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General items of interest to all officials that don’t fit in the categories above.
Drone Protocol
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n more than 40 years as a referee at the high school, college and professional levels, Bruce Maurer has seen his share of the...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Mentoring Programs Can Combat Shortages
Taking a page out of corporate America's playbook in a bold, aggressive step to mitigate the officials shortage in the state, Oregon has recently...
More Players, Fewer Officials Point to Trouble Ahead
The NFHS reports a 16 percent increase nationally in the number of boys playing high school soccer in 2018 compared to 2009. While this may thrill soccer enthusiasts, it’s...
Big Data’s Increasing Role in Sports Officiating
Rusty Acree got a call from Bill Carollo this past year, asking him to provide three years of Power Five (P5) replay data from...
Be Prepared for Officiating After Covid
How will you feel when the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and the games resume? Ecstatic? Relieved? Anxious?
How about prepared?
We will be experiencing a new normal in many...
College Baseball Replay: By the Numbers
The 2019 college baseball postseason saw not only a significant expansion in what types of plays can be reviewed, but also an expansion of where replay was...
Summit @ Home Program Resonates
The Summit @ Home, which ran from Aug. 24 to Aug. 27 was a resounding success. Nearly 10,000 officials from around the U.S. and...
Officiating Organizations Stand Out at the Summit@Home
Often in officiating we only hear about officiating companies or organizations when they have a booth at a camp or clinic we're attending, or...
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...
The Game of Life
The coronavirus crisis has disrupted our individual and collective life rhythms. Rhythm generally means, a movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and...
Are Big Calls Even A Thing Anymore?
The proposition is simple enough: safe or out? foul or not? catch or no catch? A good official has had hundreds of big calls in his...
Keeping Players Safe is JOB ONE
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hen it comes to player safety, photos (and film clips) speak a thousand words.
A video montage created for a session at the 2016 NASO...
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...
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...
NFHS Executive Director Weighs in on Support of Officials
Dr. Karissa Niehoff needed no prompting to address the elephant in the room.
“We’re definitely supportive of the great work that our officials are doing,...
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...
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...
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...
Should Sports Officials Be Suspended?
Officials strive to do the right thing, enforce the rules correctly and administer the game properly. But inevitably, mistakes will happen. Sometimes it’s an error in...
