Taking Care Of Business
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Covering legal issues, insurance concerns, and best practices related to taxes, reports and paperwork.
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...
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...
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...
Assigners Can Fire You
The officiating world has no objective meter, like win-loss record, to help determine who keeps their job and who gets fired. It often takes an assigner making judgment calls...
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...
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...
Can Player Ejections Be Overturned by a Court?
All state high school athletic associations impose postgame disciplinary actions on student-athletes and coaches who are ejected from a contest by reason of unsporting...
What is an Oral Contract?
The difference between an oral contract and a written contract is obviously the writing. A contract is simply an offer accepted by another party with the parties exchanging something...
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...
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...
Rules Test Tips for Takers and Givers
There are those who argue that a rules test is not the most reliable method of determining an official’s rules knowledge. How much stock you place in...
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...
Seek Knowledge and Ye Shall Find
You’re a young, aspiring official who is eager to seek knowledge anywhere you can about the rules, mechanics and philosophies applicable in your sport....
Electronic Payments: Whys and Wherefores
If you have officiated long enough you have seen payment methods go from cash to direct deposit into your bank account or debit card....
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...
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...
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...
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...
You’re Your Own Agent
At a referee development camp that I attended last summer, the camp director began with a single question: “Who is your agent?”
After a period...
What to Do If You’re Attacked
Assaults against sports officials are drawing unprecedented attention. Many states have passed legislation designed specifically to protect sports officials from being attacked. More and...
Enforce Mercy Rules
The failure to follow a mercy rule is probably not enough by itself to make an official liable for a player injury. However, it...
Essentials of Game Security
Sadly, personal safety is a concern for officials today. What’s being done to ensure game security and our welfare?
John Locke, the 17th century English philosopher and physician said, “All mankind...
