Art Of Officiating

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

Art Of Officiating

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

The Right Way to Share and Accept Criticism

W hich of the following is defined as “the art, skill or profession of making discriminating judgments”? a. Sports officiating. b. Studying texts for the purpose of...

Shut Out Distractions and Focus

Every game — whether it’s a youth contest or an NCAA postseason game — matters to the players. So it’s important we bring our best to every game....

Tips on Handling Blowouts

Sometimes games are less than games; they are a mish-mash of horrendous play and lopsided scores. Officials can either contribute to the mayhem or else...

Expect Little and You Won’t Be Disappointed

The spectrum of accommodation made for officials is vast. If you've been continually disappointed perhaps, unfortunately, your expectations were a bit high. What do...

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,...

Get The Most Out of Camps and Clinics

The best way for you to judge the effectiveness of a clinic or camp is to count the number of habits or procedures that...

How to Handle Difficult Situations in These Contentious Times

It takes brains, wit and a cool head to handle difficult situations and navigate the various on- and off-court/field minefields officials have to deal...

Are You Addicted to Officiating?

Officiating sports for the vast majority of us is an avocation, a hobby, a distraction, a chance to exercise and to help. Officiating can...

Six Points of Simple Wisdom

There's a lot of simple wisdom out there, but sometimes those are the things that ring most true. Here are a few to think...

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...

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...

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...

Use Your Confidence for the Good of the Game

Confidence is not a suggestion when it comes to being good in this avocation. It is at the core of what it takes to...

Can Our Intuition Deceive Us?

By Rick Gaydos A couple of years ago I was watching a local TV talk show. A panelist recommended a book that wasn’t typically sports-related but...

Manage High Stress Situations So You Don’t Choke or Panic

Why do some officials perform poorly when under pressure? Ruling out poor positioning, misapplication or misunderstanding of the rules, inexperience and absentmindedness, one must turn to psychological explanations for official underperformance....

Use Team Captains as Assets

Being captain on a team is a pretty big deal. It means the player has earned the trust and respect of his or her coach or teammates. It’s...

Attitude Adjustments That Improve Performance

There are a lot of things I know now that I wish I had known when I started officiating. One area that I needed attitude adjustments...

Leave Your Bad Day at Home

Television newsman Neil Cavuto says, “There’s nothing wrong or evil about having a bad day. There’s everything wrong with making others have to have...

Warning Signs of Burnout

People officiate for a variety of reasons. Whether it’s love of the game, exercise, camaraderie or extra money (or any combination of those), too...

Top Tips to Terminate Tiffs and Tough Talks

Not all arguments with coaches end perfectly. The goal of all officials is to resolve volatile conflict quickly and to an extent that allows...

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...

9 Ways to Reach Your Dream Assignment

There’s a common human urge to improve. It runs through our work lives, the activities we undertake for enjoyment and our officiating endeavors. That urge manifests itself in sports...

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....

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...