South Dakota referees are under the direction of the South Dakota High School Activities Association. The SDHSAA oversees training for officials in many sports including: basketball, football, soccer, wrestling and volleyball. Baseball umpires are certified by the South Dakota Umpires Association.
To become a referee in South Dakota, begin by registering with the SDHSAA. To register you must create an account and pay the current registration fee. With your registration comes membership to the National Federation Officials Association. The NFOA provides rulebooks, casebooks and officials manuals.
South Dakota Referee & Umpire Training
Registered officials also have access to local and online training to help them with rules, signals and mechanics. These officials must take an open book exam and attend yearly rules and mechanics meetings. Registered officials may work varsity contests.
To work tournament games at the varsity level, referees must become certified. To qualify you must pass a supervised, closed book NFHS rules exam with a score of 75%.
South Dakota sports officials are considered independent contractors. As such they are responsible for getting their own game assignments.
To get more information, visit the officials’ page of the SDHSAA website.
Contact the South Dakota Umpires Association to become a baseball or softball umpire. Here is the link: sdumpires.
