Art Of Officiating

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Covering conflict management, the psychology of officiating, best practices and officiating/life balance.

Know The Game Temperature

On a hot August afternoon in 1984, NL rivals San Diego and Atlanta faced off in an important late-season contest. The trouble began when Braves pitcher Pascual Perez hit...

A Hierarchy of Tolerance

As officials, we unfortunately get different levels of commentary from different participants in the game. We shouldn’t take actual physical or extreme verbal abuse, period, but...

Tips For Working In Cold Weather

Much has changed since Dec. 31, 1967. When the crew scheduled to work the NFL championship game awoke in Green Bay, Wis., that morning,...

4 Habits of Successful Officials

If you took a poll of coaches and players and asked them to name the skills and habits that are important for a game...

20 Inspiring Books For Sports Officials

If you had inside access to the bookshelves of college and professional officials and officiating leaders, what books would you find? Sure, rulebooks are...

When situations explode on the field or court, it's up to sports officials to restore the peace and defuse conflict. In managing conflict, showing a little empathy, demonstrating good listening skills and providing people with options rather than...

Get Great Series: Better By Next Month

If someone told you a they had a way to get better by next month, would you do it no matter what it was?...

Kicking the Call

We’ve all kicked a call. If you say you haven’t, you’re a liar or delusional. When it happens, it’s one of those situations in which you’re all alone....

Getting the Play Right Is Not Enough

Many officials can cite large swaths of the rulebook from memory. Others know down to the inch where the mechanics manual says they’re supposed to be on the field or court. But...

Officials Who Coach

We start with my story. I was officiating with a rookie partner (who had great potential) on a middle school championship basketball game. Perfect pairing...