Are you interested in becoming a trainer in our association?
The USAOA provides opportunities in seven sports: basketball (boys’ and girls’), volleyball, football, wrestling, softball, and baseball. This is your opportunity to share your knowledge with like-minded individuals, who enjoy working with high school athletes and making the athletic competitions fair and fun.
MHSAA Requirements of a Trainer for the USAOA
The trainer for each sport will do the following:
- Register as an official with the MHSAA and attend a current MHSAA rules meeting in the sport for which he/she is a trainer.
- Be an active member, in good standing, of the USAOA.
- Be nominated by the USAOA to the MHSAA to become educated as the trainer of officials in a specific sport.
- Will undergo training in the initial year, prior to conducting training classes and prior to the sport season beginning.
- Will participate in continuing in-service training provided by the MHSAA every other year to maintain training certification.
- Will accept that their trainer candidacy status is subject to review by the MHSAA and may be denied or revoked if it is determined to be in the best interest of the MHSAA.
USAOA Trainer Responsibilities
The trainer for each sport will do the following:
- Set up regular training meetings/clinics for your sport. That means the trainer needs to choose the dates, times and place of meetings. This information must be communicated to the members via email and posted on the USAOA website. Each member must have the opportunity to attend multiple meetings in order to become a Member in Good Standing (MIGS). Per the MHSAA, trainers are required to conduct six hours of “rookie” training annually to prepare novice officials for lower level regular season officiating opportunities. Per the MHSAA, trainers are required to annually conduct a mechanics clinic of at least three hours for all association members, in each sport for which the association provides officials.
- Organize an agenda for each meeting. All meetings should follow the same script. 1st 30 minutes: housecleaning, situations since the last meeting, etc. 2nd 30 minutes: trainers should prepare info regarding a specific topic pertinent to what is happening in their sport at that time. No meeting should run longer than 1 hour and 15 minutes. This agenda will also be posted on the USAOA website after the meeting for those members who could not attend the meeting in person. Finally, the agenda will be turned into the USAOA secretary/treasurer at the end of the season.
- Take attendance at each training meeting. Attendance will only be taken in the first 15 minutes. If someone comes into the meeting after 15 minutes, the meeting will not count toward that person’s MIG’s (yes, there are always exceptions; that is up to the trainer of that session). These attendance sheets will then be compiled by the trainer. A list of those officials who met the requirement of MIGS must be turned into the USAOA secretary/treasurer at the end of the season.
- Communicate with members via emails and website.
- Update website in a timely manner.
Trainers
| Volleyball Lori Spelde |
Football Chuck Hulce |
Basketball Warren Kent III |
Wrestling Jeff Burr |
Baseball Walter Lamb Ron Kraley |
Softball Nick Pulaski |