Officials

Oregon Athletic Officials Association

OSAA/OAOA Central Hub

A lot of information and great resources for officials can be found on the OSAA/OAOA Central Hub hosted on ArbiterSports. Officials registration, testing, training, and a lot more information is up on the Central Hub. Click the Central Hub button or one of the icons below.


Football
Volleyball
Soccer
Basketball
Wrestling
Baseball
Softball

Sign-Up and Register to Become an Official

How to Register as an Official

1. First, determine which sport and Local Officials Association you want to join. You can use the Association Lookup Tool to find the closest association near a given ZIP code or high school. The Associations tab also contains a list of all Local Official Associations.
2. Are you at least 18 years old?
   
   • Yes, continue on to Step 3.
   • No, if you are under 18 years old, you will need to contact your association's Commissioner in order to request an exception for youth referees. (These exceptions start with Commissioners, contact your Commissioner with an email expressing your interest to officiate.) Your Commissioner will then provide you with different registration instructions; do not continue to Step 3.
3. Complete the Online Registration process. Registration is completed through the OSAA/OAOA Central Hub on ArbiterSports. The online registration form is fairly self explanatory and contains contact information if you need assistance. The registration process includes:
   

   Click the image to the left to start your officials registration.
   • Choosing a portal
   • Selecting a sport
   • Providing contact information and a mailing address
   • Consenting to a background check
   • Agreeing to an Independent Contractor notification
   • Selecting your Local Officials Association
   • Paying registration fees online
   Choosing a Portal There are two registration options available for officials registering with the OSAA:
   Oregon Portal - this portal should be selected if you are a member or plan to be a member of a Local Officials Association chartered in the state of Oregon in any of the seven sports (Football, Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball, Baseball, or Softball).
   Affiliate Portal - this portal should be selected if you are a member of an officiating association located outside of Oregon but will be officiating contests within Oregon's border. This option should also be selected if the Commissioner of your association has indicated that you should complete the affiliate registration process even though you may be a member of an Oregon association.
4. Look for your Officials Packet in the mail. Your packet includes an OSAA badge and rules books. See the "Officials Packets" section and "Registration Fees" table for additional information.
5. Complete the required annual Certification Tests. Refer to the Certification/OCEP tab for additional information including all certification requirements for officials, links to online rules exams, concussion testing information, and OCEP requirements. If you are a new official, it is recommended to attend at least one of your association's training meetings before taking the rules exam.
6. Get Training from your Local Officials Association. Check with your association for any additional membership requirements, training meeting schedule, and assignment procedures.

2016-17 OSAA Officials Registration and Testing Timelines

	FALL	WINTER	SPRING
Registration/Testing Opens	Mon. 6/20/2016	Mon. 9/19/2016	Mon. 1/9/2017
Test Review Opens	Mon. 8/15/2016	Mon. 11/14/2016	Mon. 2/27/2017
First Contest/Jamboree Dates	Thurs. 8/25/2016	Wed. 11/30/2016	Mon. 3/13/2017
Testing/Registration Closes	Fri. 10/21/2016	Fri. 2/17/2017	Wed. 5/17/2017

Certification Requirements for OSAA Officials

To be an OSAA certified official, an individual must:

1. Be at least 18 years of age (exceptions for youth officials are made by the OSAA Executive Director)
2. Be a member in good standing of a Local Officials Association and complete the online registration process
3. Take the National Federation Rules Examination for the sport concerned
4. Attend six study/training meetings or complete 10 hours of approved training
5. Consent to and pass an annual criminal history conviction screening
6. Complete an annual OSAA concussion awareness training course

Testing

Online Exams Officials must annually pass an online rules exam for each sport he/she officiates. Testing is administered online through the OSAA/OAOA Central Hub on ArbiterSports. Exams are open book and there is no time limit. The test must be completed in order to be certified. Officials have 3 attempts to obtain a passing score. After the specified date, the ability to review a previous completed test is enabled.

Concussion Training

All OSAA certified officials in all sports must complete an annual OSAA concussion training course. Training must be completed before officials are allowed to officiate any contest. This annual requirement must be completed within each membership year (August 1 through July 31).

OSAA Online Concussion Course

The OSAA has created an online training course specifically targeted for athletic officials, "Understanding Concussions - What Officials Need to Know." The online course is hosted on the Central Hub through the Eligibility Center. To complete the concussion course:

1. Click the link to access the Eligibility Center on ArbiterSports.
2. If you are not already logged in, you must log in with your e-mail address and password you used during registration.
3. Under the Started section, expand a varsity eligibility in the current school year, -.
4. In the expanded eligibility you selected, a list of the requirements will be visible. Next to the "Understanding Concussions - What Officials Need to Know" item, click the View Clinic link.
5. A pop-up window will appear. Click the OK button. If you do not see any buttons, you might have to scroll to the right in this pop-up window to see the button.
6. A training course will load on a platform hosted by BrainShark. The course takes about 10 minutes to complete, prompting you to progress to the next step as necessary.
7. In the upper-right, an icon is displayed indicating your completion status. This icon will appear red to let you know that you still have more steps to complete in the course. After you have completed the course, ensure that this icon appears green - noting that you have met all of the completion criteria.

Officials Certification And Education Program - OCEP

The OSAA/OAOA Officials Certification and Education Program (OCEP) is designed to ensure that Oregon officials statewide are trained in a consistent and standardized manner. There are two components - the Principles of Officiating Course and Playoff Certification Clinics.

Principles of Officiating

New officials shall complete within their first three years of officiating a course or clinic approved by the OAOA Executive Board on basic Principles of Officiating. This requirement does not apply to officials certified by the OSAA in 2005-06 or prior; or any transfer official previously licensed or certified by a State High School governing body.

Each local officials association must conduct an annual OCEP Principles of Officiating Course. It is highly suggested that these courses are offered to other neighboring associations of other sports to have a diverse participant base. For additional information, please refer to the OAOA Website.

OCEP Playoff Certification Clinic

These clinics are sport specific and cover rules, interpretations, and mechanics for officiating in the OSAA Championships and playoffs. The OAOA sponsors several certification clinics in all sports throughout the year. Idaho and Washington associations who service Oregon schools are exempt from OCEP as they must comply with their respective states' training and certification requirements.

Officials selected to officiate any OSAA State Championship or playoff event shall have completed an OCEP Playoff Certification Clinic, or other camp, clinic, or certifying procedure substantially equivalent and approved by the OAOA Executive Board in the applicable sport.

Playoff Recertification Requirement

Football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, and softball officials must attend an OCEP Playoff Certification Clinic every five years. Wrestling officials must attend an OCEP Playoff Certification Clinic every three years. Soccer officials must obtain USSF Grade 8 certification once.

Eligibility Badges

To help officials and Commissioners understand the certification requirements, the Central Hub on ArbiterSports assigns users badge icons representing the certification of each official and their eligibility to be assigned to officiate certain levels of competition.

OSAA State Championships & Playoffs

Officials selected to represent a local association at any State Championship or playoff event shall meet each of the following requirements:

• Be certified, playoff eligible, and in good standing per the OSAA Athletic Officials Handbook:
  • Completed online registration including signing an independent contractor agreement, paying required fees, and consenting to a background check
  • Passed the background check
  • Viewed any required training videos (i.e. concussion training)
  • Passed the NFHS rules exam with a score of at least 90%
• Meet and hold current OCEP certification requirements:
  • Completed the OCEP Principles Course once (or be grandfathered in)
  • Completed the sport specific OCEP Playoff Certification Clinic
  • Current OCEP Playoff Certification status (varies by sport):
    • Football, Volleyball, Basketball, Baseball, and Softball officials must have attended the sport's OCEP Playoff Certification Clinic within the past five years
    • Wrestling officials must have attended a Wrestling OCEP Playoff Certification Clinic within the last three years
    • Soccer officials must have attended within the last five years an Oregon Referee Committee Regional Referee Clinic (also known as the ORC Intermediate Training Clinic), ORC Big Training Weekend, or a training session or clinic which is substantially equivalent to those two previously listed events as determined by the OSAA State Soccer Rules Interpreter
• Have a minimum officiating experience at the varsity level:
  • at least 3 years
  • at least 5 years in Soccer to be eligible for assignment as the Center Referee for a 6A or 5A Soccer State Championship or playoff event (only applies to 6A or 5A CR position including the first round to the final contest)
  • or by exception from the OSAA Executive Director
• For Basketball or Soccer, officiated:
  • at least 3 regular season Basketball contests in each gender
  • at least 2 regular season Soccer matches in each gender
• For Wrestling, be nominated by the Tournament Selection Committee
• Be a member of an association which services:
  • 6A or 5A classifications during the regular season to be eligible for 6A or lower classifications assignments
  • 4A or a lower classification during the regular season to be eligible for 4A and lower classifications assignments
• Meet any additional requirements established by the official's local association

Playoff Assignments by Sport/Round

Playoffs	Football	Volleyball	Soccer	Basketball	Baseball	Softball
1st Round	Local Assoc.	Local Assoc.	Local Assoc.	Local Assoc.	Local Assoc.	Local Assoc.
2nd Round	Non-Local Assoc.	Non-Local Assoc.	Non-Local Assoc.	Non-Local Assoc.	Local Assoc.	Local Assoc.
QF Round	Non-Local Assoc.	OSAA/Final Site	Non-Local Assoc.	OSAA/Final Site	Local Assoc.	Local Assoc.
SF Round	OSAA/Rotating Assoc.	OSAA/Final Site	Non-Local Assoc.	OSAA/Final Site	Local Assoc.	Local Assoc.
Consolation	- -	OSAA/Final Site	- -	OSAA/Final Site	- -	- -
Final	OSAA/Rotating Assoc.	OSAA/Final Site	OSAA/Final Site	OSAA/Final Site	OSAA/Final Site	OSAA/Final Site

Consecutive Year Representation at Final Site

Officials may be nominated to represent their local association in State Championship final sites in consecutive years as follows:

• Football - no limitation
• Volleyball - limit of two consecutive years at any final site, regardless of classification
• Soccer - no limitation
• Basketball - limit of two consecutive years at any final site, regardless of classification
• Wrestling - by selection process outlined in Appendix F of the Athletic Officials Handbook
• Baseball - no limitation
• Softball - no limitation

OSAA Rules, Policies, and Forms for Officials and Contests

OSAA Contest Requirements

OSAA certified officials are required for all OSAA sanctioned activities at the varsity and junior varsity levels (including jamborees). Contests with different levels are considered a contest at the higher of the two levels competing (i.e a Varsity team playing a Junior Varsity team is considered a Varsity level contest). Schools have the responsibility to request permission from their local officials association to use non-certified officials at sub-varsity contests where certified officials are not required.

Certified Officials Required by Sport/Level

Level	Football	Volleyball	Soccer	Basketball	Wrestling	Baseball	Softball
Varsity (V)
Junior Varsity (JV)
Junior Varsity 2 (JV2)
Freshman (FR)
Freshman 2 (FR2)

Resource Links

These are some of the OSAA policies and forms that relate directly to officials.

State Rules Interpreters

The following people are the State Rules Interpreters (SRI) for their respective sports. Commissioners and officials are encouraged to contact the SRI for rules clarifications.

Football	Clark Sanders
Volleyball	Debi Hanson
Soccer	Patrick Duffy
Basketball	Steve Bulen
Swimming	Jacki Allender
Wrestling	Rick Wallace
Baseball	Tad Cockerill
Softball	John Christensen

OSAA State Rules Clinics

The OSAA holds several rules clinics for each sport prior to each sports season for commissioners of local associations.

Local Officials Associations

The following list shows every local officials association and Commissioner by sport.

$associations): ?>

$association): ?>

website)): ?> name; ?> name; ?>

commissioner)): ?> commissioner->user->getDisplayFullName(); ?> - -

oregon_region)); ?>