Youth sports face a number of challenges and obstacles, including rising costs, declining participation, overuse injuries due to sport specialization, and more.

One of the least discussed challenges in youth sports is the lack of referees to officiate games. The decline in referees in youth sports is largely attributed to the rough atmosphere at games caused by angry and aggressive parents, according to a long-time local official.

“You’re walking to your car with your bag and all of a sudden you’re yelling at two parents,” Al Ivy, a youth baseball, basketball and football umpire in Northeast Ohio for more than 30 years, told WKYC. “When the game is over, you chase the umpire out of the parking lot. What kind of example are you setting for your child?”

Ivy said today’s parents of young athletes are more aggressive than he has ever seen in his three-decade career. He recalled watching two mothers at a football game years ago get into a physical altercation after their two sons collided on the field.

“That’s wrong because that’s what you’ve taught your son or daughter: When something doesn’t go right, you have to fight,” he said. “You’re teaching them the wrong things.”

Last year, the City of Brook Park passed a law that specifically criminalizes “disorderly conduct at a sporting event,” which can result in a third- to first-degree misdemeanor.

Ivy admits that no referee is perfect and bad calls are inevitable but not intentional. He also notes that the increasing aggressiveness of parents of youth athletes is discouraging the next generation of youth referees from taking on these roles, creating a gap in youth sports.

“They don’t want to be yelled at,” he told WKYC. “They don’t want to be attacked.”

For more information on the referee shortage and its impact on youth sports, visit the WKYC website.

In our partnership with WKYC called “How to win in youth sports (without going broke or breaking down),“We have spoken to experts, coaches and families about the current situation and what we can do better to develop healthy, balanced players.