Taking Care Of Business

Covering legal issues, insurance concerns, and best practices related to taxes, reports and paperwork.

Taking Care Of Business

Taking Care Of Business
Covering legal issues, insurance concerns, and best practices related to taxes, reports and paperwork.

Take a Peek Inside An Assigner’s Notebook

W hile I have officiated since 1975, I have also served as a high school softball assigner and an NCAA Division III college football conference...

For the Fourth Time, That’s Enough!

Warnings — Give ‘em “the look,” “the stop sign,” the quiet word, the louder word, it doesn’t matter if you never take care of...

Let the Media Handle the Postgame Commentary

When it comes to officials and the media, it might have been legendary major league umpire Bill Klem who said it best. “I don’t...

Accepting Assignments: Dos and Don’ts

Games! We all want as many as we can possibly handle, but when it comes to accepting assignments, you can't just say yes without...
background-check

What Do You Have to Hide?

Knock, knock. “Hello, Mr. Smith. We’re with the state association. We’re conducting a little check of all our registered officials. You don’t mind if...

Don’t Officiate an “Unofficial” Game

Games can be over before they begin. Some officials fall into the trap of officiating the extra inning after a run rule, or starting...

How to Write an Officiating Resumé

Nine times out of 10, a bad resumé will land in the “circular file” before the first half is read. Some bad resumés are just...

Should You Sign A Post-Injury Waiver?

Consider this situation: There was a serious player injury that occurred during a game you officiated. An ambulance had to transport the player to the hospital for...

7 Things You Must Know About Game Contracts

By Alan Goldberger Game contracts are a part of officiating. Every officiating assignment — at every level — represents a contract or part of a...

Tort Liability for Game Officials

Protecting the safety of players is a substantial responsibility of officials. We are charged with enforcing the rules and many of those rules are...

Good Reports Earn You Respect

It’s a good idea to send misconduct reports — sometimes referred to as incident reports — to proper authorities, even if it’s not required....

Negotiating Officials’ Pay

A contract is a contract. However, sometimes the parties to a contract want to change the terms. Often leagues will renegotiate officials' pay for games each year with...

Proactively Address Abuse on the Court or Field

The failure to proactively address sexual and other forms of abuse of amateur athletes can result in severe consequences — including criminal prosecution of...

When Your Partner Doesn’t Show

Every time you take the floor or field as an official, drive a car, or even try to help someone put their bag in...

Safety and Warmups When a Team Arrives Late

As a sports official, you’ve been there. You’ve fought the traffic to show up to a field on a cold, rainy day, in plenty...

Keep Expenses Simple or Be Sorry

"KISS” is an acronym for the design principle, Keep It Simple, Stupid! When talking about your officiating taxes, it should be "Keep Expenses Simple." The KISS principle...

Weather Woes

An important concept in officiating is learning to control the things that you can control. We can control the amount of time that we...

Get Yourself an Injury Witness

It happens. A player has an injury in a game you’ve just officiated. You managed the players and the crowd. The trainers handled the...

Write Incident Reports Right

It is one of the most distasteful duties any official is required to perform: the post-ejection or incident report that must be filed by...

Coexist with Photographers

Officials are in the middle of the action, focused on the game but also aware of the sideline surroundings. Similarly, photographers and community access cable television camera operators...

Step Up When a Player Goes Down

There’s a scramble for a loose ball. Before the ball is secured, the referee hears a scream. One of the players is lying on the court and...

Handling an Accident and Insurance from Game Travel

Sometimes the riskiest part about being a sports official is getting to and from the game. Sure, no official likes the abuse we often...

Is Your Association Balking at Bylaws?

If association leaders don’t follow the association’s bylaws in conducting an election, what can members do? For example, if members must be present at...

A Guide to Defending Your Officials

Every season association officers get letters, letters and more letters that may lead you to defending your officials. “How could we have 10 fouls and...

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