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National Association
of Sports Officials

OFFICIATING DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE
MISSION STATEMENT

The Officiating Development Alliance (ODA) believes there are common principles of effective officiating at all levels of sport. The Alliance represents many segments of the officiating community and is positioned to influence the overall development of officials.
The ODA:
• Recognizes the need to retain officials and to identify and recruit prospects.
• Encourages and promotes innovation in officiating training and the incorporation of current technology.
• Supports programs to recruit female and minority officials.
• Seeks to improve the image of officials.
• Works with sports organizations to increase their awareness of the importance of sports officiating.

ODA HISTORY
The Officiating Development Alliance grew from efforts by the National Association of Sports Officials to prepare for its 2000 national conference. That June 2000 conference was held in Colorado Springs and focused on improving training for officials. In June of 1999 NASO brought a small group of key influentials to NASO’s Racine, Wisconsin headquarters to discuss the status of training for officials. That group represented many sports, many levels of competition and both professional and amateur competition.
The group had a productive session in Racine and determined that there was much that could be done to improve the training of officials. The trading of information was substantial and the group recognized the potential benefits of continuing to meet. It agreed to formalize its existence under the name of the Officiating Training Alliance. As the group evolved it found that its natural interests extended beyond the sole subject of training. That led to the decision to change the name of the Alliance to the Officiating Development Alliance.
The ODA went to work to identify a broad array of issues and settled on these four for priority attention:
    1. The various institutions governing sports must give more recognition to the importance of officiating.
    2. A campaign is necessary to improve the image of sports officials.
    3. Training programs need effective delivery systems that are technologically up to date.
    4. A training infrastructure must be put in place that facilitates the funding, distribution and overall execution of modern officiating programs.
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