Product for Referees

I'm talking but you don't hear me...

When refereeing a match, it is of utmost importance that your statements are crisp, clear, and loud enough that all players can understand the call. Clear communications avoid conflicts and instill confidence in the referee.

The last 2 days I have refereed the senior games in Henderson County, North Carolina. The temperatures have reached unseasonable mid-80's each day. This creates a problem in gyms without air conditioning such as that where the games were held. In order to make the gym as comfortable as possible, the staff placed large fans to create air movement. The fans were very loud.

I refereed 5 or 6 matches on Thursday. By the end of the day, I had nearly lost my voice from literally yelling the scores. Something had to change on Friday or I would not have lasted through the first match. I decided to try a new toy I had bought a couple of months ago. I have one of those voices that does not project well and attendees in meetings regularly ask me to speak up. So I bought a voice amplifier.

No, not a megaphone. This particular device has a speaker that clips onto a belt or waistband and a headset wired microphone. It worked great and was perfectly comfortable to wear without interfering with my other referee gear - stopwatch, clipboard, etc. At first I kept the volume at a level where only the players could hear but I soon was asked to turn the volume up so the folks sitting in the bleachers could also hear.

Several varieties of amplifiers are available. I'm not endorsing the one I bought, but I will say that it worked exactly as expected and needed. I bought a Moano multifunctional voice amplifier from Amazon (link) for less than $30.

I highly recommend this or something like it for noisy situations. I can assure you that the players appreciated it today.