Art Of Officiating
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Covering conflict management, the psychology of officiating, best practices and officiating/life balance.
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...
Seven Kinds of Hustle
Hustle is defined in different ways by different sports officials, but many will point out that the physical — get from here to there as fast as possible...
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...
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...
6 To Do’s Before Play Resumes After a Stoppage
At a time when scrutiny of officials is greater than ever before, the need to get plays right is Job One. Most evaluators won’t...
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...
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...
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?...
Don’t Lose Your Passion
Think about the last 10 officials with whom you’ve worked. How many of them brought passion to their game? What was your initial reaction...
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...
Get To The Point With Game Language
Good officials must know the language of their respective sports and be able to communicate that language in a way that coaches and players...
Big Game, Big Stage
Most of us lead a simple life. We’ll never have to go through the drudgery of another game at Soldier Field or Madison Square...
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...
Clinicians and Presenters Critical to a Successful Camp Experience
The best way for you to judge the effectiveness of a clinic or camp is to count the number of habits or procedures that...
Elements that Determine a Successful Crew
In the sports world, a team’s success is determined by wins and losses and, to a major extent, by the number of championships it...
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,...
Moving Forward After Disappointment
Officiating mimics life. Do it long enough and you’re sure to experience the full gamut of emotions. There are times when you’ll experience incredible...
Sometimes There Is No Right or Wrong Call
If you put 30 sports officials in a room, regardless of the sport, and watch a tight play on video, what happens during the...
How To Handle An Instantly Irritated Coach
The legendary Ed Hightower was “on loan” to the Western Athletic Conference many years ago handling the referee duties during a Fresno State game. About 30 seconds into the...
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...
What’s Acceptable Contact Between Officials & Participants?
The issue of the propriety of any two human beings touching one another runs the gamut of the human condition; from liberal to conservative, man to woman, western to eastern....
8 Universal Truths To Elevate Your Game
O
fficiating has been in my blood since I was a scholastic wrestler during the mid-1960s. Throughout the decades, I gradually began to understand the...
What Supervisors Teach can be What Gets Called
In the local football chapter where I started officiating years ago, it has been the practice to have separate weekly training sessions for first-year officials. The feeling is...
When Mascots Get Out of Hand
Referees and umpires around professional, college and even high school sports unfortunately must face the challenges of how to deal with mascots who either affect play on the field...
