Recruiting and Registration

To become a high school sports official with Sugarsand and the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA), you must complete several steps. The FHSAA has published a summary of the process on its website. 

1. To become an official for the FHSAA, you must meet several requirements. You must be over 18 years old, or a high school student between 16 and 17 years of age who has applied to the Student Officials Program. You must submit your registration application, along with fees, to the FHSAA. You also need to join a local officials association. And finally, you cannot have been arrested for or convicted of a felony. 

2. To officiate in the state of Florida, you must register with a local officials association sanctioned by the FHSAA Office, I.E. Sugarsand Officials Association. 

3. You must register with the Florida High School Athletic Association through an online application, during which time you will select which sport(s) you want to officiate, and which official's association you are a member of. Click here for more information. 

4. The Jessica Lunsford Act is a Florida law designed to punish sex offenders and reduce their ability to re-offend. To be eligible to be an official for your local school district, you will need to have completed a level 2 screening (background check). This is a check of a person's background via state and national databases to ascertain whether the individual has been convicted of a crime(s) and its/their nature. You can find more information about this process in Florida Statutes 1012.467 and 1012.468.

5. Officials participating in a Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA)-sanctioned sport must pass a rules exam. The exam is available online and consists of 50 questions with no time limit. The schedules of the exams will be posted on https://www.fhsaa.com.