Art Of Officiating
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Covering conflict management, the psychology of officiating, best practices and officiating/life balance.
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....
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...
Creating Your Officiating Legacy
The average American can expect to live about 79 years. That’s roughly 28,835 days to leave your mark on the people you know and the places you go....
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?...
Get Great Series: Better by Next Week
If someone told you a they had a way to get better by next week, would you do it no matter what it was?...
Get Great Series: Better by Tomorrow
If someone told you a way to get better by tomorrow, would you do it no matter what it was? How about if it...
7 Ways to Hone Your Edge in the Offseason
For many, the offseason is welcomed in the same way a teacher welcomes summer break — with open arms. You ’ve worked hard but now it’s time for...
Get More Postseason Games
“Why didn’t I get any playoff games?” Across the officiating world, that is probably the most frequently asked question by established and even some new officials. Postseason games are...
Think Outside the Box
By Jeffrey Stern
Officials who work a single sport sometimes have a tendency to be a little myopic. If football is their game, they follow...
Officiating’s ‘Workplace Guide’
Although officiating is an avocation for most of us, it is one that must be treated as a business. Officiating should be fun, but...
End Game
Your job doesn’t end after the game is over. Most of the time, the game ends without serious conflict. However, there are some things...
Week In The Life of An SEC Football Official
SEC FOOTBALL OFFICIATING WEEKLY PROCESS
SATURDAY
From the SEC Football Command Center, monitor games as well as internet and social media and note issues for...
Turn The Cast Away?
One of the hazards of being a sports official is that you quickly become an expert consultant to your friends when they have a question about a rule...
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...
Media Relations
Ask pro or major college officials if they have a nightmare media relations scenario, and they’re likely to reply, “Yes. Having one of my...
Are You Addicted to Officiating?
Officiating sports for the vast majority of us is an avocation, a hobby, a distraction, a chance to exercise and to help. Officiating can...
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...
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...
Time to Drop a Sport?
If you are a multi-sport official who favors one sport over another, you may be considering dropping your least-favorite sport. Before taking that step,...
A Veteran’s Advice for Newcomers
By Jerry Grunska
Newer officials don’t always know what they’re getting themselves into. There’s a lot to learn, and it goes beyond rules and procedures....
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...
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,...
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...
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...