St. Joe’s varsity field hockey faced a disappointing loss to Fairfield Ludlowe on Friday, October 13. St. Joe’s went into the second half trailing 3-0. With 3:15 minutes remaining in the third quarter, junior captain and midfielder Ella Dunford scored off a corner for St. Joe’s, making the score 1-4. The final score was 6-1, Ludlowe.
FCIAC holds Officials Recognition Week Oct. 8-14
The week of October 8th was FCIAC officials recognition week.
It is important to recognize our officials, because when they do their jobs well their work is almost invisible, and therefore few people take time to acknowledge the efforts it took to do things like enforce rules, diffuse potential conflicts, and display fairness to both teams.
Officials are critical in ensuring the proper safety and conduct in sporting endeavors, however they face a tremendous amount of pressure, as they must observe play, assess situations, control the pace of play, and make split-second rulings.
On October 13th, the two officials overseeing the St. Joe’s vs. Ludlowe field hockey game, Paul Kindzierski and Mike Carbine, were interviewed to get their thoughts on officiating high school sports.
Kindzierski has been officiating for 17 years, with a total of eight sports.
Currently, he is focusing on girls lacrosse, field hockey, and basketball.
When asked what his favorite sport to officiate is, Kindzierski said, “Girls lacrosse. I like the way the game moves, it just moves, the game moves great, and it’s probably the easiest one to officiate out of all the sports.”
Duties of officiating lacrosse are physically and mentally demanding, as referees need to be in excellent physical condition to keep up with the constant movement and pace of play.
Carbine has been officiating field hockey for three years. He also officiates basketball, boys lacrosse, and football. He started officiating football 14 years ago.
When asked what his favorite sport to officiate is, Carbine said, “Boys lacrosse. Just, the flow of the game, the rules make sense, it’s just the quality of the game.”
Similarly to Kindzierski, Carbine enjoys the fast pace of lacrosse. Jobs of lacrosse referees include checking for legal equipment, watching for rule infractions, approving the score, and particular attention must be paid to illegal body contact, especially to the head.
When asked what they love about high school athletics, both Kindzierski and Carbine gave the same answer: the kids.
According to Carbine, “The kids are great. Always fun working with the kids.”
Furthermore, Kindzierski said, “I used to play sports when I was younger, so I like being involved in sports.”
Officials get an opportunity to interact with the sport in a different way and foster a love for the game.
Both Kindzierski and Carbine officiate high school and youth.
Kindzierski has officiated some college clubs. His favorite age to officiate is the younger kids, because “I like the really young kids. Just when they’re learning [the sport], so you’re basically teaching.”
The role of an official can extend far beyond simply enforcing rules: they can be a quintessential figure in developing a child’s knowledge for a sport.
Conversely, Carbine said that “the quality of the game is usually better when they’re older, because it’s cleaner, when they’re younger…the game just doesn’t move. So I would say the older kids.”
The older kids often already have a more solid knowledge of the game, so the referee’s role is less to teach the rules, but just to enforce them. So the game can move at a more intense pace, and more skillfully.
Thank you to Kindzierski and Carbine for their time. It is essential to acknowledge and thank our officials for their time, dedication, and effort. After all, without officials, high school sports would not exist.