In an effort to combat the officials crisis currently placing a strain on high school athletics in Colorado, the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) is launching the “You Look Good in Stripes” initiative.
The initiative aims to aid those looking to be part of the solution, CHSAA will cover costs for any new officials’ CHSAA dues, as well as the sport’s officials association dues, for the first year. These dues will cover each new official’s background check, insurance, testing, rule books, a membership to a sport-specific association and a membership to ArbiterSports.
CHSAA has also made it easier than ever to sign up.
Anyone interested in becoming an official can simply follow this link and fill out the five-question form. The staff at CHSAA will send your contact information to sport-specific area directors, who will reach out with details of training, meetings, procedures and requirements.
It’s that easy to get started.
“We are very excited to implement the ‘You Look Good in Stripes’ initiative,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Michael Book, who oversees officiating. “It is vital that we not only increase the number of officials across all sports, but develop a pipeline of new officials and retain them in this incredible profession. It can be expensive to begin as an official, so we are extremely grateful to be able to remove this barrier for new officials. Our officials associations have been instrumental in working with us in this process and I can’t thank them enough for their support.”
Uniforms and equipment are also expensive barriers to entry when becoming an official. As part of the “You Look Good in Stripes” initiative, CHSAA will also provide uniform and equipment grants for new officials once registration and testing are complete.
The link to the sign-up form can always be found on CHSAANow.com by clicking on the “Officials” tab at the top right of the page and will be disseminated regularly via all CHSAA social media.
“We are beyond excited to get the ‘You Look Good in Stripes’ initiative off the ground as we do everything we can to make getting started in officiating easily accessible to any and all who are interested in becoming an official,” CHSAA commissioner Michael Krueger said. “The intent of this program is to remove any barriers that an individual might face and to simply make the process of getting involved easier. Officials are vital partners in fulfilling our mission to provide opportunities for our students, we simply cannot do this without them and we need more of them. We hope this program is a great start.”
