I am posting this here in an effort to hopefully reach those that do not check their emails or various social media.

This pertains to officials utilized at your tournaments. Different tournaments utilize different ways of procuring officials for their event. Some designate an individual within their club to get them, others have their assigned Head Official (You must have a head official designated for your tournament) to gather them. Regardless of which way you get your officials list, what is important is that the individuals and the sum of the group must meet the requirements of USAWKS By-Laws. So let me cover the important parts.

* At least 50% of the officials at the tournament MUST be both USAWKS Register AND KSHSAA certified.

* Officials 19 and older MUST be both USAWKS and KSHSAA certified.

* Wrestlers under the age of 19 will be permitted to be used as officials at local tournaments when supervised by their school coach or a registered official.

The first two points work in conjunction, which basically means no more than half of the officials can be high schoolers and below unless they are certified in both organizations which would then count them as part of the 50% threshold.

You can check the status of USAWKS Certified Officials here: 2024-2025 USAWKS Certified Officials

For those 19 or older they MUST have a Yes in both the USAW Certified column and the KSHSAA Certified Column.

I am on this list each day sending emails and reminders to those who have not completed these requirements. It will not be fun for someone to drive all the way to an event only to be told they will not be allowed to work. As a reminder USAWKS will reimburse first year officials for their KSHSAA registration costs and uniform purchases up to $200 as well which is a great incentive to get KSHSAA certified as well (You have until January 7th to complete that registration which includes a 50 question open book test and attending an online rules meeting which covers all the new rule changes, and you get a rule book sent to you as well which is handy as an official.)

If a member of your club is getting officials please make sure your officials appear on this list and meet the requirements noted above. If you are having your head official get officials for you, please check with them, get their list, and verify the same (which they should already be doing anyway). As a final reminder, if all officials are not USA members, the tournaments sanction and liability coverage will be invalid and you definitely do not want that.

Also check out the new USAWKS Officials Director YouTube Channel which will have all sorts of videos pertaining to officiating here in Kansas, and specifically the video of registering to be an official which will be helpful to those who haven't completed their requirements.

By next season, I hope to have each and every official working these events regardless of age to be fully certified in both organizations which i believe is essentially to increasing our overall proficiency as a group.

Thank you for all you do!