The new Executive Director for the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union already has some plans for what she’d like to do in the future.

Director Erin Gerlich says that she’s very conscious of the officiating shortage for several sports. She mentions that in urban areas the problem isn’t so bad, but that in areas where there are smaller populations, it is fairly evident.

“Especially in our rural areas, there’s a stretch, and a lot of our officials are hanging on a lot longer than probably what they want to, because they know the need is great. But we’re always looking at what other states are doing to help incentivize officiating and some things like that. So that’s always a work in progress for us.”

Gerlich mentions that she does have an idea to help combat the issue, and it’s by reaching into an area that she believes hasn’t been looked at as hard as it should have.

“I think we’ve got this great untapped pool of some female athletes that can really step up and go into some officiating, even right after high school. So I think that’s kind of, again, our next focus, is trying to draw from that pool. Because, again, we’ve kind of been preaching a lot of the same message to, it seems like a lot of the males out there and, we’re not seeing a ton of growth in those spaces.”

Gerlich believes that this should help out, especially in the young sport of girls wrestling. She adds that there are many young women who have been part of a college program that would be great additions to officiating staff, should they choose to work towards the certification.