Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials

• Summary

• Details

Work Activities

• Inspect game sites for compliance with regulations or safety requirements.
• Resolve claims of rule infractions or complaints by participants and assess any necessary penalties, according to regulations.
• Keep track of event times, including race times and elapsed time during game segments, starting or stopping play when necessary.
• Start races and competitions.
• Compile scores and other athletic records.
• Verify scoring calculations before competition winners are announced.
• Direct participants to assigned areas, such as starting blocks or penalty areas.
• Officiate at sporting events, games, or competitions, to maintain standards of play and to ensure that game rules are observed.
• Inspect game sites for compliance with regulations or safety requirements.
• Judge performances in sporting competitions to award points, impose scoring penalties, and determine results.
• Confer with other sporting officials, coaches, players, and facility managers to provide information, coordinate activities, and discuss problems.
• Verify credentials of participants in sporting events, and make other qualifying determinations, such as starting order or handicap number.
• Teach and explain the rules and regulations governing a specific sport.
• Signal participants or other officials to make them aware of infractions or to otherwise regulate play or competition.

Skills

• Negotiation
  • Bringing people together to solve differences.
• Science
  • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
• Technology Design
  • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
• Active Learning
  • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
• Persuasion
  • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
• Complex Problem Solving
  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
• Management of Financial Resources
  • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
• Mathematics
  • Using math to solve problems.
• Troubleshooting
  • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
• Reading Comprehension
  • Reading work-related information.
• Writing
  • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
• Critical Thinking
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
• Social Perceptiveness
  • Understanding people's reactions.
• Equipment Selection
  • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
• Repairing
  • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
• Management of Personnel Resources
  • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
• Systems Evaluation
  • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
• Learning Strategies
  • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
• Systems Analysis
  • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
• Equipment Maintenance
  • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
• Coordination
  • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
• Management of Material Resources
  • Managing equipment and materials.
• Monitoring
  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
• Active Listening
  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
• Programming
  • Writing computer programs.
• Installation
  • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
• Judgment and Decision Making
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
• Speaking
  • Talking to others.
• Quality Control Analysis
  • Testing how well a product or service works.
• Instructing
  • Teaching people how to do something.
• Operations Monitoring
  • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
• Operations Analysis
  • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
• Service Orientation
  • Looking for ways to help people.
• Operation and Control
  • Using equipment or systems.
• Time Management
  • Managing your time and the time of other people.

Abilities

• Oral Expression
  • Communicating by speaking.
• Number Facility
  • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
• Speed of Closure
  • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
• Speed of Limb Movement
  • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
• Static Strength
  • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
• Night Vision
  • Seeing at night or under low light.
• Speech Recognition
  • Recognizing spoken words.
• Dynamic Strength
  • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
• Memorization
  • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
• Control Precision
  • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
• Far Vision
  • Seeing details that are far away.
• Auditory Attention
  • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
• Stamina
  • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
• Extent Flexibility
  • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Manual Dexterity
  • Holding or moving items with your hands.
• Originality
  • Creating new and original ideas.
• Spatial Orientation
  • Knowing where things are around you.
• Finger Dexterity
  • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
• Response Orientation
  • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
• Visual Color Discrimination
  • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
• Trunk Strength
  • Using your lower back and stomach.
• Explosive Strength
  • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
• Deductive Reasoning
  • Using rules to solve problems.
• Speech Clarity
  • Speaking clearly.
• Hearing Sensitivity
  • Telling the difference between sounds.
• Near Vision
  • Seeing details up close.
• Dynamic Flexibility
  • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
• Written Comprehension
  • Reading and understanding what is written.
• Oral Comprehension
  • Listening and understanding what people say.
• Written Expression
  • Communicating by writing.
• Problem Sensitivity
  • Noticing when problems happen.
• Visualization
  • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
• Fluency of Ideas
  • Coming up with lots of ideas.
• Category Flexibility
  • Grouping things in different ways.
• Perceptual Speed
  • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
• Mathematical Reasoning
  • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
• Reaction Time
  • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
• Inductive Reasoning
  • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
• Multilimb Coordination
  • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
• Rate Control
  • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
• Information Ordering
  • Ordering or arranging things.
• Flexibility of Closure
  • Seeing hidden patterns.
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Keeping your arm or hand steady.
• Peripheral Vision
  • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
• Glare Sensitivity
  • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
• Sound Localization
  • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
• Depth Perception
  • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
• Gross Body Equilibrium
  • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
• Gross Body Coordination
  • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
• Selective Attention
  • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
• Time Sharing
  • Doing two or more things at the same time.
• Wrist-Finger Speed
  • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

Knowledge

• Customer and Personal Service
  • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Medicine and Dentistry
  • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• English Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Computers and Electronics
  • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Biology
  • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Transportation
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• History and Archeology
  • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
• Engineering and Technology
  • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• Psychology
  • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Personnel and Human Resources
  • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Mathematics
  • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Chemistry
  • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
• Communications and Media
  • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Fine Arts
  • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
• Law and Government
  • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Building and Construction
  • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• Geography
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
• Philosophy and Theology
  • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
• Design
  • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Sociology and Anthropology
  • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
• Physics
  • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
• Education and Training
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Public Safety and Security
  • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Administration and Management
  • Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Foreign Language
  • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
• Sales and Marketing
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Economics and Accounting
  • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Administrative
  • Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
• Production and Processing
  • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Telecommunications
  • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
• Therapy and Counseling
  • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• Food Production
  • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
• Mechanical
  • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

Education

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

1 to 12 months on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

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Education and Training Opportunities

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Pay

Washington Annual Salary

40040/yr

Washington Employment Trends

Currently Employed

1,230

Yearly Projected Openings

310

Personality

Enterprising: People interested in this work like activities that include leading, making decisions, and business. They do well at jobs that need:

• Dependability
• Integrity
• Self Control
• Attention to Detail
• Stress Tolerance
• Cooperation

Tools

• Ball pump
• Bench scales
• Cross trainers
• Digital video disk players or recorders
• Exercise balls
• Fitness weights
• Flags or accessories
• Game accessories
• Ice skates
• Notebook computers
• Personal computers
• Phone headsets
• Pressure indicators
• Public address systems
• Sport safety equipment other than headgear
• Sport safety headgear
• Sport scoreboards
• Sports timer
• Stationary bicycles
• Tablet computers
• Tape measures
• Treadmills
• Whistle

Technology

• Data base user interface and query software
• Document management software
• Electronic mail software
• Internet browser software
• Office suite software
• Presentation software
• Spreadsheet software
• Video creation and editing software
• Word processing software