Why the youth market?

Travis Blomberg (right) plays around with his brother Jeremy (left) pretending to scold him for an improperly made call.

Youth tournament directors often face the daunting task of scraping together enough officials to work a multiple team tournament. WIAA officials are frequently tied up at the high school level or cannot make the time to do an entire tournament. Kiekhafer, La Crosse regional director for SOA, says he used to help his dad organize a tournament in Colfax and most of the time he was hiring kids’ dads and old high school friends who had little to no knowledge of officiating.

“When people are looking to get refs for a tournament, you have to get two here, two there, one here, three here,” Jeremy says. But with SOA, tournament directors can make one call, write one check and the hassle is over.

In August 2009, Blomberg received a scholarship from the University of Wisconsin Office of Corporate Relations that helped him turn the Stripes enterprise into a full-fledged business.

SOA’s business model is set up in such a way that tournament directors pay Jeremy and he deals with dividing up the money and paying his officials.

“It’s beneficial for our officials, too, because we already maintain these contacts so instead of looking for tournaments to work on your own, we find it for you, and you’re guaranteed work,” Jeremy says.

But this structure isn’t the only thing that sets SOA apart from the traditional model for hiring officials.

Reliable. Educated. Fit.

While SOA is still in its start-up stage as a business, Travis says the foundation is strong because he holds his members to strong standards. He trains his officials to be reliable, educated and fit, an acronym that accidentally spells REF. These standards are helping build SOA’s credibility as an organization.

Working on a contract basis with the officials, Travis requires officials to be at games 20 minutes early, dressed in the proper gear and ready to officiate. He says new officials are built up on an outlined pay structure, so after successfully officiating 40 games, they’ll get a raise.

Perhaps the most important standard with respect to Wisconsin’s current model for officiating is education. All SOA officials obtain WIAA certification and attend a yearly training clinic run by Travis and the regional directors.

“I run into a lot of older officials and their mechanics are all wrong,” Travis says. “They’re good officials, but their mechanics are terrible.”

By mechanics, Travis means how a ref calls a call. For example, some officials use two hands rather than one when reporting the number of a player who just fouled. SOA focuses on training officials correctly when they first start so they do not learn bad habits.

“We’re trying to start off with a lot of young people and get them interested and understanding it at a young age,” Jeremy says. “Then they’ll feel confident enough to ref any game.”

But to ensure good technique, SOA directors get “nit-picky” because they do not want to be stereotyped by older officials. Drawing on his own experience as a young, naïve official, Travis says just knowing the rules of the game does not mean you can officiate.

“Knowing the rules and officiating, sure they go hand in hand, but I’ll tell you, it’s different,” Travis says. “It’s just a different way of looking at the game.”

Kiekhafer says he oversees five officials in La Crosse and makes sure they are keeping up with WIAA standards.

Finally, SOA officials stay fit. One of the driving forces behind Travis and his friends getting into officiating was because as athletes, they would get frustrated with referees who would make calls from across the court and wouldn’t run and keep up with the players.

All SOA officials get a three-day per week training program that consists of running, lifting weights and recreational activity. Since many of the officials are in college, the fit standard helps them stay in shape and motivates them to get to the gym.

The REF standard sets SOA apart from other officials in the state, Travis says.

“When people see how good we are, all of a sudden, being a part of our organization means something,” Jeremy says.

Expectations

Travis has high hopes for SOA’s success in Wisconsin and beyond.

“The fact that it’s gone this far makes me believe it can go farther,” he says. “Our foundation is so strong. I think we can take our idea to the next state, to the next region, to the next city.”

For this UW-Madison political science major and aspiring environmental lawyer, starting his own business was not the path he expected to take. But like his change of heart toward officiating, Travis Blomberg is just trying to do something he loves and put himself in the best position to succeed.

“Everyone should do something that you love,” he says. “Something that when you’re sitting in class, it’s all you think about. I’m so pumped about what I’m doing that it doesn’t feel like a job.”