Officials

It's easy to become an MHSAA Registered Official. The following steps will have you in the middle of the action in no time! *Note: if you are under the age of 18, please visit the Legacy Student Officials Program page.  If you live outside of Michigan and wish to work games in our state, please consult the Reciprocal Official Information.  Both Legacy and Reciprocal officials must register by mail.

1. Register online by clicking the "Register Now" button above. You will be given detailed registration instructions and can complete your registration in a matter of minutes.

2. New Officials (or those not registered the previous school year) must take an Officials Guidebook Exam and complete a Mechanics Exam if registering for football and/or basketball.  The Exams are open-book, and may be taken online, along with viewing the online Football Mechanics Manual and the Basketball Mechanics Manual, once you begin registration. These exams may be accessed by logging in to My MHSAA Officials Services using the Login area found in the upper right corner on any page of the MHSAA Website.  Once your registration requirements have been completed, you will receive your Officials ID Number and Sports Rules Books from the MHSAA.

3. The next step is to be in contact with local approved association leaders in your area. Let them know that you are registered and looking for training/contests to work. They will be happy to hear from you! These contact persons for Local Approved Associations and Registered Assignors in your area can be found by going to the officials tab and following the links in the left-hand navigation menu.

4. Only one more step is needed to work. You've got to get in gear with the proper attire and equipment. Here's a link to get you started.

5. Suggestion - Consider subscribing to local and national publications such as Referee magazine. Consider joining NASO, the National Association of Sports Officials. Membership offers tremendous resources for sports officiating information, training and education.

The MHSAA is pleased to announce its new Officials Video Training Page! We are excited to offer this new medium as an expansion of our many seminars, camps and clinics to offer the most pertinent and valuable resources an official can have: case plays from actual game situations.

While the library is limited at this time, we wanted to call your attention to this exciting new endeavor. Refer to this page frequently (from "Officials Video Training" on the nav bar at left) as the library grows to include more sports, and more clips within each sport. In time, it is our goal to allow you -- officials, assignors and approved associations -- to submit videos. Stay tuned for further news on the development of this page!

The Fall issue of MHSAA benchmarks has been published, featuring a unique family -- sports officials. The issue takes a look at recruitment and retention, as well as some of the personalities who make school sports officiating their avocation. Click the cover at left to download the issue.