The Officiating Family - John, Tom and Kate

Officials are the backbone of the athletics world; without them athletics competitions and championships would not be able to happen. With the outdoor track and field season in full swing we managed to catch up with an officiating family; father, son and daughter trio to find out how officiating became such a big part of their family.

Dad, John, is a level 3 field official and has just started to dip his toe into timekeeping as a level 1. Tom is qualified as a level 2 official, and Kate, also an athlete in shot put and discus, has just started her journey and is qualified as a level 1. View our range of available courses.

John was the first to take a step into the officiating world, he told us; "I have always had a keen interest in sport and with my children competing for a local club I was often roped in to help out. I realised I didn't like volunteering without knowing what I was doing so I booked myself onto a course and the rest is history."

Tom then followed in his dad's footsteps, having previously been an athlete himself. After he stopped competing, he found himself helping out at local events which led him to start working his way through the officiating pathway.

Shortly after her 16th birthday, Kate signed up to her first officials course and took her first steps in officiating. She told us; "my dad and my brother got me into it, they got involved and I thought I would do it as well."

With 3 officials in the family, we asked what it is like officiating alongside each other. John said; "Often we are in the same area and even paired up at times. But when we're not it's nice to know that they are around and that I am around for them, that way my children get to know a lot more people and learn from others as well as their dad".

Kate followed this up by saying; "I really like it, its nice to have them here and do this as a family". Having a level 3 official as a dad has become helpful for Kate and Tom, with Tom explaining that; "he is a bit of a mentor and helps me out a lot".

It is always great to see the younger generation getting involved in officiating. When asked why it is important to get more young people involved Kate said, "it is important to get people involved at a younger age as it allows them to carry on with their qualifications as they get older". Kate has taken a lot of inspiration from Jack Lambert, a fellow young official.

John followed this up with; "If you look at the age profile of the officials its fairly high so Tom and Kate tend to stand out as young officials. Without officials there would be no event so always great to get younger people interested."

In order to help more young officials get involved, we asked Kate and John if they had any advice when starting out in the officiating journey. Kate expressed the importance of asking the top officials lots of questions, John explained; "the officials are always really helpful, I had a mentor for my level 3 but I actually learned from lots of different officials. If you are willing to ask and willing to listen, then people will be really helpful."

All three members of the family are hoping to progress further with their qualifications, Kate is looking at first becoming a level 2 and then moving onto level 3 and Tom is hoping to go as far as he can in his officiating journey. We look forward to seeing the trio at more events and watching them progress in the officiating world!

To find out more about getting into officiating click the link below!