Daily Herald opinion: IHSA needs fresh eyes to call ballgames

This editorial is a consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.

High school sports are valuable in so many ways.

They teach kids about shared goals, dedication, friendships, responsibilities, confidence, accomplishment, sportsmanship, accountability, maintaining a schedule, trust, focus and the importance of fitness, among other things.

Sports can complement a strong academic program when teenagers learn the goals associated with them.

It's unfortunate, then, that competitive high school sports are at risk because there aren't enough officials to monitor these contests.

Unruly spectators have a lot to do with the mess we're in today.

Our Dave Oberhelman wrote last week about the Illinois High School Association's efforts to attract new baseball umpires.

There are 2,876 IHSA-licensed baseball umpires, just 8% of them younger than 20, according to Sam Knox, the IHSA's assistant executive director and baseball administrator.

Older umpires across the country are retiring in droves. One of the top reasons cited is they're fed up with unsportsmanlike behavior.

It's understandable that one's limits might be tested when that unsportsmanlike behavior extends beyond the field to the bleachers. Who needs the aggravation?

Umpiring certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea. Being able to look someone square in the eye, having a comfortability with making tough calls and arbitrating disputes, having confidence, keeping a cool head and always being mindful of fairness clearly don't fit everyone's psychological profile. Especially not in one's teen years.

But the ranks of umpires need replenishing, so the IHSA is doing what it can to promote it with the younger teens.

Beyond the desire and confidence to do the job, there is the cost. You don't just walk onto a field and call balls and strikes. You must be trained and evaluated first and earn and pay for a license to do so. The IHSA board has reduced the fees for 15- and 16-year-olds, and that has prompted dozens of new registrations.

It also reduced registration fees for people with multiple licenses and for those in bordering states looking for work calling games.

Leo Dlatt, a 19-year-old freshman from Lake Zurich, is in his third year of umping high school ball, and he's considered a bit of a wunderkind in umping circles. He told Oberhelman the toughest thing he's had to do so far is ejecting someone from a game.

"It didn't feel good, and I don't think it should feel good," he said. "But it felt needed, which I think is the best way to put it."

That sounds to us like a pro in the making. Great players have confidence, know and follow the rules, work as a team and keep a level head.

Just like good umpires.

What a great way to give back to the game that taught you so much when you're no longer playing competitively.

Now if only the IHSA could do something about the behavior of those who come to watch kids play.