The occurrence of flow in a number of leisure and sport activities has been well documented, yet the question of whether sports officials experience flow has not been addressed in the literature. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the occurrence and nature of flow among sport officials, specifically intramural officials. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six University of Tennessee, Knoxville intramural officials. The interviews were transcribed by an independent transcriptionist; the data were reviewed, coded and analyzed using QDA Miner software. Subsequently, five themes emerged: (1) experience/expertise of crewmates and self; (2) motivation of crewmates and self; (3) pace of contest, (4) factors external to and within the contest; and (5) optimal experience. Significant findings of the study included: (1) more experienced officials are better able to handle game situations and serve as inspiring crewmates; (2) motivated individuals adhere to officiating mechanics, hustle, and show enthusiasm; (3) faster paced games can fluster less experienced officials, while veteran intramural officials handle game pace effectively; and (4) health and fitness, weather, personal troubles, and supervisors are factors external to the contest while fans, player behavior, and individual/crew performance are factors within the contest. In summary, the previously noted findings may have an influence on flow experiences for officials and aid in the management of intramural officiating crews.

Previous research shows a positive correlation between exercise and mental health. Additionally, researchers have found that college students experience immense stress resulting in poor mental health. However, limited research has been conducted on the direct impact of active participation in intramural sports on college students’ mental well-being. The researchers sought to study this relationship. For the purposes of this mixed-methods study, 200 college students attending either the University of Arkansas or John Brown University ages 18-23 completed a survey that assessed both their mental well-being and the extent to which they participated in intramural sports. Of these 200 participants, 12 were interviewed in order to gain more insight into the lived experience of college students. The results of the survey show there is a statistically significant correlation between participation in intramural sports and the participants’ mental well-being. Furthermore, the interviews revealed intramurals’ impact on mental well-being through social benefits, stress relief, and competition.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The number of sports officials around the United States and world has been slowly declining. The average age of sports officials keeps rising year over year, meaning younger officials are leaving their jobs at a high rate. The goal of this study was to compare training methods, traditional and immersive video-based, specifically RefReps training, to see how this training method affects officials’ confidence level at performing their duty as college intramural basketball officials. The study included college level intramural basketball officials from different universities in the United States (N = 34). A pre-test survey asking about confidence level was administered to each participating official prior to training for the upcoming intramural season. A control group (N = 13) used the university’s traditional training as their only form of training, while the test group (N = 21) trained using RefReps immersive video-based training. A post-test survey was given with the same confidence level questions for the participants to answer. The results showed that the RefReps group showed a greater increase in confidence in their ability to possess the most extensive knowledge of the rules compared to anyone else at the game and an increase in confidence in their ability to determine if a foul or violation had been committed.