Taking Care Of Business
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Covering legal issues, insurance concerns, and best practices related to taxes, reports and paperwork.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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....
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...
Enforcing vs. Interpreting the Rules
Today’s high school sports officials are often caught between the “rock” of enforcing rules strictly and the “hard place” of interpreting the rules sensibly,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Your Words Have Ramifications
your words have ramifications. In England, a soccer referee was reportedly forced to quit the Premier League after he allegedly mocked a disabled man...
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...
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...