GLENWOOD, Iowa (KMTV) — A shortage of youth sports referees has prompted a creative solution in Glenwood. A mentoring program is building a talent pipeline by training 11- to 13-year-olds to officiate soccer games — with experienced mentors by their side on the field.
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Kassie Graalfs and Liam Gonzalez, both 13, are among the young participants preparing to referee games for players under the age of eight.
"I really like teaching the kids how to do things in like a sport that kind of gets overlooked," Graalfs said.
Gonzalez said he was inspired to join by a family member: "Because I saw my brother do it first, and I like being ref because I like to play the game, and just to ref the game."
When the young referees are on the field, mentors like Carol Malcom are nearby.
"I do it to try to close that gap with the communication with the coaches and referees," Malcom said.
Some statistics indicate that 80% of youth soccer referees quit after a couple of years.
"Because of the parents and the coaches badgering them," said Malcom.
The Glenwood Youth Soccer Referee Development Program eases potential referees into the job, developing their confidence while shielding them from badly behaved adults on the sidelines.
"Sometimes the parent sideline is pretty hard to manage and control and sometimes even the coaches are pretty hard to manage and control," Mentor Travis Schuppan said.
Schuppan's daughter got her start refereeing in Glenwood and went on to bigger things.
"And now she referees all the way up to semi-pro games and NCAA games," he said.
It's the kind of outcome the program hopes to replicate with its newest cohort of referees.
"You know, like, how to do it, you're not just getting like thrown in there," Graalfs said.
The program is now being replicated in other Iowa towns.
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