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...
Pre-match Recon
It is common practice that you should closely watch player behavior during a match in order to be prepared for what comes next, to adjust and modify your...
Assessing the Legality of Tackles
"I got ball, ref!” has been a response to a whistle for a slide tackle foul since the early days of football. Often misunderstood, challenges on the ground...
11 Hacks for Onfield Umpires
With a new baseball season rolling along, here are a few tips and hacks involving plate work that can help you out as an...
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...
When a Lone Ranger Isn’t a ‘Good Guy’
Even if you are too young to have watched the TV show, you should be familiar with the Lone Ranger, a fictional character that...
Hey Ref! Doncha Know The Rules?
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t’s a question all officials hear at some point in their careers. Unfortunately, fans yelling it from the stands are usually unaware the game...
They’re Counting on It
One of the most important jobs for softball umpires is game management. And one of the most overlooked aspects of game management is giving...
Step On the Field and Handle Your Business Like a Boss
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fellow brother in blue, who passed away much too soon, had a mantra he used both in life and on the field. That mantra...
Strike First With Slow-Pitch Pitchers
One topic that garners a lot of discussion among baseball umpires is whether or not you should describe pitches for pitchers. That discussion also depends a great deal...
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...
Video Lessons Learned Can Help Going Forward
One of the things we learned from staying home because of the pandemic was the amount of spare time one had when going out...
How to Keep Calm During Rundowns
Rundowns are usually the result of a runner being too aggressive. Depending on the level of play, players may go into panic mode. Umpires...
Still Work to Be Done When There’s a Break in Play
The referees accept the coach’s or captain’s request for timeout and blow the whistle, starting the timeout procedure. Both teams usually move to the benches for a quick...
Batboys
Where are all the batboys? What happened to them? And when did they disappear?
In this context, I’m referring to the little kids (usually but...
Foul Trumps Other Fouls
Several fouls are predicated on the hypothesis that a legal forward pass is or was in progress. As a result, several actions that are...
Football Crew Success Depends on Working Together
Teamwork can be traced back to the Neanderthal age. It has been used to find food, build shelter, drive away enemies and protect the...
5 Rule Differences Every Referee Must Know
Many volleyball referees work multiple sports. While it is difficult to keep all the rules straight from sport to sport, it is unlikely a...
Play Time
By Jeffrey Stern
In an effort to ensure a consistent interval play-to-play and game-to-game, the NFHS Football Rules Committee adopted the 40-second play clock beginning...
Southpaw Catcher Surprise
As you arrive at the diamond for a day of calling balls and strikes, nothing seems unusual. You go through pregame rituals, put the...
Hip, Hip No Way: Yankees vs. Dodgers 1978 World Series
Reggie Jackson earned the nickname Mr. October because of his bat. But a baserunning play swung the 1978 World Series in favor of Jackson’s...
Great Position – Great Look – Great Call
Great Position, Great Look, Great Call
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lthough most umpires would prefer working in crews of three or four, the two-umpire system, if used properly, actually...
When Are You In Charge?
The NFHS strives for consistency among all the sports for which it writes rules. The jurisdiction of officials has come under recent scrutiny as...
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...