Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The South Fork Cubs
It’s been a tough season in terms of wins and losses for a young South Fork girls soccer team, but that doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate at least one important part of it all.
Namely, the officials.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Cubs fell 1-0 at St. Bernard’s and afterwards presented the officials on hand with an appreciation basket to show them how much they appreciate them showing up for the games.
And it was a move that earned them the respect of their opposing coach.
“It was a great gesture to provide a little something extra to the officials that we truly appreciate,” said St. Bernard’s head coach Brian Finck.
It was a particularly noteworthy display of appreciation at a time when most high school sports are seeing a decline in the number of officials, both locally and at a national level.
“It’s good to be able to show appreciation for the officials who have a thankless job but keep showing up,” South Fork head coach Ann Constantino said.
Various official appreciation weeks are being held throughout the nation this month.
The Eureka Loggers also recently presented their volleyball officials with an appreciation basket.
The Del Norte boys soccer team also expressed gratitude to their officials after Wednesday’s game against St. Bernard’s in Crescent City.
Categories: Community, Soccer, South Fork
Coach Constantino is a “class act”… when I see her, I think of one word as well…LOYALTY!
Kudos to the other teams as well…
…mixed with school ASB student councils…
…mixed with the various LEAGUE ASSIGNORS OF SPORTS CONTESTS…
…MAYBE EVERYONE CAN KUMBAYA TO GET SCHOOLS TO PAY REFS FAIRLY IN ALL SPORTS…
GAME FEE + FULL MILEAGE + GAME ONLY HEALTH INSURANCE
Lastly, and this is no joke, schools can honor referees by simply treating refs better throughout the year in all sports. It is a nicety that Xmas exists 1 day out of the year, but that is not a denier that the other 364 could be way better.
For example, schools could “officially mark” those vehicle parking spaces next to the handicap spaces in a defined color… for official referee use only
Basketball venues, say 6-10
Football venues, say 15-25
Soccer venues, say 6-10
Volleyball venues, say 6-10
etc…
only difficulty besides painting defined colors is understanding scheduling when multiple venues are occurring simultaneously, concurrently.
Parking issues actually do cause some people to not desire officiating… we desire to show up without delays, without wasting our day looking for parking spots, having to park way off in the yonder, etc…
…not that many bucket list items, right… and simple stuff aside from the budget appropriation because we all know how on the cheap schools are… but even if paid by 100% donations, somebody in the school would still have a stick up their agenda.🤷♂️
Me, I make it happen as an administrator… teachers/staff get their parking spots, and so too for sports officials. Whatever is left, then so be it.