Art Of Officiating
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Covering conflict management, the psychology of officiating, best practices and officiating/life balance.
Are You Choosing Your Partner Wisely?
Some sports officials do not have the luxury of choosing their game partner. Many organizations have a commissioner or game assigner that schedules each...
Think Outside the Box
By Jeffrey Stern
Officials who work a single sport sometimes have a tendency to be a little myopic. If football is their game, they follow...
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...
Fight Negative Comments with Finesse
Sometimes people will make negative comments knowing you’re an official. So how should you react? Here’s a vote for speaking up on behalf of...
It’s Not Your Timeout
A timeout provides officials with an opportunity to galvanize, regroup, clarify or simply maintain focus on the game at hand.
What can a person do in 60 seconds?
An Olympic-level...
7 Ways to Hone Your Edge in the Offseason
For many, the offseason is welcomed in the same way a teacher welcomes summer break — with open arms. You ’ve worked hard but now it’s time for...
Ed Hochuli On Balance
It takes extraordinary strength to take charge of a Super Bowl – strength of will, of desire and of conviction. Ed Hochuli has done...
How To Get A Postseason Assignment and Make The Most Of It
How do you get a postseason assignment? What skills are important when doing those big games? How do you stay at the top when...
30 Basics of Officiating
If you've officiated for any length of time, you’ve probably heard most of these basics of our avocation before, but they bear repeating and...
Strategies to Stay Above the Fray
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the officiating industry has taken a heavy blow. All officials in some shape or form were impacted and continue to...
How to NOT Argue
It takes a minimum of two people to have an argument. If one person chooses not to participate, that leaves the second party blustering...
Keep Communication Lines Open with Players
While officials have a fair amount of contact with coaches during a game, they are most often communicating with players. Here are some suggestions...
Let the Whole Play Happen Before You Call It
Sports officials must understand the game they are working or they’re in for a heap of headaches. An official must know the rules to the best of...
Correcting Bad Behavior With Well Timed Warnings
W
arnings come in a variety of forms. There’s “the look,” “the stop sign” and “the quiet word,” to name a few. Each can be...
Get Great Series: Better by Tomorrow
If someone told you a way to get better by tomorrow, would you do it no matter what it was? How about if it...
Always Time for Teachable Moments
Whether it is during the prematch conference or a postmatch debrief, a formal evaluation or a self-evaluation, or in a classroom clinic setting, we...
Get it Right the Next Time
We’ve all had one. Or two. Or 102. That moment when stark reality hits and you realize you have just kicked the ever-living daylights...
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...
Employ Active Recruitment To Get New Officials
How would you feel if you were thinking of getting into officiating and these were the recruitment slogans thrown at you?:
“Tired of the...
Arrive and Shine With Good First Impressions
How you enter the arena, stadium, field or other facility says a lot about you. Do you casually stroll in? Are you laughing, confident,...
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...
Ride The Rhythm Of Your Season
Rhythm generally means a movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite/different conditions, and every sports official knows...
7 Steps To Better Conversations
Dealing with adversarial relationships can be tough. These seven tips to better conversations will make your difficult job a bit easier.
1. Pause before responding
Let the other person get...
Techniques to Speed Up Games
One of the great debates in sports these days is how long it takes to play the games. Television has been a great boon...
