Grab Those Borderline Pitches and Help Your Game
I once worked a college game with an umpire with the proverbial postage-stamp strike zone. It lasted three hours, 31 minutes, and featured as much head-shaking by pitchers and...
Anticipation Takes Hesitation Out of the Equation
Many times only the offense knows what will happen after the snap. Communication from the sidelines or a brilliant idea from a player on...
Calm on Broken Plays
Coaches, players and fans are allowed to panic when a play goes awry. Officials, on the other hand, must react to broken plays as if they're routine...
Make New Officials Comfortable Before the Match Begins
Any number of factors can affect how effectively a referee team works together, especially if one or both assistant referees are comparatively inexperienced. The center referee’s awareness of possible weaknesses...
Timing and Tact Crucial to Constructive Feedback
One of the best parts about belonging to the cadre of volleyball officials is the chance to be around others who love the game...
7 Reasons Why Communication With Your Partner Pays Off
The words “requires excellent communication skills” are part of virtually every job description in today’s market, to the point where they’ve become meaningless jargon....
Head of the Class
Early in my umpiring career I took a cavalier approach to the rules. I got by because I had played the game and knew...
4 Habits Softball Umpires Must Have
If you took a poll of coaches and players and asked them to name the skills and habits that are important for an umpire...
“Risky” Business
For the first time in the history of the Laws of the Game, the referee is being directed to take a certain approach because a player decided...
No Tunnel Vision With Wide-Angle View
What problem is most common among second referees? Some might say coaches chewing them out about questionable decisions or missed calls by the crew....
8 Ways to Avoid Perception Issues
It’s always useful to review a few perception issues that can get umpires off on the wrong foot at the start of a contest or create negative feelings...
Don’t Become a Fan
“Spectacularity” sounds made-up and highfaluting, doesn’t it? Au contraire.
This actual word should be in every referee’s vocabulary. What does it mean, anyway? And how...
No Dead Ends
When the late Jerry Seeman was NFL director of officials, he developed his 10 Commandments for Officiating. Ninth on his list was: Thou shalt...
A Gridiron Geometry Lesson
Laypeople may think there isn’t a big difference between spots, lines and planes, but officials need a clear understanding of those geometry terms. Very briefly, a spot is...
Infield Fly Factors
An infield fly situation includes many variables for umpires to take into consideration. The wind or sun affects the calling of the infield fly....
Homeward Bound
By George Demetriou
Grand larceny is a term used to designate theft that is large in magnitude. Grand larceny can be contrasted with petty larceny, theft that is...
Literally Lateral
When San Antonio Trinity University used 15 backward passes to score the winning touchdown on the last play of an October 2008 game against...
Thinking Outside the Box
The NCAA Softball Rules Committee and the Playing Rules Oversight Panel recently approved a significant amount of rule changes for the upcoming 2022 and...
Leaving the Court Has Consequences
M
ost everyone knows, in the game of basketball, when the ball touches a boundary line or anything outside the boundary line, it is out...
Teaching Lessons in Blow-Ups
Many of you have heard or read about and have an opinion on the Serena Williams outburst during the U.S. Open tennis tournament recently....
Protocols for Inadvertent Whistles
Late in the fourth quarter, the home team was up, 16-14, and the visitors lined up at the 25 yardline for what would almost...
Lineup Language
College baseball will feature several new wrinkles during the 2021 season as a result of rule changes approved by the NCAA during the offseason.
The...
When Two Umpires Converge on the Same Base
Many of us who have been umpiring for a number of years have seen the situation in which one umpire is dutifully making his...
Not-So-Secret Agent
At a referee development camp I attended, the camp director began with a single question: “Who is your agent?”
After a period of silence that...