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General items of interest to all officials that don’t fit in the categories above.
Prevent Mistakes on Obscure Rules
Over the past three decades, video review and replay have become staples in game administration. Officials’ judgment is often subject to review, and there...
Is There Still Room for Personality In Signals?
In the old days, style and flair in officiating was easy to recognize. It was prevalent in a lot of games. Today, most assigners...
Officials Help Keep a Park District League in Operation
A few years back, the park district in our community started an indoor soccer league and offered players in the area the opportunity to...
Video Changing the Face of Officiating
One of my favorite books is Instant Replay. The author, Jerry Kramer, was an All-Pro guard for the Green Bay Packers. In 1968, he...
I’m Working With Who?
Partners and crewmates come in all different shapes, sizes and personalities. There are a lot of good ones out there, but then there are...
Master of the Rules
Mastery of playing rules doesn’t just mean ‘knowing’ what a rule reads
Rod Serling might have put it this way:
Imagine you’re attending your final year...
Spark the Fire to Create Lifelong Officials
We need more officials, plain and simple. The not-so-simple part is figuring out how to spark the fire in new recruits that will keep...
Subject to Interpretation
Anyone who has ever attended a local association meeting knows rules debates can be intense.
“Discussions” over minutiae in the rulebook or casebook are often...
Transition Game
Basketball has taken Ka-Deidre “Didi” Simmons around the globe. After a stellar collegiate career at Seton Hall University that saw her graduate as the...
Inventive Incentive
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ate last winter the math became clear for Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) State Commissioner of Officials Brian Gessner.
“We’re not doing a very good job...
AVP Officials Meet the Challenge of Champions Cup During Pandemic
Turn on NBC in the summer during a normal year and you are likely to see some of the top volleyball players in the country competing on the sand. In...
Employee or Independent Contractor?
Update: June 14th, 2019 - View the court's ruling
Some of history’s bloodiest conflicts were started over a small insult. A pastry chef not receiving...
Pastoral Care in the Officiating Community
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s COVID-19’s reach expanded globally during the spring of 2020, people and the organizations of which they were members scrambled to adjust to everything...
The Buzz on Officiating Drones
Drones are making themselves useful in a wide variety of industries and occupations — on construction sites, in roofing, with reforestation and even in...
Why would anyone want to be a referee?
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Why in the world would anyone want to be a referee? That’s the question prominent ESPN Senior...
Can Coaches Openly Criticize?
When a Missouri girls’ high school basketball coach publically said negative things about the officiating after his team’s playoff loss last season, athletic administrators...
Military Intelligence
Bob Delaney, vice president of referee operations and director of officials for the NBA, sees something special in officials with military backgrounds.
Teamwork and trust...
Test Pattern
If you’re a typical Referee reader, you’re college educated and have spent 15 or 20 years in school. That means you’ve probably taken thousands...
Rule Changes That Changed Everything
Officiating standards and practices have changed considerably over the course of time. So have the rules all of us are expected to know and enforce. The evolution of the rules...
Suspensions and Terminations Impact All Officials
Officials have never been under greater scrutiny. In the wake of high-profile officiating suspensions and terminations, Referee publisher Barry Mano examines the deep impact...
Biggest Officiating Stories Of 2018
NFL Fires Official During the Season
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For the first time in the Super Bowl era, the NFL fired an official during...
The Top Officiating Stories of 2020
Pro Sports Delay Seasons
Professional leagues such as the NBA, NHL and MLS put the remainder of their 2019-20 seasons on hold in March when...
Can We Improve the Culture of Sports?
“I did not like being a referee one bit, and I’m very happy to be done with it. It was very stressful, and I...
Rushing in to Assist
In September 2017, Hurricane Maria tore through the northeastern Caribbean. The deadly Category 5 storm hit Puerto Rico especially hard, causing billions of dollars...
