Art Of Officiating
Home Art Of Officiating
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...
4 Habits of Successful Officials
If you took a poll of coaches and players and asked them to name the skills and habits that are important for a game...
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...
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...
Stay Focused until Game Conclusion
At any sporting event, you’re likely to hear someone holler, “Keep your head in the game!” That heckler might not be referring to the...
Taking the Officiating Plunge in a Father’s Footsteps
If you were offered a job where you had to travel, sometimes long and far, got frequently criticized when you performed your duties and...
Have an Appreciation for Other Officials’ Hard Work.
A cartoon that appeared in another publication depicted a young boy on the department-store Santa’s lap. The youngster says to Kris Kringle, “I don’t...
Put a Bad Game in the Rearview Mirror
Every official has had a bad game he or she would rather forget. Whether it was a kicked call, problems with a partner or...
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...
Tips For Improving Sportsmanship
Turn on SportsCenter any morning and while you sip your coffee I’ll guarantee you something. Within the first 10 minutes, a big-time coach will...
Talk Yourself Into a Good Game
Have you ever wondered how rah-rah pep talks can move athletes toward great performances? It’s because the athletes themselves have an innate desire to...
Your Officiating Style Should Embrace Personal Growth
It's been one of those games. Every stop in play, someone from each team is complaining, and that doesn’t even include the coaches, who...
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...
How To Get A Postseason Assignment and Make The Most Of It
How do you get a postseason assignment? What skills are important when doing those big games? How do you stay at the top when...
Unexpected Challenges in Officiating
As I headed down the long, nondescript, stale-smelling concrete tunnel toward the soccer stadium field from the officials’ locker room, looking forward to being...
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...
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...
Take the ‘I’ Out of ‘Quit’
It’s not always easy to be an official. That’s not anything you don’t already know. Sports officials are the targets of media, fans and...
Use Your Confidence for the Good of the Game
Confidence is not a suggestion when it comes to being good in this avocation. It is at the core of what it takes to...