ZZZ Bill Wampler, Atlantic Coast Conference football umpire, knows all too well that you can work “59 perfect minutes of football, and a lapse of concentration in that final minute can blow your whole assignment.” He notes that an official often relaxes with the rhythm of a smooth ballgame and loses the edge that is necessary when a tense moment arises. Burr agrees, and cautions officials to step-up their concentration level in blowout situations, when that rhythm is in full swing and an official is more likely to lose focus.
ZZZ Southeastern Conference basketball referee Dave Dodge notes how difficult it is to get calls right when you are not 100 percent focused. He says that a loss of concentration often starts with a simple, small-scale lapse, then snowballs from there. For instance, you might allow your mind to wander for a moment, causing you to be out of position for a call. Even if you get the call right, you know you were out of position. That knowledge causes you to think too much about your lapse, leading to a loss of concentration for a future call. The bottom line, he notes, is not to allow your concentration to be affected by anything that has occurred in the past.
ZZZ Dr. Joel Fish, sports psychologist and director of the Center for Sports Psychology in Philadelphia, cites many potential reasons for a loss of concentration in an official. Often, he says, it depends on the personality of the individual official. A coach or participant constantly questioning a call might distract the assertive official. The perfectionist official might lose focus due to dwelling on a missed call, as Dodge noted above. The social official might be too concerned with being liked by everyone and lose sight of the task at hand. Excessive taunting or yelling might rattle the sensitive official. The key, Fish notes, is to begin to understand what kind of personality type you are, and seek to know “what buttons get pushed in certain situations.”