Art Of Officiating
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Covering conflict management, the psychology of officiating, best practices and officiating/life balance.
5 Ways to Manage Conflict
When situations explode on the field or court, it's up to sports officials to restore the peace and manage conflict. In managing conflict, showing a little empathy, demonstrating good listening skills and providing people with options rather than...
Career Suicide Can Be a Killer
Officiating is unlike many endeavors in that hard work, diligent study and the right temperament are not guarantees to success.
Conversely, there are several...
7 Ways to Avoid Attacks
Unfortunately, in today’s culture, many officials have been followed out to their car by unfriendly people after a game. Others have been threatened during or after a...
Climb Your Mountain
A mountain is such a commonly used metaphor because it provides beautiful imagery to our goals and the challenges we face to reach them. Every...
Sometimes There Is No Right or Wrong Call
If you put 30 sports officials in a room, regardless of the sport, and watch a tight play on video, what happens during the...
Don’t Try To Win The Argument
As an official, when you are involved in a conflict, your goal is to resolve it. You have to fight the tendency to want to win the...
When Do Comments Go From Noise to Unprofessional Conduct?
Comments from head coaches, their coaching staffs, team supporters and fans can vary and deserve a multitude of responses. But when the comments go...
8 Universal Truths To Elevate Your Game
O
fficiating has been in my blood since I was a scholastic wrestler during the mid-1960s. Throughout the decades, I gradually began to understand the...
Make Your Time Work For You
Adding officiating to your already busy schedule can cause a painful time crunch. But if you manage your time well, you can fit officiating...
Self-Evaluation is Critical
Having both the ability and willingness to self-evaluate is
critical to becoming a better referee. Whether you do youth, school or amateur games, you must...
4 Elements of Decisiveness
In the business world, money can be made or lost based, in
large measure, on the decisiveness of the executives. In battle, the
decisiveness of the...
Defeat Negative Attitudes. Enjoy Your Games.
Situational negativity occurs when a specific recent incident causes one official to adopt a negative attitude toward another official. Imagine a football crew in...
Reduce Officiating Stress and Improve Performance
Officials are quitting at record rates and many veteran officials have testified sportsmanship has become much worse over the years. Others want to stay...
You Got Next
A
t a time when scrutiny of officials is greater than ever before, the need to get plays right is Job One. Most evaluators won’t...
When Mascots Get Out of Hand
Referees and umpires around professional, college and even high school sports unfortunately must face the challenges of how to deal with mascots who either affect play on the field...
What the Best Officials Keep Doing
You received the plum assignment, playoff game or bowl game you’ve always wanted. If your group has a scoring system, perhaps you graded out first at your position. You're...
Battle Through a Tough Start
Anyone who has officiated any sport at any level has had games in which things didn’t go as planned. What if the unexpected trip-up...
Traveling Etiquette 101
There are practices that should always be followed when traveling with officiating partners to make sure everyone gets to the game on-time, and gets along with...
Postgame Discussions The Right Way
It was a tough game and not much went as planned. Now it’s time to break down where it all went wrong. It‘s a stressful situation and...
No Crime to Ask For Help
Why are some officials hesitant to go to a partner for help on a play? If getting the call right really matters to us,...
Crew Harmony Leads to Better Games & More Fun
When any game assignment arrives, all sorts of questions usually race through an official’s mind. Who’s playing and where is it being played are immediate, but don't really...
Unexpected Challenges in Officiating
As I headed down the long, nondescript, stale-smelling concrete tunnel toward the soccer stadium field from the officials’ locker room, looking forward to being...
Make an Officiating Comeback
A few seasons ago, I felt like I was on the “up and up.” I felt personal improvement in my play calling, physique and...
Be Prepared When You Travel to Assignments
Whether this is your first year or 10th year as an official, there is great anticipation while you await your schedule. You can’t wait...
