Staying Sharp in the Offseason: Keeping Your Mind and Body in Football-Shape All Year

By Rogers Redding

Most football fans, many coaches and others close to the sport have no idea of the kind of preparation football officials undertake before a game. I have often wondered if people imagine that we drive to the stadium in our striped shirts, get out of the car, see a few other guys in striped shirts, shake hands and go work the game. Officials well know how much time and attention they give to officiating long before they ever walk on the field on game day.

Over the years officiating has become much more of a year-round activity than simply one confined to the autumn months. The offseason activity includes three principal areas.

Conditioning. Too many football officials pay scant attention to getting into shape to work games. Many of us are former athletes who, like most in that category, disdain exercise. But beyond the need for exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle, conditioning in the offseason as well as during the fall months is critical for an official.

You cannot “play yourself into shape.” Just working the games will not get anyone in condition, but good prior physical training is essential for good performance. Most of my conditioning was (and still is) gained through running; as an active official I usually put in 12-15 miles per week. During the season I would maintain about that same distance but crank up the intensity (speed) of my running. That would typically include a couple of miles on game day in the morning before a night game. Many officials have gone to treadmills, ski-simulation machines, stationary bikes and other low-impact equipment to keep pressure off the knees. Push-ups, sit-ups, lifting weights, etc., are additional ways to condition and get good muscle tone.

The Southeastern Conference (SEC), where I spent the last 10 years of my career, has worked with the athletic trainers at SEC schools to create and develop a program that focuses on the health and conditioning of our football officials. The salient feature of that program has become a routine at the late-summer clinic: Each official must complete a mile-and-a-half run against the clock and successfully carry out some agility drills, all under the watchful eyes of the athletic trainers. Any official who does not make the run in the prescribed time at the clinic has one week to try again. Failure to meet the standard means not officiating that season. It’s just that simple: Miss the time, and you miss the season. As you might imagine, that gets everyone’s attention and concentrates the mind wonderfully, so everyone on the officiating staff expends considerable effort during the early summer getting prepared for the dreaded mile-and-a-half run.

It will come as no surprise that quite a few officials grumble about that regimen. But because for the most part they are athletes who thrive on competition, SEC officials annually rise to the challenge to reach a goal that calls for dedication, persistence and preparation. Officiating a football game at any level is a difficult task that calls for unfettered concentration for the entire game. Inevitably, the official who is distracted by being out of shape or whose brain is cluttered by the demands of an ill-conditioned body will fail to give the game his best performance.

I believe there is another reason for good conditioning, beyond the clear need to have the stamina and energy to work the game, and that is appearance. A football official who looks good — in shape, uniform sharp, shoes shined — will plant the impression in the minds of the coaches and the fans that he is a professional, serious about what he is doing and prepared to work the game.

I have had officials, with obvious defensiveness, tell me that appearance has nothing to do with “how well I can work a game” (to no one’s shock, that invariably comes from guys who are obviously overweight). Well, maybe. But “selling yourself” is an important part of the business, and the official who is trim, professional and cares about his appearance is an easier sell than the one lugging around that pot belly. For college officials in particular, television has enhanced the role of appearances. A football official who goes on television in “fighting trim” will subtly but clearly communicate to the television audience that he has respect for the job at hand and is prepared to carry it out professionally and efficiently.

Mental preparation. The offseason break is an excellent time to sharpen your rules knowledge. The rule changes typically appear during the early spring, and it is never too soon to fold the new rules into your thinking. There is no substitute for a perfect knowledge of the rules; persistent and concentrated study is the only way to achieve the command of the rules that should be the goal of every official.

There are any number of study aids and learning techniques to assist in your pursuit of a deeper understanding of the rules. I have also found that informal study groups of officials who live close to each other conveniently serve as a great means of study. Different people will vary in their depth of understanding, which can contribute to a profitable study experience. A good way of studying the rules is to follow these three steps: write down the rule in your own words, create a couple of examples that illustrate the principle and try to explain the rule to a colleague. That last is especially useful. The best way to learn anything is to explain it to someone else.

Mechanics. Next to a perfect knowledge of the rules, the single most important skill is getting in position to make the call. That is the essence of good mechanics. “Book learning” is simply not enough. There is no substitute for the experience gained by getting out there and doing it. During the spring and summer months, make yourself available to work scrimmages, spring practices, intrasquad games, late-summer live sessions and any other activity that gets you on the field and lets you see as many snaps as possible. The accomplished official will over time develop a clean sense of where to be and what to look for on any given play, thus honing a “muscle memory” that is almost reflexive in nature.

An important key to success as a football official is being part of a team. Whether you are working a three-man crew in a junior high game or a seven-man crew in a college game on national television, your success and that of your crew will require that you function as a team. That is where physical preparation, rules knowledge and superior mechanics blend in making you part of a smoothly functioning team.

If you know who your crewmates will be in the upcoming season, try to use the offseason as a training period for the crew as a whole, not just for your individual work. That may require some organization, to arrange for your crew to work together for scrimmages or spring games, but it will pay huge dividends when that first game rolls around in September.

I embrace the idea that football officials should think of their work almost as a year-round activity. After the break following the last games in November or December, my advice is to not wait too long before you begin to think about next year. Plan your offseason in a way that ensures you will be as sharp as possible when they tee it up again.

Rogers Redding is the supervisor of officials for the Southeastern Conference. A former NCAA Division I referee, he worked nine bowl games in his 31-year career.