruiting presence on Twitter and LinkedIn. They have recently added a course instructor, Dr. Ian Cunningham. The program has now had officials from around the UK as well as Sri Lanka, Australia and some European nations.

The online learning environment the program created due to the pandemic did conversely enhance the program by being able to reach officials and strengthen collaborations across the world.

The program is an online three-year, part-time program geared toward officials in all sports. It has been exclusively online since the pandemic struck six months after the start of the program. Originally, the students were scheduled to meet in person once every trimester (the program is in trimesters with minimal breaks); however, the students only met twice, and the program has kept the online learning format ever since.

Some of the initial applicants dropped out immediately due to the pandemic, while others are either still enrolled or on a break from courses. As it is a rigorous “part-time” commitment, it really is a lot of work and dedication.

There are four learning modules to complete. Each is worth 20 credits toward the degree along with independent study (40 credits) and a final research project (60 credits). The modules are Work Based Learning for Sports Officials, Communication and Game Management, Leadership and

Organizational Management for Sports Officials, and HighPressure Decision Making.

The students are scheduled to complete three of the modules in their first year, one module in their second year as well as an independent study, which can be used as initial work toward their research project module (thesis) in their third year. Guest speakers from across the globe present to the students and give them research project ideas. Eighty percent of their research project grade/mark is based on a written component and 20 percent on an oral presentation.

For each module, there are assessment criteria based on a matrix that includes descriptions of standards, including four types of learning outcomes: knowledge and understanding, cognitive skills, practical or professional skills, and communication skills. The assessment criteria are used to measure student performance relating to how well they have fulfilled the specific learning outcomes of a module. There are one or two marked/ graded pieces of homework per module. The degree’s final grade/mark is an average of all the grades/marks across the program, depending on the weighting of each module.

“Although putting in the effort helps,” Barrow said, “it doesn’t always guarantee the marks.” All the modules and documents needed for the program are stored on an online site, where their work is also submitted.

Even after graduation, the work hasn’t exactly stopped. Barrow is getting ready to publish her final paper submission, titled, “An examination of how voluntary international netball officials view and experience wellbeing.” Daniels has also started the process of publishing hers, “Female Sports Officials Development Pathways.” Daniels said her interview subjects were more open and she was able to get more meaningful data because she has “walked the walk,” unlike independent researchers. “I was a researcher with firsthand lived experience,” Daniels said. Mascarenhas also stresses the importance and significance of publishing their findings, which will go through a robust peer review from other researchers who are experts in the field. “Their own research will inform other future investigations to enhance practice across the whole officiating sector/industry,” Mascarenhas said.

Barrow believes the program gives one the background and evidence they're doing the right thing in their realm of the sport. “I now feel more advanced in my understanding of doing what I do in my officiating roles,” Barrow said, “and I have more tools to improve the things I can.”

Daniels said she can better support the management team because she has learned many things along her journey and now understands all officials have their own pathways and challenges. She can bring more empathy, as well as an additional skill set to her highperformance role and to the group. “We all bring different perspectives to the discussions around how we create the optimum environment for the officials to develop, on and off the pitch,” Daniels said.

The “first of its kind” program has been successful because of the dynamics between the course leaders and their more than 35 years of research to apply to sports officiating. “Napier has established its quality now in this small market,” Mascarenhas said, “which makes us unique to be the first university to accredit an officiating program like this.”

He said there are other validated programs like it in the world. However, they have yet to graduate students. “Marketing is definitely a challenge for us,” Mascarenhas said. “So it’s a bonus to get our name out there however and whenever we can.”

The word has not yet gone far beyond Europe, however, as Mascarenhas has had communication with only one official from the U.S., a collegiate basketball official who inquired about the program.

Daniels said the upfront cost may be prohibitive to some.

“You have to be intrinsically motivated,” Daniels said. “You’re there because you’ve chosen to and are paying out of pocket.” Some of the other challenges of the program are isolation (online format) and a heavy workload (students are full-time employees as well).

“The course was a pleasure and a pain,” Barrow said. “It’s so involved, and unanswered questions always lead to new questions.”

Although limited research in this area made it difficult to test the data and theories, their reward was the experience. It opened eyes, minds and doors in the officiating world for them, and they concur the pain was worth it.

The world was their oyster as the first graduating class of the world’s first master’s degree in officiating. They had to remain adaptable, which successful officials are, and be willing to be comfortable being uncomfortable in a novel environment with limited research to support their final theses and projects.

“All the modules in the program are tailored to the students’ needs. It means we’re dealing with areas of sport which have never really been tested,” Mascarenhas said. “Officiating research is relatively young. It effectively began in the ’80s but only really started growing in the late ’90s. There’s so much that’s still unexplored and it’s an exciting area to be involved in.” Leah Berard, St. Paul, Minn., officiated international rugby and now officiates high school and college football. *

Master’s Degree in Performance Enhancement in Sports Officiating

•O ered at Edinburgh Napier University, a public university located in Edinburgh, Scotland.

•Program has been running since 2019.

•Students complete the program part-time, online.

•Duration: 3 years

•Start dates: September, January and May

•Tuition: Approx. $7,000 (based on 202324 tuition rates)

•The program typically has a group webinar at the start of each trimester and multiple group and individual online checkpoints through the year. Online interactive activities and online video materials are used to augment the experience.

•The program “has a strong emphasis upon self-reflection, so you will profile your own performance with a series of research investigations to identify areas for personal development. Your progress will be guided by enhancing your understanding of contemporary research together with peer support groups from other practicing o cials to critically reflect upon your performance.”

•“Exploring contemporary issues in leadership, sports performance management systems and organizational culture, you will not only examine your own leadership capabilities in relation to your personal context (e.g., the match day o ciating team), but also critically evaluate them in relation to e ective organizational, team and player management.”

SOURCE: NAPIER.AC.UK