As the prep football season nears and players and coaches ramp up their preparations for the fall, Matt Sumstine is putting in his own work getting his officials up to speed. 

For Sumstine, who wears multiple hats varying from Coordinator of Football Officials for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association to Replay Official for the National Football League, it's both an annual affair and part of a year-long cycle of work off the field. 

"It's a process and really kind of a three-headed monster to see where we gotta go next year, then recruiting and seeing how many we can retain through our training and then the actual training in the lead-up to the season, so it's just a full-time job all year," Sumstine said.

The prep football season in Hawaii typically ends in late November or early December, but Sumstine is tied up with his NFL duties through the end of January. 

"Once I finish with that then I start going back and looking at the televised (prep) games, seeing trends and where we need to target our training. I get clips and review them and see where we can improve and I do that between February and when the season starts and then I just start all over again," he detailed. 

Inevitably, Sumstine has to account for a handful of officials who decide to hang it up each year due to any number of reasons — some opt to retire, others cite familial obligations or difficulties tied to work — but some are tired. Tired of being mistreated. Mistreated by coaches, spectators, even players. 

It's a disturbing trend that unfortunately isn't exclusive to football. 

Just ask Jonathan Reyes, the HHSAA's Referee Coordinator for the sports of boys and girls soccer. 

"There was a national survey done a couple of years ago and I think it's reflective of our state as well, that stated that the number one reason referees are leaving is because of abuse," Reyes expressed. 

He said that while referees are trained specifically to manage hostile situations, the intensity of arguments — and in rare occasions even physical confrontations — along with the frequency with which they occur prove to be too much for some officials to stomach. 

"I think we always have to ask the question to someone who decides to leave, ‘Why don't you want to referee anymore?' We've got to identify that, that's a conversation we have to have with that person and then we have to work with them and help them to make sure they're having a good experience, otherwise they'll be gone in three months," Reyes said. 

Longtime volleyball official Wayne Lee experiences much of the same issues that Reyes contends with. 

"We've had some incidents where fans have come out and confronted officials on the court. I've had people come up and tap me on the leg during the game and tell me, ‘You gotta learn how to call volleyball,' " said Lee, a veteran referee with 32 years of experience at the club, prep and collegiate levels. 

"We've had people approach a couple of my officials after the match, so it's just getting real crazy and we train our officials not to be confrontational, but they're human," Lee added. 

But the problem isn't just with fans. Often times coaches and even players can get hot when disputing a call. 

"Kids being kids sometimes, but I also like to think it's an offshoot from people watching professional and collegiate sports. I have friends on the mainland who have stopped doing collegiate games because it's gotten really too crazy for them. We all love the game and want to continue to do our part for the kids, but some of them have said ‘enough is enough,' " Lee said. 

He points out that, as is the case with many other prep sports across the state, the average age of a volleyball official is closer to that of a senior citizen than young adult. 

"We're all getting older and then when we get new officials they don't necessarily expect it and when it happens we lose them (because) nobody wants that kind of abuse," Lee stated. 

Thomas Yoshida, a basketball official with more than 40 years of experience, echoed the thoughts of both Lee and Reyes. 

"If you're a fan and you listen to the things that other fans yell at officials about, it makes you wonder why would anyone ever want to be an official in the first place," Yoshida fretted. 

The negativity that permeates from some fans, not surprisingly, makes it difficult for Yoshida to recruit new officials. 

"If you're from the outside looking in, knowing that, it's going to be very difficult to be an official and you'd understand why that's the case, because, really, I don't know that anyone from the outside would ever want to be an official," Yoshida added. 

Poor fan behavior is but one of the reasons that refereeing associations have trouble finding new blood. 

"I think there's a number of reasons. Part of it is conduct of coaches, player and fans, but I wouldn't say that's a majority of the cause but it's a piece of the cause. Compensation, up until recently has been an issue in making it justifiable to make it worth their time to contribute to their community," Sumstine said. 

He noted that the OIA has unilaterally, across all sports, raised the level of compensation for officials. Is it enough, however, for prospective officials to endure the verbal abuse of some entitled fans? 

Perhaps not, Sumstine surmises. 

"I think it needs to be addressed and it's multi-tiered but I think a lot of it can be corrected if we start at the youth level in reigning in parents who, for whatever reason, think it's okay to use profanity and yell at the officials on the field," he said. 

The issue of fan/parent behavior in youth football is at a breaking point, Sumstine describes. 

"As opposed to the high school level — where we've got a barrier between the field and the stands — it's a whole different ballgame with youth football. It's a huge problem at the youth level because you don't have that built-in barrier, you don't have that fenced facility because you're out at the parks, so it's a huge problem and some officials have been driven out of business because they just get sick and tired of it," Sumstine said. 

Soccer is in a similar position, both in the club circuit and on the prep level, Reyes points out. 

"We need more referees. Between the OIA and ILH we had 120 referees before, now we're down to 67, so we'd like to get back up there. We're slowly gaining three to five referees per season to come back in, but even in the outside leagues we're short. Overall there's less people refereeing soccer," Reyes said. 

Lee feels it should be a shared responsibility among all stakeholders, but especially school personnel, to hold fans, coaches and players accountable for their words and actions. 

"Administrators and coaches need to get a handle on it and be a part of the solution. We understand the game and the nature for people to disagree with this, this and that, but if you keep it civil and within the game and not make it personal, it's okay, but you have to be able to keep that type of behavior in check. As officials, you don't expect ideal behavior because you're going to get some of that no matter, but again, it's about keeping it civil," Lee deplored. 

Yoshida, a past president of the Hawaii State Basketball Officials Association, described the struggles of finding enough manpower to cover the multitude of games in the prep basketball landscape, especially during the preseason that runs from late November through the month of December. 

"Each year is a state of panic only because from year to year you're always going to get a percentage of officials that choose not to come back to officiate or, with the large military population, they transfer out," Yoshida said. 

While he is realistic of the challenges faced annually to retain quality referees, Yoshida is also optimistic about the opportunity to draw new individuals into the calling. 

"Officiating is something that I personally feel is a way to give back to the game that you love to watch and I think everyone should have a point in their life that they're giving back to their community and giving back to your community is a very, very important role to have because it always takes the community itself helping each other out in order to elevate the level of play," Yoshida expressed. 

To learn more about refereeing opportunities at the high school level, visit hhsaa.org/resources/officials.