Why Do Sports Officials Dropout?

Sports officials’ recruitment and retention is currently an issue for many sports. The sources of stress are numerous but seem to have a reduced impact on sport officials’ dropout. To examine potential reasons of sport officiating dropout, 1718 sport officials were asked to fill a survey about their motivation, the way they trained and are evaluated, perceived stress, the qualities and skills required for officiating, and how they live their function, for a total of 135 questions. Data mining was used to extract information from the data set and transform it into an understandable structure for further use. Results show that intention to dropout among sports officials is related to the main motivation for which they begin officiating: obligation and needs of their sport association to have a sport official.