Art Of Officiating
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Covering conflict management, the psychology of officiating, best practices and officiating/life balance.
8 Universal Truths To Elevate Your Game
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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...
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...
Eight Ways To Avoid Negative Attention
The pages of Referee often feature the do’s for landing the next big game and breaking into the next level. But equally important to...
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...
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...
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...
Correcting Bad Behavior With Well Timed Warnings
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arnings come in a variety of forms. There’s “the look,” “the stop sign” and “the quiet word,” to name a few. Each can be...
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...
6 Qualities That Get You Respect
In a business environment, you know the people you don’t like to work with. You know the laggards, the braggers and the ones who shove daggers in your...
No Crime to Ask For Help – If You’re Smart About it
Every official has faced it: a close call, rising tension, and everyone on the sideline looking to see if you’ll turn to your partner...
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...
6 Ways to Beat the Winter Blahs
Depending on the part of the country in which you live, winter can be a cold, bleak and depressing time of year. If you don’t officiate a winter...
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,...
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...
Sell the Tough Call
What do a ninth-inning call at home plate, a crucial roughing penalty late in the fourth quarter or a block/charge call all have in...
Impartiality in Addressing Coaches
I'm always ill at ease when an official with whom I’m working is on a first-name basis with a coach. Earlier this baseball season,...
How to NOT Argue
It takes a minimum of two people to have an argument. If one person chooses not to participate, that leaves the second party blustering...
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...
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...
6 Common Errors and How to Avoid Them
It seems no matter how long a person has been officiating, and regardless of the sports he or she works, any official can fall...