Psychology of Officiating
Get it Right the Next Time
We’ve all had one. Or two. Or 102. That moment when stark reality hits and you realize you have just kicked the ever-living daylights...
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...
Self-Evaluation is Critical
Having both the ability and willingness to self-evaluate is
critical to becoming a better referee. Whether you do youth, school or amateur games, you must...
Everybody Wants a Problem Solver
One type of person all businesses want is a problem solver. The same can be said for any type of athletic event. They want...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
Moving Forward After Disappointment
Officiating mimics life. Do it long enough and you’re sure to experience the full gamut of emotions. There are times when you’ll experience incredible...
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,...
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...
Why R You Officiating?
Officiating is an avocation, and no two people come to it the same way or for the same reasons. I knew that whatever I...
Attitude Adjustments That Improve Performance
There are a lot of things I know now that I wish I had known when I started officiating. One area that I needed attitude adjustments...
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....
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...
Defeat Negative Attitudes. Enjoy Your Games.
Situational negativity occurs when a specific recent incident causes one official to adopt a negative attitude toward another official. Imagine a football crew in...
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...
Career Suicide Can Be a Killer
Officiating is unlike many endeavors in that hard work, diligent study and the right temperament are not guarantees to success.
Conversely, there are several...
Bounce Back from a Bad Game
Ever had one of those nights when, for whatever reason, you’re off your game? Whether it’s because you were distracted by issues that have nothing to do with...
When Your Partner’s Out of It Mentally
You show up at the game site. You’re pumped. You meet your partner. Something’s wrong. He or she is distracted, upset, not engaged. You can see right away...
What It Takes To Get What You Want
S
ome years ago, Brian Tracy, one of the world’s leading experts in personal development, said, “Success is goals and all else is commentary.”
Imagine the...
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...
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,...
How to Handle Difficult Situations in These Contentious Times
It takes brains, wit and a cool head to handle difficult situations and navigate the various on- and off-court/field minefields officials have to deal...