A rewarding career

“The most rewarding thing about officiating is knowing you’re doing a service as an official for kids. That’s the most important thing – those relationships that you make, not only with officials, but the coaches, communities and kids.””

Kathy Hamer-Smith

TORRINGTON  –  Longtime Torrington coach and official Kathy Hamer-Smith dedicated countless hours to youth sports over the course of a storied career.

A Torrington High School (THS) and University of Wyoming graduate, Hamer-Smith went on to teach English and reading in Torrington and coach. 

Hamer-Smith served as head THS volleyball coach for 12 years, worked as a junior-varsity basketball coach for 12 years and is now beginning her 43rd year as a track coach.

Thirty-two years ago, Hamer-Smith began officiating volleyball games at the middle-school, high-school and junior college level and never looked back. 

Hamer-Smith refereed at state and regional tournaments for both the Wyoming High School Activities Association (WHSAA) and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), along with the annual volleyball All-Star matches hosted by the Wyoming Coaches Association (WCA).

The WHSAA and National Federation Officials Association each named Hamer-Smith an Official of the Year for volleyball. Hamer-Smith received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wyoming Interscholastic Athletic Directors and the Outstanding Service Award from the National Federation of High School Sports.

Hamer-Smith is a 2008 inductee into the Wyoming Coaches Association Hall of Fame and a 2014 inductee into the National Coaches Hall of Fame.

In March, Hamer-Smith was named a 2024 inductee into the WHSAA’s Wyoming Sports Officials Hall of Fame. 

“I feel very honored to be going into the Hall of Fame for officiating,” Hamer-Smith said. “I feel blessed that I had such a great career. I wouldn’t have been able to do that without all the players, coaches and communities that invited me into their gyms to officiate.”

Officiating at sporting events require practice, fortitude and patience, particularly as high school activities associations and school districts across the nation struggle to find enough qualified people to officiate games.

Hamer-Smith continued to return to the volleyball court as an official year after year, driven by a sense of service and a desire to pass along her love for sports.

“Officiating is a way to pay it forward as far as athletics,” Hamer-Smith said. “It’s a passion and a calling in my life to coach and officiate.”

More opportunities

Hamer-Smith attended THS in the early 1970s as Title IX regulations took hold, opening up new opportunities for girls and women in sports. THS’s activities director at the time, Jim Wiseman, “had a vision for women’s athletics” in Torrington and organized volleyball, track and basketball teams for girls, Hamer-Smith said.

In 1972, when Hamer-Smith was a freshman, the girls’ basketball season consisted of only two games – against Lingle and Goshen Hole. Four years later, the sport expanded to include a state tournament.

“We played Buffalo for the state championship and lost in overtime by two points,” Hamer-Smith said.

On the THS track team, Hamer-Smith excelled as a thrower. Before the district was able to hire a girls’ coach, Hamer-Smith and her teammates learned from the boys’ team.

“Every night (at practice), we would take a notebook and a pencil and would watch the boys,” Hamer-Smith said. “We’d draw diagrams of what they were doing and the drills they would run. When they left, we would try to emulate them.”

Hamer-Smith attended the University of Wyoming on an athletics scholarship and played volleyball and softball. Following graduation, Hamer-Smith returned to Torrington to teach and coach and watched as sports opportunities expanded for high schoolers.

“It’s been fun to see the growth of women’s athletics from 1972 to the current time,” Hamer-Smith said. “All through high school, as I grew up, there were only three sports that you could do. Now there a lot, and even in Goshen County, we are blessed to have cross-country, golf, tennis, softball, soccer, girls’ and boys’ wrestling, basketball, football and volleyball. The sky is the limit for kids now.”

Hamer-Smith praised local leadership for taking the initiative in creating new athletic opportunities.

“I can speak very highly of Goshen County as both a coach and a kid (at THS),” Hamer-Smith said. “I felt really lucky in the 1970s because it was important in our county and communities to start women’s sports.”

Practice makes almost perfect

Learning to become an official takes time to master the intricate rules, signals and mechanics of a sport. In Wyoming, high school officials learn their trade over the course of several years.

Officials register through the WHSAA and work for three years before taking an exam to become certified to referee regional and state tournaments, Hamer-Smith explained.

“If you take (officiating) as a whole, you’re going to be overwhelmed,” Hamer-Smith added. “With younger officials, we try to get them to take little bits and pieces and not feel like they have to do everything to start out with.”

Officiating is just like playing sports, involving practice, practice and more practice to gain confidence.

As the WHSAA’s state coordinator for volleyball officials, Hamer-Smith helped organize mechanics camps across the state to “go over a lot of the rules, the mechanics, the signals” with younger officials.

Camp organizers worked to coincide their events with local sports’ camps, providing officials an opportunity to get their feet wet refereeing unofficial games before the regular season began. Certified regional- and state-level officials work at the camps to mentor younger officials, Hamer-Smith added.

New officials frequently volunteer with local recreation boards to hone their skills refereeing local sports during the offseason.

Over the course of a varsity volleyball game, officials make between 1,000 and 1,500 different calls, and even the most seasoned officials make mistakes.

“I can say, after 32 years, I’ve never called a perfect match and I probably never will,” Hamer-Smith said. “You know you’ll never get them all right. The number one thing we stress with younger officials is to be consistent, because kids will adjust, as will coaches.”

A tough job

Officiating involves plenty of challenges. Travel is an issue, especially in a rural state like Wyoming. 

Veteran officials like Hamer-Smith can officiate up to six days a week for high school sports, and even seven days if they take on a junior college gig as well. The mileage quickly adds up.

“There is such a need for officials and high schools have different levels of games every night, whether it’s freshman or sophomores,” Hamer-Smith said.

The extra travel is particularly difficult for officials with young families at home, Hamer-Smith added. In volleyball, recruiting efforts tend to focus on finding former players to officiate the sport – typically younger women who may be starting families.

“That’s a unique challenge that volleyball faces,” Hamer-Smith said.

Another pressing issue is what Hamer-Smith called “official abuse.” Unfortunately, the phenomenon of fans verbally, or even physically attacking referees, is becoming increasingly common.

“One of the things that is difficult about retaining officials is that they sometimes can’t put themselves in that little box where they don’t let the crowd distract or bother them,” Hamer-Smith said. “It’s getting more difficult to do that and I think across the nation, official abuse is getting worse.”

Fortunately, volleyball has escaped the worst excesses of angry fans.

“Volleyball is more of a family atmosphere,” Hamer-Smith noted. “The officials and coaches tend to work together. It’s an ‘it takes a village’ attitude of trying to work with kids. We’re all in it together.”

School districts are taking the initiative in recruiting people to become officials by offering officiating courses at several high schools, Hamer-Smith added. The University of Wyoming also began a class in officiating.

“If you have any ideas about how to recruit and retain officials, keep thinking of them,” Hamer-Smith said.

The rewards

The sense of community in sports – the relationships built between officials, coaches and athletes – keeps Hamer-Smith coming back.

During her career as an official, Hamer-Smith refereed games in all four classifications, from 1A to 4A, but she tends to favor officiating at more rural locations.

“Sports at small schools tend to be community events,” Hamer-Smith said. “I like that environment. I’ve been a part of chili-eating contests in Chugwater and pie-baking contests at Glendo when I’ve officiated at those places over the years.”

Hamer-Smith even ate lunch with Chris LeDoux when she refereed a game in Hulett where LeDoux’s daughter was playing.

Hamer-Smith also finds rewards in watching young athletes grow up.

“Some of the kids I had as athletes have gone on to coach of officiate, or both,” she said. “Now I get to officiate with some of them around the state. It’s nice to know that the love for the game passed down to them and they can pay it forward to other people.”

Hamer-Smith thanked the many folks who inspired her to be a better athlete, coach and official over the years.

“The most rewarding thing about officiating is knowing you’re doing a service as an official for kids. That’s the most important thing – those relationships that you make, not only with officials, but the coaches, communities and kids.”