Art Of Officiating
Home Art Of Officiating
Covering conflict management, the psychology of officiating, best practices and officiating/life balance.
The Association Isn’t Backing You
One problem that officials can face is being unable to find dependable support, which is needed for a wide variety of reasons. For example,...
The Art of Dealing With Coaches
By Jay Miner
I’ve read every umpire manual ever written back to Hank O’Day’s turn of the century (20th) handwritten notes. Manuals are good and...
Lightning Protocol Advances with Technology
In the not-so-distant past, the protocol for handling lightning was straightforward for officials working outdoor sporting events at the amateur levels. If lightning was...
Groups Work to Give Sports Officials Spiritual Guidance
For decades there have been spiritual outlets for players, coaches and even team administrators, but there hasn't been much available to give sports officials...
Core Values Form Your Foundation
There are as many different values as there are officials. Core values are those attributes we hold dear and they form the foundation on...
How To Handle a Kicked Call
A
s a longtime NCAA Division I college women’s basketball official, Mark Zentz says there’s a surefire way for him to know when he’s blown...
Integrity: What We Do vs. What We Say
Officials are the keepers of the game. That’s a very high stature. And with that stature comes lofty expectations of integrity.
Impartiality. Fairness. Morals. Those...
4 Tips for Talking to Coaches
Talking to coaches is not an exact science; they are as different as anyone else you would encounter in another forum. What works with...
Don’t Go Looking for Fouls
The trouble with learning to officiate is that almost the entire focus is on recognizing fouls and calling them. Therefore, beginners not only concentrate...
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...
Who Gets The Longer Leash?
As officials, we unfortunately know that emotions run high in sports and every official must understand how to react appropriately when someone at the game...
Forget Perfection, Here’s 5 Ways To Be Great
Perfect games are for athletes and they are rare. A bowler or pitcher may achieve perfection once in a while. But beyond that, athletes, like officials, aren’t flawless...
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...
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...
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...
How You React to Disappointment Defines You
Officiating is an interesting and challenging line of work, no matter your involvement. Whether you are an active official, assigner or administrator, decisions you...
Career Suicide Can Be a Killer
Officiating is unlike many endeavors in that hard work, diligent study and the right temperament are not guarantees to success.
Conversely, there are several...
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,...
Why Coaches Yell
Referees frequently talk about how much coaches yell at them. We’d all like to have them yell less. Yelling at referees rarely improves performance. In fact,...
8 Steps to Better Communication
When it comes to the necessities needed in becoming a successful sports official, the art of conversation might not seem to be high on...
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...
Postgame Discussions The Right Way
It was a tough game and not much went as planned. Now it’s time to break down where it all went wrong. It‘s a stressful situation and...
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...
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,...
