As your team begins the 2023-2024 Minnesota community-based travel basketball campaign, it is important to impress upon the youth athletes and adults alike, that we all need to remember the powerful Youth 1st messaging:

*   Remember, it's about the kids!

*   Keep your competitive energy in check!

*   Always respect officials and opponents!

These things may seem so simple, yet they also seem to be easily forgotten in the heat of competition. We must remember that there's an invisible connection among everyone at an event, and everyone is attempting to navigate toward an ultimate goal. It is vitally important and crucial for every team — coaches, players, parents, and spectators alike — to exhibit good sportsmanship and proper behavior.

One area of focus must be giving grace to officials. They are human, and it’s important to be aware that we still have a severe shortage of referees. As an organization, we do our best in working with all of our assigners to get the quality officials necessary to administer all tournaments and events. 

Coming out of COVID was a scary time because the pool of referees significantly diminished. Many of the most experienced were deciding it was a good time to retire, so covering something huge like the Grade State Championships was very, very difficult. Over the past two years, we have had to be resourceful in a collaborative effort with multiple assigners and community members in order to slowly replenish the pool of officials.

We are really proud of our organization's efforts to train and develop over 700 new officials/umpires in 2022-2023. Others are training and developing officials, too. But don't be fooled: We're still not in a great spot.

Some of the new referees may be teenagers (16-18 years old) or adults with minimal experience in officiating. With that said, 3rd-5th grade games are often where parent behavior is so much more heightened because it is most likely their first experience with the youth sports process. As a result, in too many cases the officials get berated and yelled at by adults. Naturally, many get intimidated or frightened and say, "I'm not doing this anymore."

We lose yet another person who we were hoping to build up.

More than anything, as a collective youth basketball community we need to be excited that we have referees to officiate the high volume of games. We must show grace and “feed the positive dog” rather than berating an official for a judgment call that you didn’t like.

The MYAS team members and our strategic partners work hard to be proactive with reminders and our messaging. We send out numerous email communications and social media posts about creating a Youth 1st environment and provide resources for tournament/event signage that emphasizes good sportsmanship messaging.

Yet we are still concerned that people aren't getting the message. 

Despite these efforts, we still see people acting out at games time and time again. That's why it's so important for parents and spectators to hold each other accountable.

Because, after all, it really should always be about the kids.

If you witness unsportsmanlike conduct and/or bad behavior, please;

• seek out the Tournament Director or a representative on site
• submit a report through the MYBA Compliance Reporting Form