ELCO’s Brett Wenger explores the other side of athletics as PIAA junior official

Open mindedness and fair mindedness. You remember those old-school concepts upon which all of athletic competition are based.

It is a combination of those similar and related ideals which have drawn Brett Wenger to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s (PIAA) junior officials’ program.

“Growing up my parents raised me to treat everyone with respect, to treat people the way they want to be treated,” said Wenger. “It’s important. Fairness is not just important in basketball, but also in life.”

A junior at ELCO, Wenger has been involved with sports for most of his life. Wenger is an accomplished tennis player and golfer for the Raiders and played basketball up until last year.

In October of 2024, he became involved with the PIAA’s junior officials’ program and began refereeing youth level basketball games.

“It pays really well, especially for someone my age,” said Wenger. “You get $35 for an hour and 15 minutes of work. Another thing that was cool was to see the game from a different perspective. Now, I understand where they’re (officials) coming from.”

“I didn’t play basketball this year because I wanted to focus on golf and tennis,” continued Wenger. “It (PIAA junior officials’ program) was something that came up when I decided not to play basketball. It wasn’t the reason. I wouldn’t say officiating is my life. It’s something I do. It takes a backseat to school and the sports I play.”

The junior officials’ program (PDF) is an initiative of the PIAA designed to address the shortage of officials across all sports and get athletically minded individuals interested in officiating at a young age. The program is administered through school districts and junior officials, ages 16 and 17, referee youth sports at the ninth-grade level and below.

Junior officials are required to pass background checks and to master a test about rules and procedures.

“It’s (attracting more officials) always a top priority,” said Wenger. “If you don’t have officials, you don’t have games. Once you get to a certain level, you need someone with experience to go out there and make the right calls at the right time. A lot of refs I work with leave right after our games to get to another game. I feel like if there were more officials it would take a little stress off of them.”

“An official is there to keep all aspects of the game fair and under control,” added Wenger. “I think it’s important that an official maintains good control, so people don’t get hurt or anything like that happens.”

“Brett is a neat student-athlete who was involved in three sports year-round,” said ELCO athletic director Tommy Mealy, himself a PIAA official. “He always liked basketball but wanted to step back from the commitment needed for that, but yet stay involved in the game, so he asked me for the junior officials’ information.”

Mealy said the school was able to help Wenger get immediately involved in officiating youth basketball.

“All signs pointed to that being a positive experience for him and it put him on a different perspective where he was able to process and learn more things that are associated with playing athletics from the big picture lens,” said Mealy. “Brett does a nice job in the classroom and athletic arenas and this experience will only help him with his personal maturation of life experience.”

Working with an experienced partner, Wenger officiated about 40 basketball games this past winter, mostly boys, but some girls, grades third through eighth.

“They went really well,” said Wenger. “I only gave out one technical foul. A kid swore right to my face. There were fans yelling and coaches chirping, but after the first couple of times you learn to ignore it and block it out.”

“I’d say I’m a pretty fair official,” Wenger continued. “I try to call things as fair as I can. If I miss something, it’s on me and I don’t try to make it up. I try to call the game the same way all the way through.”

Wenger said other student-athletes at ELCO have shown interest in the PIAA’s junior officials’ program but didn’t know the current level of their commitments.

“I think the biggest thing is my family and friends are excited for me,” said Wenger, “and they’re supportive of me and what I’m doing. I think it’s a really cool experience.”

Wenger would like to go to college and play either tennis or golf there. It’s difficult to predict the role that officiating will play in his life moving forward.

“I’m not sure how far it will take me,” said Wenger. “I feel like it’s something I could do for a while. I don’t want to say that it could almost be like a lifetime side hustle. But I have a good base to start with if I want to get to another level.”

“It’s always nice to keep doors open,” concluded Wenger. “It’s important to have all the options that you can.”