Art Of Officiating
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Covering conflict management, the psychology of officiating, best practices and officiating/life balance.
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...
Arrive and Shine With Good First Impressions
How you enter the arena, stadium, field or other facility says a lot about you. Do you casually stroll in? Are you laughing, confident,...
Battle Through a Tough Start
Anyone who has officiated any sport at any level has had games in which things didn’t go as planned. What if the unexpected trip-up...
Rehearse Fundamental Judgments
Officials can develop healthy habits that have nothing to do with streamlining their diet or counting calories. Many sports have repeated practices or habits...
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...
How To Develop The Mental Skills to Thrive as an Official
How to develop the mental skills needed to thrive and advance in officiating.
By Karen Swanner
D
o you have the mental skills to become one of...
Strategic Planning For Your Officiating Career
Do you sometimes feel that your officiating career has grown stagnant, that your future seems unclear and that you’re not sure where you’re heading...
Four Errors You Might Be Making
We don’t like it when we mess up. Yet, in trying to eliminate errors, most of our focus is on rules and mechanics. The...
No Crime to Ask For Help
Why are some officials hesitant to go to a partner for help on a play? If getting the call right really matters to us,...
Be a Rock, Not a Robot
When people say, “There’s no need to get emotional,” that’s probably more true for officials than for the average person. Put a regular guy...
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...
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...
16 Sure-Fire Ways to Improve
Tens of thousands of words have been devoted to helping officials improve their performance. No attempt has been made here to identify these as the best tips. But...
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...
Oklahoma Referee Tackles Bad Behavior Using Social Media
Veteran soccer official Brian Barlow of Broken Arrow, Okla., believes a little public shaming is not necessarily a bad thing.
Especially if it results in...
53 Things Every Rookie Should Know
1 You learn how to better express yourself so others understand exactly what you mean
2 You’re going to get yelled at.
3 You’re going to...
How and When Do You Interact With Players?
Questions officials face in contests include: How and when do you interact with players? Do you nip brewing bad behavior in the bud? Do...
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...
Working Youth Games Is Good For Everyone
Youth leagues are where many officials get their start, particularly those who begin officiating at a young age. Those games provide a good place...
Saving One Official at a Time
I met with a friend last year who I heard had gotten out of officiating after only a few years. I thought perhaps his departure...
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...
Techniques to Speed Up Games
One of the great debates in sports these days is how long it takes to play the games. Television has been a great boon...
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...
