Art Of Officiating
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Covering conflict management, the psychology of officiating, best practices and officiating/life balance.
Who Gets The Longer Leash?
As officials, we unfortunately know that emotions run high in sports and every official must understand how to react appropriately when someone at the game...
Keep Communication Lines Open with Players
While officials have a fair amount of contact with coaches during a game, they are most often communicating with players. Here are some suggestions...
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...
Week In The Life of An SEC Football Official
SEC FOOTBALL OFFICIATING WEEKLY PROCESS
SATURDAY
From the SEC Football Command Center, monitor games as well as internet and social media and note issues for...
8 Steps to Better Communication
When it comes to the necessities needed in becoming a successful sports official, the art of conversation might not seem to be high on...
What the Best Officials Keep Doing
You received the plum assignment, playoff game or bowl game you’ve always wanted. If your group has a scoring system, perhaps you graded out first at your position. You're...
Why We Officiate
1. Camaraderie
The fellowship and humor officials share with one another are incomparable.
2. Boos
There’s nothing like fans booing when you have the silent satisfaction of...
Make Positive First Impressions With New Coaches
There are many activities that are always part of sports contests regardless of the type of sport, the equipment used, or in what venue the game occurs. One...
Getting the Play Right Is Not Enough
Many officials can cite large swaths of the rulebook from memory. Others know down to the inch where the mechanics manual says they’re supposed to be on the field or court. But...
What to Do When Fans Cross the Line
What’s the protocol when a fan throws something on the court or field? How do you react on a personal level, and what should...
Unexpected Challenges in Officiating
As I headed down the long, nondescript, stale-smelling concrete tunnel toward the soccer stadium field from the officials’ locker room, looking forward to being...
Don’t Try To Win The Argument
As an official, when you are involved in a conflict, your goal is to resolve it. You have to fight the tendency to want to win the...
Officials Who Coach
We start with my story.
I was officiating with a rookie partner (who had great potential) on a middle school championship basketball game. Perfect pairing...
Integrity: What We Do vs. What We Say
Officials are the keepers of the game. That’s a very high stature. And with that stature comes lofty expectations of integrity.
Impartiality. Fairness. Morals. Those...
How To Handle An Instantly Irritated Coach
The legendary Ed Hightower was “on loan” to the Western Athletic Conference many years ago handling the referee duties during a Fresno State game. About 30 seconds into the...
The Fine Line Between Emotion and Abuse
When an official works multiple sports, care needs to be taken as to what words or actions cross the line of emotion versus abuse. At the same time, however,...
Showing Emotion Isn’t a Bad Thing
Judgment is an old concept in terms of human history, and as time goes on, humans are constantly trying to regulate judgment and eliminate emotion, to the...
Effective Communication Improves Perception of Your Skills
Officiating team sports is complex and challenging. It involves effective positioning based on appropriate fitness, knowledge of the game, accurate perceptual judgment skills, leading...
Impartiality in Addressing Coaches
I'm always ill at ease when an official with whom I’m working is on a first-name basis with a coach. Earlier this baseball season,...
Forget Perfection, Here’s 5 Ways To Be Great
Perfect games are for athletes and they are rare. A bowler or pitcher may achieve perfection once in a while. But beyond that, athletes, like officials, aren’t flawless...
For Basketball Officials, the Journey is the Destination
To achieve maximum personal success and productivity as a basketball official, one has to be highly motivated and have a positive attitude. Furthermore, to reach and...
Employ Active Recruitment To Get New Officials
How would you feel if you were thinking of getting into officiating and these were the recruitment slogans thrown at you?:
“Tired of the...
Sometimes There Is No Right or Wrong Call
If you put 30 sports officials in a room, regardless of the sport, and watch a tight play on video, what happens during the...
A Veteran’s Advice for Newcomers
By Jerry Grunska
Newer officials don’t always know what they’re getting themselves into. There’s a lot to learn, and it goes beyond rules and procedures....
