All Sports
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...
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...
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...
Zeroed In
One of the biggest challenges in officiating is how to be completely locked in mentally for the entire game. It is of upmost importance...
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...
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...
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...
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...
‘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...
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...
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...