Art Of Officiating

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

You’re Not Advancing

A frustrating and isolating problem in officiating is when you’re not advancing. You’ve put the time in, gone to camps, helped your local association, worked all the...

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...

Finding Acceptance as the New Person in Town

When I accepted the offer to join Referee as an associate editor in January, I had next to no concerns about how I’d fit...

Effective Communication Improves Perception of Your Skills

Officiating team sports is complex and challenging. It involves effective positioning based on appropriate fitness, knowledge of the game, accurate perceptual judgment skills, leading...

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...

Lack of Family Support

Most officials at some point in the journey have to deal with family related issues, being away from home at key stages of the lives of their children...

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...

Have an Appreciation for Other Officials’ Hard Work.

A cartoon that appeared in another publication depicted a young boy on the department-store Santa’s lap. The youngster says to Kris Kringle, “I don’t...