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Order on the Court
Basketball is one of the most exciting sports to watch in person. The pace of the game, smaller venues than most other sports and...
Creating the Holistic Official
By now, the headlines have grown tiresome. High school football, once a Friday Night Lights tradition, can now be called Thursday Night Lights or...
Defusing Coach Confrontations
The psychology of being a coach lends itself to an “us-against-the-world” mindset. As a game or a match wears on, tension inevitably mounts. Soon...
Omaha!
A stadium in Nebraska is the field of dreams for college umpires.
It’s 10:15 a.m. on a mid-June Sunday and George Drouches has already put...
Maintain Professional Communication With Coaches
In today’s society, too many people in the workplace have forgotten why they go to work. For most, it seems, the paycheck is the...
How to Be an Effective Crew Chief
Every high school and college softball game should have a crew chief. Generally, that is determined by the assigner and noted on the scheduling...
The Art of Listening to Coaches
Successful officials are approachable and are good listeners. They recognize they have two ears and one mouth and they use them in that proportion....
Know How to Enforce Double Base Rules
In an effort to limit potential collisions and injuries, softball organizations have adopted the use of a double base at first base. And while...
Not Every Infraction Leads to an Immediate Dead Ball
Play is stopped when the ball becomes immediately dead by rule. It is obvious the ball becomes dead when a foul is not caught...
The Intricacies of Fourth Outs
Other than umpires, there are not many people who understand there can be four outs in an inning. The purpose of getting a fourth...
Great Beginnings Beget Solid Performances
Even if you’re not a fan of classical music, you likely recognize the first eight notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony when you hear them....
How to Show Confidence Without Raising Your Voice
As I’ve grown over the years, I actually look back at early times in my career and laugh. Many times, when enforcing rules, “winning”...
Stay Under Control When Shifting About the Field
If you look at film clips of MLB games from years ago, you’ll often see umpires dashing madly about and calling plays on the...
Five Ways You Can Totally Screw Up a Game
There are lots of ways an official can screw up a game. But there are five errors in particular a crew or official can...
Checked Swings Checklist
One of the most difficult calls for base umpires is the checked swing. When the plate umpire comes to you for help, you have...
Somebody’s Watching You
I
n my early years as an amateur umpire, there was no formal performance appraisal. Once in a blue moon we’d get a call from...
