The Impact of Reffing

A few weeks ago the Wisconsin referee shortage showed when the girl’s JV2 basketball game was almost delayed due to there only being one ref. Luckily, OHS senior Evan Miles was there to save the day.

Evan was watching film with the varsity basketball team when Oregon varsity basketball coach Chris Siebert got a call from the athletic director.  

“He asked me if I wanted to ref that game because the ref was a complete no-show,” Evan said. 

Evan was then thrown into action with little time to spare.

“No, I did not feel much pressure,  but referring is one of the hardest things to do because no one is ever happy with the calls. There will always be anxiety and nerves trying to call a good game but at the end of the day someone has to blow the whistle,” Evan said.

“It was not much required because I had been a player for so long it came naturally, but it took a little bit of studying to understand all the little rules and other violations in basketball,” Evan said.

Evan plans to continue refereeing basketball games for as long as he can. 

I want people to be able to enjoy sports and it is a well-paying side hustle that I enjoy because I love the game of basketball,” Evan said.

In just the last few weeks Evan has been praised by the OHS staff for helping out. His actions have been seen by people on Facebook, Twitter, and the Oregon Observer. 

“I appreciate the love, reffing is a hard job. It has allowed me to understand the game better and respect refs more due to the difficulty of what they do. One thing I learned that a reffing partner told me was that refs run the game, you can't play without refs.”

It is clear to see that Evan’s work doesn’t go unnoticed by the community. His willingness to step up and help out has given him more opportunities to help grow the game of basketball.

Photos by Eddie Brognano: https://eddiebrognanophotos.smugmug.com/