All Sports
Want to get better?
How good an official do you want to be? How much do you want to improve? Good officials, no matter their level of experience...
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...
Slay the Drag-on
One of the great debates in sports these days is how long it takes to play the games. Television has been a great boon...
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...
For Warned
Warnings come in a variety of forms. There’s “the look,” “the stop sign” and “the quiet word,” to name a few. Each can be...
Collision Course
So you think baseball is not a contact sport?
Look at the photo that accompanies this article, captured during the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division...
Help Yourself
I stumbled upon a couple of clips of MLB games and got a chuckle out of how the announcers reacted to two situations. It’s...
Don’t Fan The Flames
Between the lines, sports officials have every right and can take immediate action to eject a player or coach from a game for unruly...
Letter Perfect
M
nemonics are devices intended to assist the memory, as a verse or formula. A popular example, HOMES, is an acronym to help recall the...
Your Attention Please
T here are many things that might disrupt an official’s concentration during a game. They might be internal or external and could happen during...
Your Chance to Shine
How do officials make it to the top of their respective sport? What characteristics are necessary to achieve that goal? For years, both as...
What’s Your Angle?
Esse Baharmast had the key angle to make the right call.
During the 1998 World Cup, Baharmast, NASO’s 2011 Gold Whistle Award recipient, awarded a...
Brand New Ballgames
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...
Principles With Interest
O
fficiating has been in my blood since I was a scholastic wrestler during the mid-1960s. Throughout the decades, I gradually began to understand the...
Arrive And Shine
How you enter the arena, stadium, field or other facility says a lot about you. Do you casually stroll in? Are you laughing, confident,...
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...
Type Casting
To be a top official you must understand coaches, their goals, their methods and their tactics. Coaches’ personalities range from timid to terrible, from...
No Argument About It
Not all arguments with coaches end perfectly. The goal of all officials is to resolve volatile conflict quickly and to an extent that allows...
Forgive, But Don’t Forget
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...
Pleasure Crews
"Perception is reality.” When it comes to officiating team sports, that’s often the absolute truth. It doesn’t matter what sport you’re officiating, crew cohesion...
Think A-Head
Athletes in many sports that involve contact, either against opponents, teammates or with the ground/floor, are susceptible to concussions, a brain injury that interferes...
‘Big Time’ Attitude Is for Small People
By Jeffrey Stern
Virtually every local association or chapter has at least one official who has “made it big,” the member who has worked a...
Understanding Assigners
I’ve never known an official who was completely satisfied with game assignments. Most think highly of their capabilities and believe they deserve the big...
Touch and Go
According to the website deepenglish.com, the handshake dates back to knights in Medieval Europe. Mistrustful fellows, they would shake the hand of those they...