Art Of Officiating
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Covering conflict management, the psychology of officiating, best practices and officiating/life balance.
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...
Automatic Eject Button
Skim the rulebook for any high school or college sport under the section of automatic ejections and the word “flagrant” is likely to appear.
For...
Get Rid of Anger And Improve Your Game
Perturbed. Agitated. Ticked off. Peeved. Whatever label you give it, we all know it. Whether the cause is a know-nothing loudmouth in the stands,...
Earn That Good Reputation
Ever try constructing a tower out of playing cards? It isn’t easily built. Once achieved, it’s something to be proud of. But one wrong...
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...
Let the Whole Play Happen Before You Call It
Sports officials must understand the game they are working or they’re in for a heap of headaches. An official must know the rules to the best of...
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...
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...
Effective Relationships With Coaches
I was working a boys’ basketball game a few years back and the home team was getting shelled. They couldn’t shoot, pass, handle the...
5 Post-game Discussion Strategies
It’s been a long day. There was the travel to the event, the pregame meeting, a long grueling contest, some testy coaches, an opinionated...
Are You Choosing Your Partner Wisely?
Some sports officials do not have the luxury of choosing their game partner. Many organizations have a commissioner or game assigner that schedules each...
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...
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...
Reduce Officiating Stress and Improve Performance
Officials are quitting at record rates and many veteran officials have testified sportsmanship has become much worse over the years. Others want to stay...
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...
Be Prepared When You Travel to Assignments
Whether this is your first year or 10th year as an official, there is great anticipation while you await your schedule. You can’t wait...
Leave Your Bad Day at Home
Television newsman Neil Cavuto says, “There’s nothing wrong or evil about having a bad day. There’s everything wrong with making others have to have...
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...
Ed Hochuli On Balance
It takes extraordinary strength to take charge of a Super Bowl – strength of will, of desire and of conviction. Ed Hochuli has done...
For Basketball Officials, the Journey is the Destination
To achieve maximum personal success and productivity as a basketball official, one has to be highly motivated and have a positive attitude. Furthermore, to reach and...
Getting the Play Right Is Not Enough
Many officials can cite large swaths of the rulebook from memory. Others know down to the inch where the mechanics manual says they’re supposed to be on the field or court. But...
The Right Way to Share and Accept Criticism
W
hich of the following is defined as “the art, skill or profession of making discriminating judgments”?
a. Sports officiating.
b. Studying texts for the purpose of...
Learn Lessons From Sports You Don’t Work
“What’s My Line?” was a popular TV game show 45 years ago. Larry Blyden was the host and the premise was that four celebrities had to guess...
