WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) is celebrating "Officials Appreciation Week" along with all other Division III conferences. This is a nationwide initiative designed to recognize officials for the important role they play in competition across all sports.
Officials Appreciation Week will be celebrated during the 2022-23 winter and spring sport seasons, with the spring Officials Appreciation Week taking place April 3-9, 2023.
“Officials are an essential part of the student-athlete experience; we rely on them to help create a safe and fair playing environment and without them, we would not be able to provide our student-athletes with a meaningful competitive experience,” said OAC Commissioner Sarah Otey. “Our OAC schools, coaches, student-athletes and fans can help us overcome the current officials shortage by showing respect and appreciation for the very difficult work they do in support of the student-athlete experience. I appreciate our officials’ supervisors and all of our officials – and this week is an excellent opportunity to highlight the incredibly important (and often thankless) job they do.”
Officials Appreciation Week is one of numerous initiatives that are being implemented as part of the Division III Commissioners Association (DIIICA) Strategic Plan for Collegiate Officiating that was created as a result of the DIIICA's Strategic Analysis of the State of Collegiate Officiating. The goal of the Strategic Plan for Collegiate Officiating is to recruit and retain quality officials in all sports, and to address the nationwide shortage of sports officials and referees across all levels.
The OAC hopes to help in the efforts to combat the current officiating crisis. If you are interested in becoming an official, please click on the links below to get started:
