GET IN THE GAME: Ottawa City Rec plans basketball referee camp this month

OTTAWA – The need is there.

Now Ottawa City Recreation director Dave Marvin is hoping a little easy-to-gain experience will drum up the interest.

Ottawa City Recreation and the Illinois Valley Officials Association will conduct a You Make the Call basketball referee camp beginning this month. The camp – should the interest prove to be there – will be free for participants, beginning with classroom instruction May 23-25 followed by on-the-court training during summer league games in June.

“When I took over the Ottawa City Recreation director position and started thinking, ‘What are some things I could come up with we haven’t had in the past?’ I thought about the lack of officials in basketball,” Marvin said. “I’m hearing about it all the time. I thought, ‘What if we had a camp to teach kids how to do it?’

“I started talking to Jim Knauf [with the Illinois Valley Officials Association], and he thought it was a great idea. ... There is a need. We’re trying to help with that. And with city rec, it helps us too. We need officials for our leagues.”

The camp’s classroom portion will run 6 to 8 p.m. May 23, 24 and 25. The on-the-court training will take place the weeks of June 6 and June 13, with hours flexible. Sign-up is online through OttawaRecreation.org.

“We’ve tried in our local officials organization, as have others, some recruitment efforts. … A lot of our efforts just haven’t worked,” Knauf said. “This is one, though, that I think connects a lot of different facets of the community. You have the rec board taking the lead, you’re getting local officials involved, you’re getting the schools involved, you’re getting the community involved. ...

“Outside of me being an official and part of our local officials organization, I also do a lot of assigning for [local conferences]. With the general public, the shortage of officials is largely anecdotal, but when you’re involved with trying to find officials to work games, the shortage really does hit you right between the eyes.”

Looking beyond the current shortage, Knauf noted things could grow worse in the near future as so many of the area’s current officials are not many years from retirement. As such, the camp is designed with those ages 16-and-up, especially young men and women, in mind.

“If you’re athletic-minded, it’s obviously a way to stay in the game,” Knauf said. “It’s a way to give back, a way to stay involved, a way to stay in shape, a way to earn some extra cash. And you make some lifelong friends.”

Mike Cooper, the athletic director at Ottawa High School, the site of both the classroom and on-the-court portions of the camp, agreed the need is there. Top of mind right now is the dearth of softball and especially baseball umpires causing games to be moved, postponed or flat-out canceled, but an acute lack of officials also made scheduling difficult during the winter basketball season.

“We’re living it right now with baseball and softball, but honestly basketball was just as big of a problem, and we had to move some games,” Cooper said. “We have a real shortage, and I think people that sit in my chair and at the IHSA need to do a better job of reaching out to high school and young college kids encouraging them to get involved with officiating. ...

“We’ve known this is going to be a problem here for a number of years. I think people just didn’t believe it’d actually happen, but we’re having to cancel games because we don’t have umpires or officials.

“We really do need an injection of young blood. And to be honest, it’s a great way for some of these kids to make money.”

Speaking of the current softball/baseball umpire shortage, Marvin said if the basketball camp goes well, he’d like to offer something similar for aspiring young umpires in the future.

“We’ve got to have the participants to do it,” Marvin said. “That’s the thing.”