All Sports
Tip Top
In the 44 years Referee has been in existence, tens of thousands of words have been devoted to helping officials improve their performance. Our...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Fair Ball
Coaches have all sorts of creative ways to question the ethics and integrity of officials. During the pregame meeting, they are often curious about...
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...
Everybody’s Talkin’
Pregame conferences during the pandemic were often short or non-existent. Many schools asked us to come dressed and masked and arrive at the game...
‘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...
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...
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...
Best Selller
The score is tied in the championship basketball game with less than a minute remaining. The fans in the packed arena are on their...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Pace Commander
How to set and maintain a good pace to a game is not often discussed at camps and association meetings. But if players are...
