Art Of Officiating
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Covering conflict management, the psychology of officiating, best practices and officiating/life balance.
How to Handle a Downgrade You Disagree With
Sometimes you can just feel a downgrade coming. You’ve just completed your game. You’re headed home for the evening but you can’t seem to get that one...
Your Officiating Style Should Embrace Personal Growth
It's been one of those games. Every stop in play, someone from each team is complaining, and that doesn’t even include the coaches, who...
What to Do When Fans Cross the Line
What’s the protocol when a fan throws something on the court or field? How do you react on a personal level, and what should...
Try Angles
There is one thing I find more important than all others in getting my calls on the field and on the court correct: the...
Taking the Officiating Plunge in a Father’s Footsteps
If you were offered a job where you had to travel, sometimes long and far, got frequently criticized when you performed your duties and...
Honesty, Integrity Are Keys To a Full Schedule
The ability to grow your schedule is a key component to your development. We all want more games because we associate the number of...
Squeezing the Last Drop Out of Your Talent
For most of the movie “Whiplash,” music instructor Terence Fletcher curses, rails at, belittles and humiliates his students.
When he encounters one of his former...
6 Things You Never Say to a Coach
You will say all kinds of things when you’re having a conversation, conference, discussion, talk, debate or heated exchange with a coach. But are there some comments that should...
Study The Game To Improve As An Official
One of the greatest things you can do to help improve your officiating is to gain a better understanding of the game itself, whatever...
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...
Have No Officiating Regrets
Sometimes you can do everything in your power to get a call right and still blow it. That’s a tough regret to live with,...
Balance is Beneficial
Having your priorities straight means having balance in your life — job, family, officiating and other things important to you. If you put too much emphasis...
Eliminate Your Own Distractions
There are many things that might disrupt an official’s concentration during a game. They might be internal or external and could happen during play...
Does Appearance Still Matter If You Get the Calls Right?
Beards and tattoos have become much more prevalent and accepted in today’s society than in years past. You see them on everyone from CEOs...
Pregame Meeting Etiquette
Pat the referee arrives at Hometeam High School for a basketball game. With Chris, the inexperienced partner, in tow, Pat approaches Hometeam Head Coach...
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...
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...
Pause Points Help Manage Stress
Officiating, at its core, is the ability to make quality decisions under stress. The loud environment, the passion of the players, and running up and down 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...
Sell the Tough Call
What do a ninth-inning call at home plate, a crucial roughing penalty late in the fourth quarter or a block/charge call all have in...
Does the Stop Signal Work Anymore?
Check out this portion of a discussion thread from a basketball referee online chat circa 2007:
“Anybody ever notice how a lot of the talk...
Honesty, Integrity Keys to a Full Schedule
The ability to grow your schedule is a key component to your development. We all want more games because we associate the number of...
Dealing with Obnoxious Fans
Between the lines, sports officials have every right and can take immediate action to eject a player or coach from a game for unruly...
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...