West Virginia high school basketball dealing with an officiating crisis

An article by Home Team Sports TV’s Drew Pitzer highlighted the officiating crisis affecting West Virginia high school basketball. Pitzer wrote, “With over 20 schools fielding both boys’ and girls’ teams at multiple levels, the WVSSAC official organization is stretched thin. The season runs from December through the end of February, and officials are working nearly every night, juggling full-time jobs and family obligations with the demands of the whistle.”

Veteran official Jacob Long lamented that they had to postpone games because they didn’t have enough referees to cover them. Likewise, there are times when they must officiate multiple games in a day. It’s a challenging predicament, considering they also have day jobs and families to attend to. Likewise, some officials also work at college games.

Hence, game official Chris Anders shared that covering West Virginia high school basketball games on Saturday is increasingly hard. That’s why, for the first time in his career, which spans two decades, they didn’t have enough officials for all the games on one night.

Likewise, Ron Watkins, trainer of game officials, pointed out that the average age of West Virginia high school basketball officials is 50 to 58 years old. That fact is alarming, considering the stamina needed to run up and down the court as an official.

However, despite the challenges they face, West Virginia high school basketball game officials take pride in keeping the game’s integrity. In doing so, they attend officiating camps to improve their craft and stay sharp.

West Virginia high school basketball has four classes. Tug Valley is the defending Class A state champions after defeating Tucker County 65-45. Meanwhile, Wheeling Central Catholic won the Class AA state title after beating Williamstown. Bridgeport is the reigning Class AAA champions via a 62-40 win over Nitro. Finally, Spring Mills ruled Class AAAA by beating George Washington High School.