On the opening night of high school basketball at Fairfield High School on Dec. 16 the officials for the evening were introduced and thanked for their contribution to the game along with the Fairfield students who have worked hard to become officials.
Seniors Deron Lear, Travis Cartwright and Reed Von Stein were present for the introductions and also named but not present were freshmen Cameron Keel Ryan, Mathison and Beckett Rau.
The six Fairfield boys began in the 127 Sports Intensity Junior Referee program. Today, as registered members of the Montana Officials Association (MOA), they are working junior high school games and assorted youth basketball games, while still walking the same hallways as the students they officiate.
According to Mike Schmidt, coordinator 127 Sports Intensity Junior Referee program, individually the boys are teenagers, but collectively, they are something far rarer, a homegrown officiating crew that has quietly become one of the Fairfield Basketball Club’s most important assets.
Schmidt said it has been a long road from first whistle to varsity floor and none of this happened by accident.
“These six officials started where nearly every official dream of never returning, elementary and middle school gyms,” Schmidt said. “They learned to blow the whistle with conviction in front of parents sitting 10 feet away. They figured out how to explain calls to kids still learning to dribble. They worked youth tournaments when the rest of their friends were just watching from the bleachers.”
Schmidt said over time, game by game, they logged a large number of assignments across Youth and Fairfield Basketball Club games, junior high schedules, weekend and holiday tournaments and summer league and camp games.
“Most people see one game at a time,” Schmidt said. “These six see a season as a stack of opportunities to improve. They have spent evenings and Saturdays in gyms from Fairfield to neighboring communities, not for highlight reels, but for the quiet satisfaction of getting the game right.”
The Junior Referee program gave them a runway of clinics on mechanics and positioning, instruction on signals and rules, guidance on how to handle coaches and game situations with composure, Schmidt said. But they didn’t stop at “good enough for youth ball.” According to Schmidt the six sought out more feedback, instruction and accountability.
Each of these officials has been evaluated by college-level evaluators, people who work regularly with officials well beyond the high school ranks. “Those evaluations have done more than check a box, they have confirmed what some Fairfield fans have already seen from the bleachers,” Schmidt noted. “The boys move with purpose and proper mechanics, they communicate clearly and respectfully with coaches and players, they adjust when they receive feedback, rather than defending bad habits, they carry themselves like professionals in a place that is not always friendly to officials.”
“To be a teenager and willingly invite that level of scrutiny is unusual,” Schmidt said. “To respond to it by earning MOA status is impressive. It signals that if any of them choose to pursue officiating at higher levels, they already understand what the profession demands.”
Schmidt noted across Montana — and the country — the story is the same of not enough officials. Often it is reported games are rescheduled, junior varsity contests are shortened and assignors spend long nights begging for one more crew to cover one more gym.
“127 Sports Intensity has chosen a different response, to grow its own,” Schmidt said. These six MOA officials are a direct result of that decision, he added. The impact is felt every week:
•Games get covered. With a larger, local pool of trained officials, Fairfield Schools and the Fairfield Basketball Club are better positioned to keep schedules intact.
•Expectations stay consistent. Officials who have grown up in the system understand local standards, rivalries, and what Fairfield basketball means to the community.
•Younger athletes see a new path. When a fifth grader watches a high school student officiate, the message is simple: this is something I could do, too.
•In an era where the question is often “Where will we find officials?” Fairfield can answer, at least in part, “We are developing them right here.”
The Fairfield boys have found it more than a side job, Schmidt said. “Yes, officiating pays and for teenagers it is a better-than-average way to earn money,” he said. But framing it only as a side job undersells what is actually happening. “By stepping onto the floor in stripes, Deron Lear, Travis Cartwright, Reed Von Stein, Cameron Keel, Ryan Mathison, and Beckett Rau are learning high-level, real-world skills long before many of their peers:
According to Schmidt, if high school sports want a sustainable future, then communities will need more than short-term fixes and recruitment slogans. “They will need pipelines — programs that introduce officiating early, train young people well, give them real experience, and then guide them into associations like the MOA,” he said.
Schmidt said the story does not end with the six MOA officials. Behind them stands a growing group of Junior Referee clinic graduates.
These are the Junior Referee participants from last year: Kohl Barnett, Kyla Cooley, Eli Cowgill, Willa Cowgill, Colton Dahl, Conley Dahl, Kingston Egbert, Natalie Harrell, Grace Helmer, Paige Helmer, Kale Hinderager, Nora Hinderager, Bryce Hooper, Cameron Keel, Madison Keel, Edan Keller, Eve Keller, Angus Lidstrom, Ryan Mathison, Easton Misner, Brynn Neuman, Aundra Passmore, Charlotte Pearson, Jack Rasmussen, Natalie Rasmussen, Beckett Rau, Calder Rosenkrance, Carsten Rosenkrance, Brendon Schenk, Rhett Von Stein, Gretta Wilson and Samuel Woodhouse.
