The NFLRA, founded in 1972, is the sole and exclusive bargaining representative of everyone employed by the NFL to officiate games played by the Member Clubs of the NFL.

“The NFLRA organizationally, and through its individual members, has been supporting NASO and its mission for decades,” said NASO Founder Barry Mano. “In fact, the NFLRA was the very first organization to enroll all of its members into NASO, at a time when few organizations gave NASO such consideration. In the intervening years, this group of professional football officials has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with NASO, working on the behalf of recognition and endorsement of just how important sports officials are to the equation we know as organized sports. The ‘RA’s’ support has been and continues to be invaluable.”

NFLRA Executive Director Scott Green served on the NASO Board of Directors from 2014-18 and was in Riverside, Calif., to help accept the award on behalf of the group. “The award recognizes the contribution the NFLRA has made through the years,” Green said. “There’s obviously been a lot of involvement on the (NASO) board as well. You look back through the years, there have been guys like Jerry Markbreit and Bill Carollo who have served on the (NASO) board.”

Current NFLRA Vice President Carl Cheffers served on the NASO Board of Directors from 2018-21 and current NFLRA Board of Directors member Ron Torbert is currently serving on the NASO Board of Directors.

The post 2023 Mel Narol Medallion: NFLRA appeared first on Referee.com.

“Violet has shined a positive light on officiating for decades,” NASO Founder Barry Mano said. “She broke trail in the NBA. She has become revered as a collegiate coordinator for a plurality of conferences. She served for four years on the NASO board. All these things show her commitment to making officiating better. Her unanimous selection was fated by the work she has done. Few have blazed such trails in a manner that makes all of us in the officiating world proud. ”

Palmer’s officiating career included stops at many of the highest levels of basketball. She was assigned five NCAA women’s Final Fours and two NCAA women’s Championship games. She worked in the WNBA, including the 1997 finals. That same year she made history, becoming the first female to officiate an NBA game when she refereed the season opener. In 2006 she became the first woman to officiate an NBA playoff game and in 2014 became the first woman to officiate the league’s all-star game. In total, she worked nine NBA postseason assignments.

Violet Palmer served on the NASO board of directors from 2005-08.

“This is an amazing award” Palmer said. “Having the Summit in Riverside and being able to celebrate with family and friends was extra special.”

The post 2023 Gold Whistle Award: Violet Palmer appeared first on Referee.com.

For the first time in the event’s five decade history, 100 organizations sponsored the three days. The 2023 rendition was the 41st annual Sports Officiating Summit and leagues, conferences, national governing bodies, charitable groups, gear/equipment retailers and more from around the world threw their support behind “BETTER SPORTS THROUGH OFFICIATING.”

Almost 500 individual leaders and active officials were on site at the Riverside Convention Center during the three-day span. Preceding the Summit, Saturday, July 29 was the statewide event Officiate California Day put on the California Interscholastic Federation and the CIF-Southern Section.

The Summit was capped with the Tuesday night Celebrate Officiating Gala sponsored by Fox 40. The evening was one of inspiration and celebration for everyone gathered. The National Football League Referees Association was honored with the Mel Narol Medallion for their long support of NASO. Retired NBA referee and current coordinator of women’s basketball officials for five college conferences on the west coast, Violet Palmer, was honored with officiating’s highest honor, the Gold Whistle Award.

The 2024 Sports Officiating Summit will be held July 28-30 in Atlanta.

The post 2023 Sports Officiating Summit historic success appeared first on Referee.com.

Nearly every officials association in the country is experiencing serious membership shortages. Recruiting new officials is a complex, deliberate organizational task unique to each group. My association — the River City Umpires Association, a baseball-only group in Chattanooga, Tenn. — recognized a shortage during the previous season. Our executive board decided to expand our recruiting effort immediately.

Traditionally the association relied on word-of-mouth recruiting, people moving into the area who had umpire experience and just blind luck. Those added together did not and could not produce enough umpires to sustain our organization.

For the 2021 season, we scheduled umpires for 1,300 games supporting 55 schools in four counties and two states over an area stretching 2,000 square miles. We ended the 2021 regular season with 32 umpires able to accept games.

Games assigned increased 15 percent over six years with new schools and programs adding teams. Since 2015, the association’s list of active umpires declined 66 percent and we had nothing in place to study, address or remedy that trend.

The initial reaction was having umpires work far more games than usual. In the six-year span of 2015-21, my games worked per year more than doubled. Some members worked three times as many games. Doubling or tripling the number of games exhausted umpires, caused work conflicts and irritated family members. We also tried to have umpires drive between games at two geographically separated sites on game days. That method depended on pace of play, traffic and weather.

The association began its 2022 recruiting mission less than 30 days after the 2021 high school state championship concluded. A few specific association members met regularly to go over ideas, discuss implementation, assess what worked and modify what did not work. The key pieces of that strategy involved reassessment, retention, recalls and recruiting tied together with training.

Reassessment

Asking, “Why the decline?” forced a reassessment of how the association did business.

Association leaders endeavored to find out why so many members left the avocation. Once those reasons came to light, board members needed to see if they warranted a change in business practices to retain more members.

Leaders identified several causes for the decline in numbers. They were, in no particular order, age, disaffection, poor communication, poor treatment during games, primary work schedules, family conflicts and lack of advancement.

Age is unavoidable and inevitable. The good news is it could be predicted to a degree. We knew we were not attracting younger umpires and we nearly let that get beyond a remedy. Injury/medical issues, tied with physical fitness and Father Time, forces many umpires to retire. We had no baseball-related injuries that ended careers. However, we lost umpires to hip replacements, blunt force trauma, knee surgery, embolisms, automobile accidents and heart concerns. Those were hard to predict and impossible to fix.

Some umpires left the association due to their perception the games they worked did not reflect their skills and capabilities. That perception caused a third of our losses from previous years. Individuals could be easily identified as those umpires invariably told others as their disaffection grew. Those umpires felt they made all the right choices, put in the years and still did not get “big games” or playoff assignments they wanted. If no one listens to or addresses their concerns, they stop umpiring.

Many umpires who leave the avocation do so because association leaders don’t communicate positively with them. We learned assigners and board members needed to reach out and listen to every umpire periodically. The only risk you take is being organizationally obligated to address their concerns or fix their problems.

Evaluations are a form of two-way communication. They can inspire improvement, encourage standardization and reward consistency. If an association is not regularly evaluating its members, it is missing a communication opportunity.

Behavior toward officials from coaches and fans is horrible. In our assessment meetings, some board members felt we had to take on the issue of umpire abuse as a recruiting and retention issue. It is true a few of our client coaches acted inappropriately and abused all umpires, not just new ones. Some schools’ fans and parents behaved much worse than others and seem proud of their reputation for doing so.

Two of the association leaders requested a meeting with the athletic director of the local public school system, our No. 1 customer by far. The meeting yielded immediate results. We negotiated a pay raise for middle school games and training scrimmages. That was welcomed, to be sure, but the most valuable result was the athletic director confirmed his 100 percent support and willingness to address coach misconduct, parent/fan misbehavior and failure of some schools to address umpire safety.

For one, we could empower even new umpires to correct misbehavior by ejecting the coaches responsible. As long as we followed a reasonable protocol, we would be supported. For another, the athletic director wrote a formal memorandum to each school emphasizing the need to encourage sportsmanlike behavior from coaches. Thirdly, the athletic director agreed to remind and enforce individual school responsibility to provide site administrators for baseball games. A site administrator is one of the key pieces of umpire safety. Traditionally for baseball, the site administrators were either not present or not designated. We trained new umpires on those changes so they could officiate a game and then depart the venue without abuse, threats or intimidation.

Conflicts with an umpire’s primary source of employment proved extremely difficult to work around. That accounted for nearly half of our identified losses last year. Assigners can work to adjust or reduce schedules, but that mechanism tended to impact the schedules of other umpires. Frequent communication with members gave assigners warning a promotion or job move might be imminent and provided some time to adjust. Otherwise, there was no way to predict those changes.

The pandemic seemed to magnify family care concerns. Two valuable members wished to stay home and care for their loved ones. While impossible to predict, that was completely understandable.

About 20 percent of the umpires who were with us at the end of 2021 worked a significant number of games for college conferences. Those umpires perform at a high level and should be encouraged to progress. However, every game they worked at the college level meant we had to schedule more umpires for high school games from a small replacement pool.

Bill Fitzgerald, Kirkland, Wash. (arms spread) and Terry Granillo, North Bend, Wash. (right) conduct a spring clinic.

Before putting the ball in play in recruiting new members, an association’s leadership must confirm it can assimilate new members properly. We needed to know if we attracted significantly more numbers …

• Did we have a proper training program for new umpires?
• Did we have veteran umpires capable enough to help train them?
• Could the facilities we habitually used for meetings accommodate the increase?
• How many new umpires would overload our current system?
• Could we mentor and evaluate new umpires appropriately?

In asking ourselves those questions, we decided we needed to make some improvements. The association implemented groupings of new and veteran umpires. Each group had a specific training program tailored for it. Specifically, experienced umpires were asked to conduct parts of the training approved by the association’s designated training supervisor. New umpires spent one meeting per week on base umpire topics and the second meeting per week on plate umpire tasks. As it turned out, the system and facilities we used could have easily absorbed twice as many new umpires.

Retention

Trained, veteran and experienced umpires are extremely valuable. Think of all the training time and years of experience invested in them. It makes sense to retain them as long as mutually agreeable. Our association decided we needed to change how we communicated with and trained our valuable umpires.

Our association has a board member specifically tasked with reaching out to everyone on our roster periodically. That works out to roughly twice during the season. His calls ramp up as the preseason approaches in order to determine who will return for another year and who will not. He also is specifically charged with taking complaints, sometimes anonymously. That business practice lets the association make an informed decision about who is dissatisfied for whatever reason and formulate a plan to fix it.

Every umpire enjoys positive, productive interaction with the assigners. An honest appraisal is key to that process. That communication flow in our association did not happen as often or work as well as it should. We increased the number of times leadership reached out to the general members, but that specific skill of evaluation communication is properly done by the assigner.

Mark Cook, West Seattle, Wash., gives pointers to (from left) Daniel Nguyen, Seattle; Josh Reed, Spokane Valley, Wash.; and Travis Bain, Seattle.

Evaluations from deliberate visits to watch umpires work fulfill a critical need to tell the umpires what they need to do to call games better and progress. That did not work as well as we wanted in our association. Evaluators need to be honest and forthright in those appraisals and you can’t do that if you do not make the time and place to do them.

We paid special attention to the new umpires joining last year to help them progress in the offseason. We did not want to lose them because of lack of development or training.

Returns

We tried to bring back officials who stopped umpiring in the last two to three years. A useful tool is your association assigning software. Our deputy assigner scoured the list of inactive umpires and began contacting them to get them to consider coming back. Calls, emails and meeting requests went out and six umpires returned for the season.

Whenever someone quits umpiring, be prepared to listen to the reasons why. Determine if you can fix the issue. Then invite them back. Every quality umpire that you can accommodate will add to your numbers.

Recruiting

The association hoped for better numbers from increasing retention efforts and welcoming returning members. However, we determined three months before the season a strong recruiting effort would be the only way to solve our umpire numbers problem.

Association leaders agreed trying more ideas would be better. We knew we could put training in place that could accommodate more gains than we thought possible. We accepted some of the things we tried might not work. We also defined “an idea that worked“ as one yielding at least one umpire who made it through the training and onto any field on opening day.

Ideas that did not work included:

• A sympathetic local newspaper reporter, who had been an association member years ago, wrote articles addressing coach behavior and the shortages of umpires. The articles reached several counties in the publishing area, but produced no contacts. However, going forward we will probably urge more articles covering umpires, including one we want to collaborate on that covers how we recruited that year.
• Our website was not well maintained. All information on it was at least three years old. Invariably, contacts asked about our website. And since we did not have a meaningful one, we probably lost out on some contacts.
Since it was substandard, the association had to rework the website. We approached a local high school media teacher who put us in touch with a high school student who built a serviceable website. We expect it to be a benefit before next season.
• We made pleas on a local AM/FM radio sports talk show. One of our members, who is a local sports media celebrity in his own right, got an invitation for us. The hosts were extremely understanding and supportive. Again, we expected a significant immediate reaction from listeners, but we were disappointed. It produced no contacts of which we became aware. However, we think it will be worthwhile to appear again after the season to report recruiting progress overall.
• The school board that supervised our biggest client school district publishes a monthly job openings newsletter. They were happy to help us advertise. One ad, repeated twice, yielded eight contacts. That was a pleasant surprise, but none of the eight followed through. Two might return for training next year. That is a method we will attempt again next year.
Ideas that worked:
• The association secured an invitation for two board members to appear on a popular sports podcast. We expected some immediate action from listeners, but were disappointed. However, weeks later that produced three contacts who worked games on opening day. We plan to appear on that podcast again in the coming year.
• The same member who arranged the radio appearance secured a spot on a local television show. The TV host was extremely sympathetic and supportive and the station replayed the interview a few times in the following weeks. We will try to do that again after the season to report progress. Eight respondents contacted the association off that appearance. Of those eight, one stepped on the field for opening day.
• Association leaders contacted respected baseball coaches at local schools to refer players or team personnel they thought could grow into good umpires. It did not matter if the coach referred someone still in high school, a graduate, a college player or someone returning home with a college degree. We guessed correctly that could produce a significant number of contacts. We were also correct about the impact. We had seven contacts, but only one of them made it on the field for opening day.
• Recruiting on the field. Last year, we informally encouraged working umpires to respond to any inquiry by a player, coach, fan or anyone connected with the game or teams who asked, “How can I become an umpire?” Over the course of last season we had about eight contacts. One of them made it on the field for opening day.
• It is difficult to predict the success of members recruiting people from year to year. Some members are better at it than others. Some members refuse to do it. Many established umpires are reluctant to do it for fear of recruiting their own replacement or competition. The association found most new members recruited by current members came from a relatively small number of senior umpires who involved themselves in recruiting. That method produced three contacts that completed the training and made it onto the opening day slate of games.
The jury is still out on:
• A local school, employing one of our members, hosted a huge job fair. That member secured a site at the fair, printed some association brochures and attended the fair dressed in his plate gear. On his own initiative, he invited officials representing soccer, softball, volleyball, football and lacrosse. They also appeared in uniform with supporting handouts.

The baseball representative distributed 55 association brochures and gathered 12 written requests for follow-up calls in the offseason. It was too near the start of the season to yield on-the-field results, but that was a great boost for recruiting next year. On a side note, that job fair yielded more than 100 contact sheets and callback requests for information on officiating. The future will tell us how successful we were through the job fair.

New techniques

We developed some areas where we thought our recruiting message would be effective. For manpower or time reasons we could not try them, but we are dedicated to doing so in the coming year.

Chattanooga is home to the Lookouts, a Class Double-A minor league baseball team. We will research the cost of placing ads at the stadium, in team programs and possibly public address announcements during games. At the very least we will ask to set up a recruiting table at some games.

The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, a member of the Southern Conference, is also nearby. It does not have a conference baseball team but it does support a college club team in the National Club Baseball Association. Board members identified the need to develop contacts in the college and league. There are also four respected college baseball programs in our servicing area in all three NCAA divisions. We plan to place flyers in college employment announcements at all of those schools.

College job fairs will be a challenge since it would require several umpires not in the association leadership to present our message. Still, there are indications that could be successful due to the numerous colleges immediately around us and particularly when we considered the potential success of the high school job fair.

Trying new recruiting and retaining initiatives can’t hurt. But putting energy into efforts with proven track records can boost the chance of success for drawing new officials and keeping veterans.

We thought we needed to develop a mutually beneficial partnership with local youth recreation leagues. That is a natural feeder source for middle school-level umpires. It is well worth considering.

We also need to make sure our recruiting efforts make it clear this avocation welcomes both men and women. Most associations, ours included, have experience with female baseball players who wish to continue involvement in the sport. The country has many female softball players who could easily train to become baseball umpires. What we need to do is raise awareness of the opportunities.

Conclusion

The association will keep looking for methods to attract candidates to train as umpires. We resolved to try new methods once, modify them if needed and try them again.
Our association would love to inform officials everywhere we solved the recruiting and retention problems, and we recruited enough officials to double our onfield strength. But to be honest, we did not even come close to approaching that standard. We did, however, increase our active umpires by 15 percent.

True, our association did increase its raw numbers. But we recruited and trained only enough new umpires to replace our 2021 losses and provide a thin cushion to offset losses anticipated in the approaching year. We broke even, but we avoided disaster. Next year we will build on successes, modify initiatives to be productive and try new things. That was only the first inning in a game we must win.

The post Recruiting & Retention: What Worked…What Didn’t appeared first on Referee.com.

By Tim Yonke

In what could be a blueprint for women seeking to become officials and climb up the ranks of their chosen sport or sports, five prominent female officials were featured as a panel on the topic “Doors Opening Wider: Women in Officiating” – as part of the 2021 NASO Sports Officiating Summit @ Home.

The panel consisted of Amanda Bender, Missouri Valley Conference college football official as well as Division II basketball referee; Maia Chaka, the third female hired by the NFL as an on-field official; Kelly Dine, NCAA Division I baseball umpire; Kaili Kimura, NCAA Division I women’s basketball and volleyball official; and Sara Woods, college and semi-pro basketball referee. The conversation was moderated by NASO board member Dana Pappas.

Listening to these impressive women it quickly became clear that while their paths are varied, their resolve to make it to the heights of officiating in what has been predominately a male profession are uniform.

The session panelists were candid with stories about the unique experiences they faced on their climb.

The Road Less Traveled
In getting to the NFL, Chaka had to clear many hurdles.

“Obviously, my path has been very difficult because I’m the only one that looks like me,” remarked Chaka, the first black woman on-field official in the league.

She began working high school games and credits her crew with constantly pushing her to work up to the next level. After her first year of working high school football they started teaching her college rules and college mechanics.

To get to the NFL, Chaka said she received that final boost from some constructive criticism.

“I would say the most pivotal moment I believe was in 2017. I was already in the NFL program for about four seasons and it felt like I hit a plateau. I wasn’t getting the feedback I needed to grow,” she said.

“I was walking off the field of one my preseason games, and I was working with Chuck Steward who was our replay official that game. He walked off and told me, ‘You’re so close, but you have so much work to do.’ And he says if you trust me, and you just listen to everything I’m going to tell you, I promise you that I’ll help you try to reach your goal of getting to the National Football League.”

Steward told her she needed to find a Power Five Conference to work and that meant leaving her Virginia Beach, Va., home and heading west.

“So, my opportunity came by following the tutelage of Chuck and just following him blindly.”

As a college umpire, Dine’s unique path began out of necessity.

“I started officiating because I was coaching baseball. My boys were really into baseball initially when they were young. So I became their head coach, and I coached for more than 10 years,” she said.

“As the two older ones were moving into age groups we started to hear some whispers from the other side about the mom that was coaching. I was thinking about other ways that I could stay in the sport if I left coaching, and umpiring just seemed to be it.

“So we were walking home from a baseball practice one day, and there was a Little League field next to us where the two teams were ready to play and there was no umpire. And I told my son ‘tell Dad I’ll be home later.’ And I went over there and picked up an old mask and a balloon protector and put it on, and the bug bit. I’ve been an umpire ever since.”

Life Balance
Being a wife, mother and a sports official can be a real balancing act.

“It really takes a lot of planning and understanding how to balance your work and your life, your personal life. It impacts so many more people than just you,” remarked Woods.

“I think it’s important to have goals and objectives. Have a blueprint. Understand how to navigate your way through the system. It’s not as intuitive as we all think it is, you just go and you get a whistle and you get out there on the court or the field.

“It’s how to look the part, it’s how to navigate your career, how to communicate with people. There’s a lot more to it off the court and off the field than just what you do between those lines. So I think it’s very important to just have a plan in place and just chip away at it.”

In addition to being an NCAA Division I baseball umpire, Dine’s also a registered nurse, biomedical science teacher and a former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy. She provides an unusual perspective.

“For me it’s a blessing to have a life partner, my husband, who supports me 100 percent in what I do and sees me as an equal and wants to support my endeavors exactly like I want to support his endeavors,” she noted.

“In a large family like we have, communication is key. It’s being able to sit down and talk about who was traveling where, who was taxi driver for that weekend, sitting down with my sons and talking to them about some of my desires and some of my goals. Initially I did feel a little bit guilty as well. I thought, ‘You know, I’m a mom, I’m a wife, and how can I be out there for myself?’

“We all need to have that enjoyment for ourselves in order to be able to turn around and give it to others. And so being able to show my sons that the baseball field is not only a place of joy for me, it’s my therapy time, and it’s my away time. That I think is healthy in showing your children that they need that in their life, too, and that’s part of that balance.”

While she isn’t married, Bender said trying to maintain a full-time job, officiating and life in general can be a struggle.

“Everybody’s got different things that they need to balance,” said Bender. “I don’t think I’ve actually found that balance yet, but I do strive to do a better job.

“I have to tell myself not to feel guilty if I spend the night and go have dinner with my mom and I’m not in the rule book. And I have to remind myself not to feel guilty that I took a night off from thinking or studying or talking about whatever sport that may be.”

Where to Turn for Support?
The panel agreed that succeeding in a male-dominated field is challenging but it’s made easier with a support system.

“I really turned to my mentors, the people that brought me up in this,” said Kimura, who was an outstanding collegiate volleyball player. “When times were getting tough, or I just needed a pick-me-up, they would be the ones that would inspire me to go a little further.”

For Woods, she found inspiration from the success of a colleague, veteran basketball official Lisa Jones.

“I had just finished my first year and I was frustrated. I didn’t really have a lot of mentors. Really wasn’t sure the direction to go in,” remarked Woods, who recruits, develops and mentors perspective and current officials through her Big Game Officials program.

“I went to watch the NCAA tournament in St. Louis and when (Lisa Jones) stepped out on the court I was like ‘Wow.’ You know, her comportment, everything about her was just jaw dropping. And my husband said, ‘You know what, you could do that.’”

In almost any profession a person often needs a little help on his or her way to the top.

Dine found her support attending as many umpiring camps as she could.

“I got in my first college camp, and Scott Taylor who is the Division II NCAA coordinator of umpires at the time came up to me at that camp, and he said you have the potential to be a college umpire, stick with it. All it took was just hearing that,” Dine said.

“And, man, I just started working harder and harder, attending camps and clinics and games and here I am. It’s nice to have those people that recognize that it doesn’t matter what gender or what color you are you can succeed.”

For Bender, it’s all been about friends.

“I’m lucky that I have a great fan base of friends that can help. And that’s the one thing that I really love about officiating is the friends that I’ve met and people that I would have never met,” Bender remarked. “They’ve been through the same thing so they understand. And it’s nice that these people become your family because they do. It’s a great family, a great network.”

Words of Advice
When it came to scaling the officiating ladder, the panelists had some salient tips.

“Officiating is a very political game and especially when you’re trying to climb that ladder and you want to reach your goals. That was something that I had to learn,” noted Chaka, whose climb to the NFL began back in 2007.

“When you become a student of the game and you actually really start to apply rules and philosophies, and you watch other officials work and you compliment other officials and you pick up good things that other officials are doing and you start to work them into your repertoire, you really start to understand what it means to be successful and how to grow,” she noted.

“That should be your driving force. (You need) to engage and to ask questions with the higher ups and people that you’re going to these camps and clinics with. That’s how you build genuine relationships because they see your interest in the game.”

Added Kimura, “And being patient in the journey is huge. Like understanding that there are a lot of things we can’t control, but doing our best to go strong with the things that you can control.”

Attaining knowledge of your sport is a vital key.

“I think the more you know the rules the more comfortable you feel on the court, on the field,” suggested Bender. “Going to camps, going to clinics, and taking in as much knowledge as you can is important. It’s going to get easier. It just takes time.

“Remember that some people move faster than others, and I think it’s just as much work and time as you put in will move you up quicker one way or the other.”

As the athletic manager for the city of South Bend, Ind., Parks and Recreation Department, Bender is utilizing this role to start a basketball referee class.

“My goal is to help close the gap on shortage of officials, strongly recruiting females and hoping to be that mentor for them,” she said.

Because the journey often features highs and lows, Dine said, “Don’t ever give up on yourself even when others may give up on you.”

The 2019 Little League World Series home plate umpire and crew chief added, “Failure is simply in teaching terms not trying. Take that idea of failure and erase it from your mind. Because if you stumble all it is is a learning experience. That’s going to help you get better. Just keep pushing.”

Tim Yonke, of North Aurora, Ill., is a freelance writer and award-winning journalist.

The post Doors Opening Wider appeared first on Referee.com.

College sports have embraced replay as well. In baseball, basketball, football and volleyball, replay is being used to confirm correct rulings or overturn incorrect calls.

The use of replay has also been approved by the NFHS in basketball state championship series since 2009 and many states have put it into practice. The NFHS approved the use of replay in hockey starting with the 2010-11 season. It is used for reviewing goals and undetected goals and determining the correct time on the clock.

And as the cost of technology drops, the tide of replay shows no signs of stopping in basketball and hockey. In 2016, the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) became the first state association to test replay in high school football. The AHSAA received permission from the NFHS to test out replay in preseason games. Many states are now using replay for state championship football events.

While many games at the pro and college levels feature a dozen or more cameras with high-quality views of the action, that’s not the case at the high school level. Outside of state championships in basketball and football, the television camera coverage is poor. But that may not matter, as Alabama’s preseason experiment showed. Alabama relied upon specially mounted cameras in the press box and end zone to provide two possible views of a play.

As state leaders contemplate expanding the use of replay, they should take the lessons pro and college levels have had to learn and put them into action. What are the best practices for high school replay?

Quickly accessible

Going to replay shouldn’t cause significant delays, particularly at the high school level, where busing costs and curfew issues could come into play. Any video should be easy to pull up and the system intuitive for officials to use.

Limited use

The rules should be structured so that only certain matters can be reviewed, and coaches are allowed only so many reviews during a game. That keeps a lid on replay encroachment, helping avoid delays mentioned in the last item. At its best, replay helps fix big errors. When it starts nitpicking every close call, games risk becoming bogged down. The initial technology that will make high school replay possible won’t always bring the capability to nitpick anyway.

A minimum number of cameras are needed to ensure angles that will be of use

Additionally, the placement of the cameras should be such that they provide optimal views of the likely plays that will go to replay. For example, goalline cameras are good in football. Cameras that capture the foul poles are useful in baseball, etc. Without the needed camera angles, any video is going to have limited value in a replay situation.

If game officials are being asked to review video, they should have a tent or other shaded area

Especially for outdoor competitions, a shaded area is necessary for ease of seeing screens on sunny days. Additionally, the review space should be away from the teams and others. This provides the officials a place to freely view the video footage and perhaps discuss the appropriate ruling without players or coaches applying pressure.

The screen that officials use to view replay should be adequately sized

Cell phones — even the plus sized Androids or iPhones — won’t cut it. It is difficult to see the playing action on those small screens. At a minimum, the screen should be a full-sized iPad. Bigger screens are even better.

Ideally, a replay official would be assigned

This would be like the setup in college football. That frees up the onfield crew to focus on their duties and lets someone else focus on replay.

Particularly for sports with a clock, there needs to be some way to link the clock to footage

Without that technology, officials will be guessing in situations where replay corrects a situation and there needs to be a clock adjustment.

Some mechanism needs to be in place to announce a replay decision

Coaches and those in the stands need to clearly hear the explanation of the ruling when video replay is involved. This is necessary since most High School facilities do not have high definition video boards showing the same video the officials are reviewing. Barring that, a conference between officials and coaches should be held after the correct ruling is determined so both teams are fully informed.

If there is a video scoreboard, nothing should be shown that the officials don’t have access to seeing

Showing different video makes for a bad situation. Officials can only rule on things shown on their screen. If the crowd is seeing totally different, problems will arise.

Support staff

Someone needs to make sure the equipment is working and that officials have quick access to it if the need arises. Officials shouldn’t be expected to have the technical know-how to operate the equipment. That assistance should come from someone knowledgeable in the particular system in use, especially if systems differ between venues.

The post Our Guide to High School Replay  appeared first on Referee.com.

In life and officiating, you can’t always choose who you work with. So you have to deal with it. Since we’ve run across our share of unique officials working games in various sports, we’ll pass along some sure-fire counterattack plans you can apply if Grouchy Greg or Clyde the Clown walks into your locker room before a game.

Dominator Dan

This guy is part control freak, part loudmouth and part overconfident. He dominates the pregame with partners, dominates in the pregame meeting with coaches and, of course, makes every effort to insert himself and dominate in the game.

If there is a problem in the game, even if Dan is remotely a part of the problem, he will “come to the rescue” whether welcomed or not and, in his eyes, save the day. Dan’s listening, but he really isn’t. He’ll do it his way always.

Counterattack

Do what you can to get a few words in during your pregame. Even if Dan doesn’t end up really listening, it’s important to at least try to get through to him. Conduct yourself in a professional manner, even if Dan doesn’t get the concept. It’s OK to let him have control, as long as he isn’t doing anything wrong. If he does and the rules permit a correction, it’s your responsibility to step up and play superhero, whether Dan likes to share the spotlight or not.

Techie Ted

He is an enthusiast who is highly proficient about the technical field and how it relates to officiating. Ted’s smart phone has all the officiating information he needs to receive assignments, view video, take tests, study and communicate with other officials and assigners. That is all great. The problem is he is on his device all the time, checking email, texting and searching the Internet. He says he’s listening during the pregame and postgame, but it’s hard to tell because the latest text message from a friend or family members has his attention as well.

Counterattack

A partner with the latest in officiating technology is a positive. Use that technology as part of your pregame, showing video or utilizing a pregame board. If you’re not using technology in your pregame, make the extra effort to engage Ted more in the discussion. It doesn’t hurt to flat out ask him to put the device away. There may be some withdrawal shaking at first, but eventually Ted will be OK, and your prep for the game will be a lot better.

Give-Me-My-Paycheck Peter

Pay me now or pay me now, preferably in cash. In Peter’s world, there really is no good reason why a school or organization doesn’t show him the money the moment he pulls into the parking lot. And if the game administrator doesn’t have a check ready and waiting, Peter will politely joke (but not really) how it sure would be nice to have received a check on game day, then ask when he can expect to receive the check.

For Peter, getting his hands on the check is seemingly more important than the game itself. His passion for collecting checks and cash on game days often supersedes his ambition to officiate.

Counterattack

There is nothing wrong with officiating to earn money, but a passion for the game and exhibiting professionalism for those surrounding the game are also important. Asking Peter why he started officiating might help to bring him back to the love of the game that probably got him into the avocation to start with.

Sal the Slob

You walk into the locker room with your neatly packed roller bag. You shined your shoes twice last night. Your pants are pressed. You even took the time to iron a crease into the sleeve of your striped shirt. You’ve heard it before — perception is reality. You’re controlling the things you can control; you’re really looking the part! As you begin to unfold your meticulous uniform, your partner barrels through the door in one big dust cloud.

“Hey there, name’s Sal!” bellows your partner as he extends his mustard stained hand. Sal looks frazzled at best. His hair is a mess, his dirty shirt is partly tucked in and it’s obvious his holey and untied shoes have seen one too many Guns N’ Roses concerts. Absolutely zero attention has been paid to his unkempt appearance and it quickly becomes evident that he does not care one bit. He unzips his bag and pulls out a balled-up shirt that looks like it hasn’t been washed since opening day, three years ago.

Counterattack

We might be embarrassed working with Sal, or be embarrassed for him. Part of being a (successful) sports official means taking pride in one’s appearance. Being a good partner might mean casually speaking up in the locker room before the game. “You know Sal, I’ve learned that my shirt best stays tucked in when I tuck it in my tights.” Unfortunately, having to take the floor with Sal can give a negative first impression of the entire crew. Expect it, and plan to work that much harder to gain respect.

Grouchy Greg

“Can you believe they gave him the championship game this year!? I can’t believe it, it’s all soooo political! I guess I gotta kiss more butt.”

Ahh, the always-exasperated Greg has entered the building. Some people see the glass as half-full, some see it as half-empty; Greg sees the glass as all-angry. The sun may be shining outside, but it is always miserable in Greg’s world. “I don’t know about you but I can’t stand this coach, he’s a real piece of work.” Greg’s partners often aren’t exempt from his wrath either. “Why do you guys go to those clinics anyway, you don’t learn a darn thing from those knuckleheads!”

From the weather being too cold, to the game check not sitting next to the water bottle and towel as you enter the locker room, Greg will always have that negative attitude: “All right, let’s get out there and get this thing over with.” For everything wrong in Greg’s world, someone else is always to blame. Heaven forbid it is ever his own fault.

Counterattack

Kill him with kindness. For every angry and negative comment, reply with something positive. Don’t stoop to Greg’s level; that just gives him more ammunition. Nothing can wear you out quicker than the guy who is negative 24/7. Our officiating careers (and life in general) are too short to be mad all the time. Ask Greg why he officiates? If everything is so awful and bad and wrong, ask him why he continues to do it if it makes him so miserable? Maybe you’ll finally hear something positive come out of his mouth.

Just-in-Time Terry

Everything is last-minute for Terry. She’s the one who shows up 15 minutes prior to a game, even though she isn’t coming from work. Because you don’t want to walk on the field without her, you are taking the field late, making coaches wonder if you are even there.

If there’s paperwork to be filed, Terry’s waiting to the last minute as well. And then when her email system is down or she can’t find a fax machine or scanner that works, it’s your fault that her form isn’t in. And you are expected to understand that the world has to work on Terry’s time — Terry is a very important and very busy person and without her, things just wouldn’t be as good.

Counterattack

As long as everyone continues to cater to Terry, then Terry will never change. Deadlines must be enforced. Late arrivals must be pointed out to assigners. And even most drastically, go to the field at the right time, and let Terry be late. You can’t let Terry drag you down.

The first time Terry doesn’t get a playoff game because she inadvertently didn’t get the test taken on time, she’ll learn the importance of meeting the deadline. And when enough partners call the assigner or report back on an evaluation that she was late to the site and isn’t doing a proper pregame, it will start to hurt her schedule.

Everyone runs late every once in a while. But if Terry’s always behind and always pushing things to the very last minute, it’s going to look very bad for her eventually. Be proactive and don’t let Terry dictate your schedule or the way you do things.

Captain Obvious Orv

Orv oversells everything and must be seen doing it. The over-the-shoulder out pump when the play wasn’t close. The dramatic long whistle followed by the over-exuberant touchdown signal when everyone knows it was a score. Or the screaming of “FOUL BALL!” when it flies quickly over the fence behind the plate and into the parking lot.

Orv makes it a point of explaining even the most basic calls to players, coaches and even fans. He wants to make sure everyone knows that he knows what he knows and that he saw what he saw. Of course, then when Orv has to really sell a call, his credibility is in question because he can’t do anything more dramatic than he did for the super obvious calls.

Counterattack

Find someone that Orv looks up to and get that person to mentor Orv. Have Orv watch how officials at the higher levels and respected officials at his level use other techniques to command a game. Orv is probably a pretty good official who just hasn’t been shown or doesn’t realize the harm he is doing to himself by overselling the obvious calls.

Big-timer Bob

Bob isn’t shy about relating his experiences to people, selling himself based on the levels he’s worked, not his actual ability. In a meeting of high school officials, he’s not afraid to tell people, “This is how I do it when I work a college game.” Or, “This is how we did it when I worked with that professional official.”

Bob is also known to cite the experiences of his friends. “My buddy Larry told me that his crew in the college conference does it this way.”

Bob thinks the levels he’s worked means that he should get automatic respect at the lower levels and that his ways are always the best.

Counterattack

Put Bob in his place. Respectfully stand up to him and let him know that what is important is how we do it at our level and the proper rules, mechanics and philosophies for our level.

If your association has too many Bobs, it can fracture the association. People will want to do it Bob’s way, or worse yet, will want to adopt their own “higher level” mechanics. Soon, there will be no consistency in the way games in your association are called.

Long-for-the-Good-Ol’-Days Larry

Remember when gas was 50 cents a gallon? When a portable communication device was two tin cans and a length of string? When the games lasted only an hour and 15 minutes and the coaches never complained about the calls?

Larry does, and he reminds you over and over. And over.

He not only regales you with tales of how games used to be officiated, he actually employs those outdated mechanics and philosophies. Rulebooks? He don’t need no stinkin’ rulebooks! One of his favorite questions is, “When did they change that rule?”

Counterattack

For heaven’s sake, don’t enable Larry by asking him to elaborate on any of his stories. If he’s holding court before you hit the court, try to bring him back to the here and now by getting him involved in the pregame discussion. If it’s halftime or after the game, direct the conversation to situations that occurred today.

Clyde the Clown

As you watch both teams warm up, you can’t help but notice your partner Clyde down by the baseline. What the heck is he doing? Clyde is going through an elaborate (and very attention seeking) stretching routine. All of his jumps, twists and turns would make any yoga instructor proud. You shake your head as Clyde yuks it up with players and fans alike. Once the game starts, Clyde’s act doesn’t stop. His foul calls are theatrical and any time he blows his whistle you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen next. Give this guy a red nose and some oversized shoes and you’ve got a real-life clown on your hands.

Working with Clyde can start out as comical and lighthearted, but it can quickly become too much. Clyde is often someone that’s been around awhile — and he has a reputation. Fans laugh at him, coaches tolerate him and partners shake their heads.   

Counterattack

When you work with Clyde, it’s best to stick to your game. Don’t change the way you officiate because you’re working with an amateur comedian. Go out and work hard like you always do. Clyde’s antics will eventually catch up with him. You should enjoy officiating, but don’t become a sideshow; just stay focused on the task at hand.

Invisible Ike

Ike shows up for the game on time, looks the part of a solid official and says all the right things in the pregame. You have confidence going into a contest with him, but when it’s game time and the pressure is on, Ike is nowhere to be found. Where’s Ike?

When there is a crash and a call could go either way, but there should be something, Ike will often no-call it. When a coach is bashing you from the other side of the field or court right in front of Ike, you won’t be able to count on him for backing or for penalties. Ike likes to get through a game with as little controversy as possible by making as few decisions as possible. Ike follows the wrong thinking that “the best officiated games are the ones in which you don’t know the officials are there.”

Counterattack

Ike is a dangerous partner to deal with because he often won’t have your back. Plan on having to step up more during a game. You don’t want to overstep your coverage responsibilities, but at times, you may have to if it’s warranted. Encourage Ike to step up when it’s needed. Go over the importance of having a presence at halftime or after the game. The best officiating games are the ones that are actually officiated. Lead by example and call what needs to be called.

Wanna-Be Willy

Many are called to officiating. Few are chosen for the upper levels. Willy isn’t one of them, but that doesn’t stop him from dressing or acting the part.

To Willy, the approved signals and mechanics aren’t nearly as good as the ones the pros or college officials use. So he goes off the book and does it like the “big boys” do. The manual says white or blue beanbags. But Willy sports the black version used by college officials because he wants to draw attention to himself. The state has a “clean shirt” policy. Willy wears numbers on his sleeve so people will think he’s taking a busman’s holiday from the semi-pro league to work the youth contest.

Counterattack

When Willy is on your crew, let him know in advance he needs to bring the proper uniform and equipment, and that his nonsense will not be tolerated. Bring some extra equipment in case he “forgets,” so the crew can go out looking proper.

Fake-Hustle Harry

Maybe instead of Harry, we should call him Hurry or Harried. That’s because this guy moves like Jell-O in an earthquake. Problem is, all that energy is expended whether or not he’s covering plays. Someone watching Harry gets exhausted as he sprints to his between-innings spot in the outfield after the third out is made, flies from the goalline to his position on a kickoff (never bothering to slow down or stop to clean up the sideline along the way) or imitates Usain Bolt while doing the dreaded (and incorrect) long switch.

Counterattack

Not every Harry understands subtlety, so you may have to (figuratively) hit them over the head when you explain that he is hustling at the wrong times. False hustle is like yelling: If you do it all the time, people won’t be able to tell when you mean it. Harry needs to understand that.

Lackadaisical Len

This character is cool as a cucumber when the heat is on. Or off. Also during the pregame. In fact, sometimes you want to shake him to make sure he’s still awake. Nothing fazes Len. He’s happy to let his partner or crewmates handle anything that may come up during the game. He just wants his check and a quick finish so he can get on with his life.

Counterattack

The remedy would seem to be a swift kick in the slats, but even if it weren’t wrong, it wouldn’t help anyway. Asking Len questions or soliciting his advice will get him involved in the pregame. Engaging him in quick conversations (“How’s my strike zone?” “Did you get a look at the block in the back I called during that kickoff return?” “Is it time for me to give a red card to number 10 if she pops off again?”) when appropriate during breaks in the action may light his fire.

Cocky Carl

Confidence in your officiating abilities is important, but Carl goes beyond confidence. If he is your partner, expect to hear about a great call or two or three that he made in previous games. Expect to hear that the game ahead should be no problem. And with all that talking, expect that having a proper pregame may be difficult. If fact, Carl may not think it is necessary. Many games at the high school level may actually be beneath him. So going through the motions with little focus or energy is something you will regularly see.

You might be a decent official, but Carl will likely know more than you and you can expect to hear his expertise offered in full following the game. There is no need to repay the critique, though. Carl won’t think it’s necessary.

Counterattack

Fight cockiness with humbleness and patience. There are some who can and should put Carl in his place (supervisors, coordinators, etc.), but you don’t need to be one of them. Try to do the right thing by pushing for a pregame and listening to Carl’s advice after the game. Present yourself in a friendly way to coaches and players, so the cockiness that Carl exudes is not reflective of the whole crew. Work hard no matter what the level or score, because Carl likely won’t.

Sam the Schmooze

Coaches, players, supervisors, officials, you name it, Sam will schmooze them. He knows the coaches’ names and nicknames, and probably even their kids’ names. Sam has the gift of gab and he’s not afraid to use it to further himself in a game or his career. Unfortunately the schmoozing doesn’t endear Sam to his fellow officials, because they can see right through it. By chatting up the coaches or complimenting the players after good plays, Sam often presents the crew in a bad light. While he’s an equal-opportunity schmoozer, a particular team often doesn’t see it that way and the objectivity of the officials can be called into question.

Counterattack

Sam is mostly harmless. If you’re his partner or crewmate, you just need to keep an eye on him and stress the importance of not talking to players and coaches too much during a contest. Sam should have a short leash. If you’re the one he’s complimenting, understand the source and don’t let your head get too big.

Gotta-Go Gabby

There are very few postgame meetings that Gabby can’t weasel her way out of. She can’t stick around, because she has to go to a wedding or a funeral or her husband’s birthday dinner, etc. … You get the idea. Gabby likes officiating games, she likes working with the kids, exercising and getting her paychecks, but getting better is not all that important to her and it shows.

Counterattack

If Gabby is on your regular crew, make the postgame meetings mandatory. No excuses. If you just happen to have Gabby as your partner once in a while, it might be tough to counter the excuses. The best you may be able to do is try to talk her into at least a short postgame. Whether your partner stays or not, you should at least mentally review your game or watch video later, if available. Make sure improvement is important to you.

Maybe some of your partners look pretty good right now. … Or maybe not. At least you’re armed with some sure-fire ways to handle the bad ones. ∗

The post I’m Working With Whom? appeared first on Referee.com.

But while availability certainly matters — just ask any assigner — there is more to it than that. Good teachers bring certain qualities and experiences to the job that transition effectively to the field or court.

In addition to working for the Iowa High School Athletic Association as director of officials, Roger Barr officiated basketball, baseball and football for 28 years. “I think the men and women that teach in our schools and work with students daily are seeing what’s going on and what makes different kids tick,” Barr said. “Sometimes the official that’s on the outside and maybe has an everyday job behind a computer all day doesn’t have that contact one-on-one with students in the classroom.”

Barr said one of the best communicators he ever encountered was the umpire on one of his football crews. “He could talk to them and they got it,” Barr said. “I’m not to going to say every kid. But 95 percent of the kids, he had them eating out of his hand by the end of the night. He was a well-respected teacher as well as a coach. That’s why he was successful.”

Pat Gebhart is an assistant executive director with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) and oversees its officiating program. Prior to joining the PIAA he had a long career with the Pennsylvania State Police and spent a quarter century officiating basketball.

Gebhart believes experiences in the classroom give teachers unique insight on the field of competition. “I think they do have an advantage maybe over an official who is not in education,” he said. “They’ve seen students and (understand) the general conduct and attitude of students from seeing them in the classroom. It makes them better equipped to handle any adversity they might face during a contest.

“They also have a general understanding of what students experience throughout the day and the frustrations they may have which might come out on the competition surface.”

Mike Whaley, former assistant director with the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA), served as that association’s director of officiating for many years. Before joining the OSSAA he spent more than three decades as a teacher, football coach and basketball official.

Whaley points out that educators are trained to understand that one size most definitely does not fit all when it comes to teenagers and younger children. “They’ve had some type of professional training in the differences in children,” he said. “How children mature differently, how different levels of children act differently.” Whaley points out that today’s children and teenagers react differently to situations than they did a generation ago. He said officials who are teachers have an advantage when it comes to “getting up to speed” in that regard.

“When you’re around them on a regular basis, you’re much more in tune with what’s trendy to them,” he said, “and what’s trendy in their behavior. I would hate to think that some of our officials don’t realize that we’re not in the same era that they were in when they were in high school.”

Ironically, in some parts of the country, fewer educators are choosing to pick up a whistle. According to Gebhart, anecdotal evidence suggests that as recently as 25 years ago, 75 percent of the registered officials in Pennsylvania were educators. Today that number is likely closer to 25 percent, in part because teacher salaries have increased significantly in some parts of the state.

Teaching skills are an attribute when it comes to working with newer or younger officials who are, often, in need of support and encouragement. A senior official with a teaching background will often find it easier to step into a tutoring role and provide support to a less experienced partner.

Many years ago, I had the chance to work several football games with a veteran, now deceased, who was a career educator and who would invariably handle some of the top high school assignments in our area each season as the referee. On one occasion we were part of a three-official crew assigned to handle a junior high game. I was the referee and he was the umpire.

It could have been awkward, but he did everything he could to make me feel comfortable and confident. He let me manage the game but was never far away if I needed him. But only if I needed him. In short, he let me officiate.

Sometime afterward the assigner asked me if there was anything he could do that would make things easier for young officials assigned to the referee position.

“Sure there is,” I replied. “Be sure to put Lenny on his crew.”

The 2018 Sports Officiating Summit, in New Orleans July 29-31, will focus heavily on recruitment and retention of officials. Teachers and many other groups could prove to be sources of new officials and the Summit will investigate how to reach all those sources more effectively.

If you are an association leader, lead official or administrator of any kind, consider attending the Summit this year. We need your voice and experience to find solutions.

Explore the Summit program and get registration information at www.sportsofficiatingsummit.com.

The post Why Teachers Make Great Officials appeared first on Referee.com.

One place to go for answers is to ask veteran officials to talk about how they got into officiating. You can often hear the love they have for it in their voices as they recount the moment it dawned on them that they’d be doing this for the rest of their lives.

Joan Powell is happy to share her experience. “I actually took a (college) course in officiating,” she said. “My first gig was CYO. It was outdoors, on asphalt, in Tucson, Ariz., and I was on top of a turned over garbage can for $5 a match, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.”

It was just that cool for her.

Powell, who is the coordinator of women’s volleyball officiating for the W5 Consortium and highly involved in the Professional Association of Volleyball Officials, related that story when she moderated the “Help Wanted: Why Officiating Is Cool” session at a recent Sports Officiating Summit dedicated to Recruitment & Retention.

The problem, however, is tales like hers are becoming fewer and the authors of them are getting older, because the drumbeat heard from California to Maine, Washington to Florida, is not good.

There are simply not enough high school-level officials out there anymore. Numbers are down almost everywhere with an ever-shrinking pool of 300,000-350,000 officials working interscholastic sports nationwide.

A recent study by Ohio University painted a challenging picture, as there are officiating declines everywhere and in almost every sport. A casual Google survey reveals dozens of stories on the topic.

“We are one official away at any given venue of having to cancel a game,” Dave Pixton of the Northwest New Mexico Officials Association told KOB-TV. In Kansas, the average age of softball officials is around 60, according to another article.

The common wisdom goes that if you can get an official to that third year, then you’ve probably hooked them. But getting to that third year is proving to be a major problem, as according to a recent NFHS study, only two of 10 officials return for that third season, an attrition rate of 80 percent.

The factors leading to the officiating crisis are numerous. They include the following:

• Older officials retiring and younger officials not replacing them;
• Low pay and increasingly busy schedules for officials who have day jobs and families to tend to;
• And an increasingly hostile work environment as parents become more involved, and spectators seem to have fewer filters when it comes to expressing their displeasure with officials, including physical violence.

Underlining that point, the Ohio University study reported that more than 85 percent of officials would consider leaving if the environment worsens.

The issues sometimes begin internally and include the hard-boiled assigner who demands an official attend his or her camp at an exorbitant price, the territorial issues of having to commit to work for one district but not the other and the potential of being blackballed for having done that, and the simple cost of becoming an equipped official.

“I’ll vent here, and I’ll sound like the raving lunatic for a second,” Michigan High School Athletic Association Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “We’re all very conscious of the real upfront cost (for officials), dues and uniforms, and all of that stuff. That, we can all live with and work with.

“The maddening thing then is the undercurrent stuff. ‘Well, if you want to work for me, I really need to see you at camp, and my camp is $275.’ Or, ‘You know what, I’ll give you some games, and it’s a $40 fee a game, but just know that I take $5 a game as an assigning fee. Oh, hey, and by the way, I get the money up front from the schools, and then I pay you at the end of the season.’ Just all of those things that, in my humble opinion, are shady as all get-out, and that’s the stuff that drives people away.”

It’s a hard attitude to break, added Powell.

“I had an assigner once that said, ‘There’s only one reason to turn back a match, and that’s death, and it had better be yours,’” she said. “What is that?”

Fortunately, the cures are as diverse as the causes, but they require some imagination and determination to make them work.

NASO created their Say Yes To Officiating website to direct interested people in the right direction and to give states and local associations recruitment and retention resources.

The NFHS also started its own recruitment initiative with a website where candidates can start the process of getting certified in their state at HighSchoolOfficials.com.

The key is creating something, that if more people tried, would find out is very cool.

The post Spark the Fire to Create Lifelong Officials appeared first on Referee.com.

Is the same mindset permeating officiating? A national survey found that about 38 percent of officials work more than one sport, and these people have a host of reasons why they do. These range from the need for more money to the simple wish to contribute more to what they love, the world of sport. Somewhere in there is a subgroup that hopes working a variety of sports will help them find one where they can climb to a high level and win spoils that go with it. Whatever the motivation, it’s a fair question to ask whether working multiple sports is a growth experience or a blueprint for mediocrity.

Mediocrity? A world-class heptathlete can run, throw and jump better in toto than most women. In the interest of full disclosure, however, she’d also finish up the track against the best sprinters, lose to the best jumpers and envy the best throwers in an Olympic final. Is it, then, a copout for her to crow about being “the best second-best at everything”? Does she not deserve a Mercedes, too, as a prize for all her (not quite good enough) hard work? Many people get more satisfaction from doing a lot of things well than being a conqueror at only one. The same goes for officials working multiple sports. The problem is whether the skills needed to work one sport well become poor fits, or even obstacles, when trying to take up others.

In my own case, I’ve worked five different sports at the high school level or above, but never more than three at once. We all have acquaintances who do even more than that. For me, the thought of hitting the big time in one sport may have been a motivation early on. As I started a family and developed more responsibilities at work, though, I realized I had neither the level of determination nor the raw ability to make it happen. From my perspective, I had a life, no matter how much fun officiating might be. So, I came to grips with working a few sports I really liked and cultivated the changing scenery from season to season. It’s always been important to me that I could work a game, go home at a decent hour, fall into my own bed and forget about it; no one owned me. I also learned that, like a decathlete, I wasn’t a natural at some sports but had the wiring to become proficient at them all with practice and a focus on improvement. That included learning something from one sport that I could apply to making me better at another — something which might be easier said than done.

Some skills transfer better from one sport to another

In the pharmaceutical world, there’s a term called cross-contamination. It can occur when the right ingredients wind up in the wrong product, causing an unwanted effect. It’s not that a blood-thinning agent is bad for you, but it’s a big problem if it sneaks into your meds for a bleeding ulcer. By analogy, we could imagine the problems a great basketball official might have if trying to apply those exact same instincts and skills to football: The quick, unflinching decision he needs on a drive to the hoop might be “too quick” when deciding if a hold affected the play and merits a flag. For balance, some habits transplant well between sports: Basketball officials might transition to volleyball better than others because both sports call for that quick incident recognition and whistle; in the same scenario, a rugby official might come across as uncertain and indecisive because he’s been programmed to think twice and whistle once to get the job done.

None of this suggests you’re doomed to discomfort and discontent if you try working more than one sport; you just have to realize that one size does not fit all as you migrate between sports. The key to succeeding as a multi-sport official is adaptability and it applies to all facets of the avocation: judgment, presentation, game management and conditioning. That’s because a big part of credibility is your acceptance by the people you serve. If you don’t portray the image people expect, you immediately attract scrutiny and maybe even suspicion. Coaches and players want to be the trendsetters, so they become Sheldon Coopers when it comes to us: they want everything to stay the way they’re used to. Be ready to adjust your approach to fit the image. Let’s look at these performance elements and see how we can evolve within them.

Judgment is the most obvious evidence of your knack for calling a game. Take baseball or softball, for example. A lot depends on how well you can picture a virtual, pentagonal prism. Then you decide, within a half-inch or so, if a rapidly moving sphere has intersected it. To do this consistently, the spatial part of your forebrain must be up to the job. Calling pass interference in football is a different challenge. First, you move to the best position to observe the play as it happens; that’s the easy part. Then you weigh the often-conflicting facts of what you saw against the applicable rule; that’s harder. Finally, you decide the legality of the play and do this all in about one breath. That’s the cognitive side of your brain at work, with a little help from your memory of the hundreds of similar plays you’ve witnessed before.

Each sport calls upon a different combination of spatial and cognitive thinking and every brain has a different capacity for each: Few of us can draw a flower with our left hand while solving calculus with our right, so we must learn to make best use of what we’ve been given. In practical terms, it means we’re more likely to succeed at sports where our own wiring is suited to the decisions we’re required to make. I’m known as a person who describes my world in words, but wears a green and a blue sock to work. Meanwhile, my wife sees the world in pictures, making for fascinating debates over gardening and the bank book. Not surprisingly, I’ve done better at sports requiring some quick reasoning, like football, soccer and basketball. By comparison, I was never great at baseball because my strike zone wasn’t consistent. If you’re struggling in a sport, consider switching to one that’s more like one you’re enjoying.

Presentation is the advertising arm of officiating. An NHL supervisor once told me the players commonly form their perception of the officials by their skating ability. The more a referee or linesman looks like he could play the game, the bigger the break they get while cutting their teeth in the league. Players associate skating skill with knowledge of the game and thereby with credibility of calls. On another note, it’s always interesting to look at newsreel coverage of games from decades ago. In many cases, the mechanics were laughable, the positioning haphazard and the uniforms ill-fitting. These details have been improved and standardized as a function of scrutiny to the point where presentation is now a qualifier, not a differentiator, for an official. This means that while you might get away with calling holding a little more loosely or being firmer on handballs, you won’t get far by being a visual maverick. If you have your own way of signaling a foul or determining the length of your trousers, get over yourself and get in line. If you find yourself suffering through harsher criticism than your colleagues in a sport, look at how you come across. If you won’t blend in or, in some cases, can’t blend in, the sport may not be for you; find a better fit.

Game management skill separates the wheat from the chaff. There was a time an official would walk into any venue and what he or she decided, went — end of story. Players didn’t have to like you but they were well advised to learn to live with you. A lot of that was because officials were more expendable; if they didn’t look after themselves, nobody else would, either, so they had to be more forceful. Today, most sports understand both the importance of officials in presenting the product and the investment required to shape them to that aim. Leagues regiment officials more, as a result, implying an endorsement of them. It makes the leagues more sensitive to complaints about officials. That means officials are expected to endure what the league tells them to from the participants; it sure helps if they can handle that.

If you don’t like hearing a lot of bad words, don’t work college football. If you think your actions require no explanation, avoid refereeing rugby. To succeed at more than one sport, your character should be amenable to each one. Personally, I don’t think that kind of emotional flexibility is a character trait you can turn on and off in the locker room; you come to the game with it as a product of your life experiences. Hall of Fame umpire Doug Harvey worked his first major league game at Dodger Stadium. When asked what he thought of the place beforehand, he estimated it wou22ld have taken him six-and-a-half hours to plow, back home. Harvey had a reputation for never losing his temper on the field.

Expand skills from your comfort zone to other sports

The first sport officials take up is often the one they enjoyed most when they were playing. As a result, it probably suits their mental makeup well and they learn their basic game management skills in a “familiar” environment. From there, they learn how to apply those skills farther from their comfort zones as they grow into other sports. It follows that the more sports you work, the more you’ve found out about yourself to help you flourish. Conversely, if you find yourself suffering through games and dreading assignments, you may have found your limit; stop torturing yourself and step back. It’s OK.

Every sport requires a different kind of conditioning — some of it physical and some  mental. Without question, soccer requires superior conditioning at the highest levels and, perhaps not surprisingly, soccer officials have one of the lowest median ages. It’s also been said volleyball officials could come from a tournament with clean, dry uniforms but need someone to help brush their teeth. The level of sustained, mental focus required transcends most other sports. Fortunately, preparing the legs often helps prepare the brain for sustained activity, so if you maintain your physical fitness, virtually any sport should be easier to work.

Where some officials struggle is in knowing when to quit. At the tail end of your career, your body’s suitability to the task can fade both unpredictably and quickly. Prior to that, you’ll go through a phase where your recovery time after a game becomes much greater, regardless of fitness level. The solution for many people is to work fewer games or to use more ice, but a better bet might be to switch to a sport that’s less demanding. Sports like swimming and wrestling require an athletic appearance that a conditioning program benefits, but don’t tax the body as much. Don’t quit football entirely because the Friday night varsity games are too soon after the Tuesday middle school games; take what you’ve learned about player control, judgment and professional behavior from your primary sport and substitute some of it into a less demanding one. The new perspective you gain may even help you in both sports.

I knew of a fellow, years ago, who figured out that he could make more money refereeing every day than working a nine-to-five job. He lived in a metro area where he could call a game virtually every day of the week — so he did! He worked something like 300 days out of the year — and it showed. He wasn’t sharp, never quite clean, always a step behind the play … and tolerated more than coveted by his employers.

Multi-sport officiating is a sickness if you don’t find a way of keeping it within your grasp.

The post Benefits and Landmines of Working Multiple Sports appeared first on Referee.com.

The consensus is yes. Just as you wouldn’t go into a meeting unprepared, we can and probably should take the same attitude into officiating.

“That’s always the biggest challenge: arming yourself with enough information ahead of the game so you as a crew are as prepared as you can be, but you’re not prejudging situations, prejudging potential fouls, potential actions — you know, we’re going to call things a certain way today not based on what we see but based on reputation,” explained Mark Uyl, executive director of the Michigan High School Athletic Association and a D-I college baseball umpire. “I think that’s the real balancing act that goes on here because we have more information leading up to a game than we’ve ever had, yet we’re also trying to call what we see that actually happens over the course of a game.”

Bill Carollo, Big Ten coordinator of football officials, talked about “Football IQ.” The former NFL official said it’s part of being ready for anything an official might see on the gridiron.

“Football IQ helps us, but it doesn’t automatically give us all the answers,” he said. “We still have to make that call, but anticipating, ‘Hey, they’re throwing the Hail Mary, they’re set up for it.’ That’s pretty obvious, but we don’t want to be surprised about a play.

“We don’t necessarily collect the stats ourselves, but each week we’ll assign an official to team A and one to team B. Then during our pregame meetings they’ll present a PowerPoint or examples of plays from each team. We’ll look at special teams, too, and when you add all this up, we talk about football IQ. We should know what these teams are going to do in certain situations before they do it.”

Granted, high school officials likely don’t have access to as much video or statistical research as officials on the college and professional level do, but there are ways to glean that extra nugget of information about a team.

“It’s not going to come to you,” said June Courteau, retired NCAA national coordinator of women’s basketball officiating. “Are you just going to sit in a chair and wait for it to appear at the door?

“If I get a couple of hooks like, ‘This is a strong three-point shooting team,’ then that drives the pregame. For instance, we know in women’s basketball that the majority of the three-point shots are set with a screen probably 4-5 feet from that shooter. We also know that when that ball swings back, the center is loaded up on that side with the shooter, screener and defender. And so we may have to initiate rotations, so it’s not just talking about what their tendencies are, you now have to take the tendencies and apply them.”

What can high school officials do to get more information? Carollo said look at the box scores.

“Look at the week before or two weeks back and see what the trend is,” he added. “You look at injuries. If a team has to use its backup quarterback, he’s not going to throw to a small window over the middle. Or if the leading receiver has a hamstring, they’re going to throw short, safe passes because the quarterback is a sophomore and not a senior.”

Uyl believes it’s possible for baseball and softball umpires to do more pregame preparation, too.

“I think in the baseball world we really need to catch up with what our brothers and sisters in the football and basketball worlds have been doing for a lot of years,” he said. “We need to talk about the two teams that we’re going to have. Now with everyone’s statistics being online, I think we do a real disservice leading up to a conference weekend if we’re not looking to see who the two or three top base stealers are for each team, how many stolen bases they have, which obviously can help the base umpire better prepare.

“You look at the hitting statistics. Does a hitter have an inordinate amount of hit by pitches? That may tell you this is one of those kids that maybe is looking to stick the elbow out, crowd the plate. And then the other thing to look at is the pitching statistics and see how many balks have been called. Early on in my umpiring career, if I called a balk on somebody’s starter, the coach would come out and tell me that his pitcher hasn’t had a balk called the previous 10 weeks of the season.

“Yet you go on and look at his stats and the kid has eight balks. So I think we need, baseball and softball umpires especially, to take advantage of the statistical research that’s out there. We can use that as part of our pregame to have the items that should be on the crew’s radar any given weekend right there in the forefront, so I think you can handle the game much more efficiently.”

To get an idea just how useful pregame information can be, pay heed to Esse Baharmast, FIFA technical instructor in the FIFA Referee Assistance Program and a former World Cup referee. The soccer world seems particularly adept at using as much information as possible.

And according to Baharmast, even novice soccer officials can use pregame information to their advantage just by watching teams play and viewing game film.

“We study to see whether the players are left-footed or right-footed, for starters,” he said. “On free kicks, we study to see what area of the field they really use, the characteristics of each team and the systems. The more we know, the more we can scout the teams and the more prepared we are and nothing comes as a surprise.

“For example, does a team use a short corner kick? Do they use a long corner kick, and who’s taking them? If we know that information ahead of time, then we are already in the right place before they even do it. In soccer, it’s really all about the game of angles. If you’re in the right position, then you can get the right angle and it makes it so much easier to see it. And once you see it, you can make the right determination.

“If they (officials) can, watch some games and pay attention and become more familiar with the teams and style of play. Even in high school, officials can always look to see between players because that’s what’s going to happen. To get the best angle of view they need to see between players and they have to think, ‘OK, where do I need to be?

Where do I need to go to adjust and see players and the space between them?’” Baharmast believes film study (and this is where websites such as Hudl help) can be a benefit for the novice official, too.

“If you are a former player or coach, it is easier to read the game,” he said. “So when we teach officials who are inexperienced or who haven’t played the game, we’ll say, ‘Take a look at how this team attacks. They always come from the flanks and cross the ball into the center, so you really don’t have to worry too much about the flanks because you know the ball is going to come in the middle. They’re going to go down the line and send the ball.’ So the more we talked about it, and the more we showed it, the referees figured out they need to know more about the teams and the way they played and their style of play.”

That’s information officials can use. Even if video isn’t available, team and individual statistics are likely online and it’s possible to get a feel for who the key players might be. For instance, in football, is your next assignment with a team that attempts more passes than many others in the league? If it is, then it might be helpful to go over pass coverage responsibilities.

Is it a team that uses several spread formations and utilizes a covered receiver on the line of scrimmage? Find out from your chapter who’s had this team before and see what they do long before Friday night’s game.

As mentioned, websites or services such as Hudl are now available, so it’s possible to even witness a team on video before you see them. That could be a huge advantage.

But at the same time, don’t go in with preconceived notions, particularly when it comes to coaches’ behavior. Many times, those same team statistics that reveal which are the passing teams and which aren’t will give you information as to which teams are the most penalized. Don’t go looking to throw flags against a team just because it looks as if it’s expected.

“I’m sure those conversations (about coaches) still go on, but I’m hoping we’ve come a long way from those days where the pregame meeting basically boiled down to 15 minutes complaining about what a certain coach said or did in a game an official had three years ago,” Uyl said. Courteau agreed.

“Coaches say a lot of things. Coaches think a lot of things,” she said. “But they still have to happen. You have to be able to filter the information they tell you. If you go over and shake hands with a coach and the coach says, ‘No. 32 travels all the time,’ or if you’re standing in front of them and they say, ‘You need to watch for holding.’

“You have to let that play happen. If you get so tunnelvisioned on what someone has told you, you’re going to miss your other responsibilities. You have to be a professional. If a coach starts to go south on you, then you have the tools to deal with that.”

For Carollo, part of the officials’ pregame preparation involves a team’s penalty tendencies, but it must be kept in perspective.

“When I was doing the NFL, the Oakland Raiders were the most penalized and everyone knew that,” he said. “Or certain teams might have more pre-snap fouls, like a really young team with an inexperienced offensive line. They line up wrong, they miss the count. We know if it’s 40 percent of their penalties or 45 percent of their penalties are pre-snap fouls.

“So we do know that. But it’s not like one guy, ‘This number is a bad guy out there and we’re going to go get him.’ That’s not fair, but if they have a lot of holding calls and they get tired in the fourth quarter … we look at penalties and when they are penalized. But the teams look at our officials, too: ‘Is this guy going to call holding on the first play of the game?’ or ‘He doesn’t call anything.’

“We look at that, but certainly we’re not looking at individuals. … It’s a team trend that we give data so whether it’s pre-snap, after the play or during the play we have a pretty good feel and we want game flow, but if there are 20 penalties, we’re throwing 20 flags.”

The bottom line? The more you know, the better job you can do.

“Really, if you go into a game and the two teams have had a rivalry and they’ve had some bad blood, it’s good to know all of that,” Baharmast added. “You don’t want to be prejudiced against it, but you want to be ready and not be surprised.

“So you know going in it’s not just a friendly match because the last game between these two teams there were a lot of problems, and there were a lot of bad feelings. It’s always good to know that.”

The post Know More About Teams To Make Situations Easier appeared first on Referee.com.

DO: Come to the camp prepared.

Study up on your mechanics before you come to camp. For instance, you may never have worked college mechanics before you come to a camp, but you should make sure to go through the course material and manuals to learn as much about what you should be doing ahead of time. At a good camp, the instructors will understand and probably notice that you may never have worked the position you’re covering in the scrimmage. But they’ll also pay attention to how effectively you work to come up to speed.

DON’T: Try to be who you think the counselors want you to be.

Show up and be yourself. If you have the people management skills and the fundamental psyche that will withstand the mental pressure of the game, there’s a lot of leeway for otherwise being your own person.

Hiring camps (those run by college coordinators looking for prospects) want people who are approachable from a social standpoint. People who are rigid are going to be rigid with coaches and it’s going to be a problem.

DO: Look the part.

If you show up 20 pounds overweight, it colors whatever other perceptions observers have of you. Simply put, if you were looking for a Division III official from among 50 high school referees, wouldn’t there be less risk in the ones who looked like they could keep up to the game? Conditioning and your physical appearance are qualifying points from which your ability as an official proceeds.

DON’T: Reject criticism.

The counselors are very likely to be at least a little bit more established than you. Accept the fact that they have something to teach you that will help your development. Get used to receiving advice and be humble.

DO: Come to the camp with the primary objective of improving your skills.

Do not go to a camp if you’re looking to promote yourself. Go to a camp because you feel it will make you a better official. Many successful officials have described their development as a trip up a spiral staircase. They can look up and down at their progress and objectives each time they return to the same challenges. A good camp has the philosophy that it is trying to teach developing officials how to work games in addition to how to referee them.

DON’T: Think that the scrutiny’s off when the lights go down.

When you go to a camp, try to aim closer to a church picnic than a frat party when Happy Hour rolls around. Your future boss doesn’t want to worry about whether you’re a big enough boy or girl to get a good night’s sleep if they hire you.

DO: What the boss says.

It isn’t nearly as critical how you think it should be done as what your potential supervisor thinks. You have to show a willingness to adapt to his or her style. You are an extension of the personality of your supervisor, and the league has hired your supervisor because he or she projects the attitude and philosophy it desires in its officials. It follows that supervisors are going to want to see a lot of their methodology in you or at least not see things about which they patently disagree.

The post Camp Preparation Do’s and Don’ts appeared first on Referee.com.

“Don’t Call Any Penalties In Overtime”

I realize my owner’s manual is thicker than most, but I truly believe sport mirrors society and vice versa. Officials are the government within that metaphor. Things that were once muttered and hollered at officials were a form of theater directed at people who were respected, but I don’t believe that’s true anymore. People often turn to sport today as an opportunity to finally prevail against the system, but the government — we, the officials — is there to screw them, again. I think too many folks really believe the stuff they spew at us.

I have a whimsical side, too, which envisions officials playing platitude bingo during the game. The rules are simple. Instead of having a little pocket card to record fouls and timeouts, officials would have a regulation bingo card. On it would be 25 of the most common gripes of today’s players, coaches and fans, randomly filling the squares. During the game, you’ll see a football official, for instance, marking something in a little book during a timeout, like the official always does. What the official is actually doing, though, is X-ing out one of the one-liners he’s recently heard, like, “Call it both ways!” Whatever the sport, when the team and coach have finally hit on the right combination of bleats (i.e. five in a row), the covering official declares, “Bingo!” followed by a T, crisply whacked, or a yellow card swiftly dealt … You’ve got to have a little fun officiating. Otherwise, it’s just listening to what sounds like the same old baloney. If we don’t understand how the insinuations have changed, however, we probably don’t understand how the game has changed and that can affect our performance. Let’s take a look at some of the popular sweet nothings on our bingo card and what they mean to us.

“Let The Kids Decide The Game”

“The best officiated game is the one where you don’t notice the officials.” In Bo Schembechler’s and Woody Hayes’ day, there might have been some truth to that. That was because, when Michigan met Ohio State on the gridiron in the ‘70s, there were two well-disciplined teams out there. The officials’ primary job was to call the obvious fouls (mistakes) and keep it all about football, for another year. In that context, they could throw a flag and the affected coach would chew his hat for a moment — to the approval of the fans — and life would go on. Forty years hence — and a legion of Mark Cubans, Pat Donaghys and Watergates later — things are different. While officials were once responsible for enforcing the rules, they are now suspect for how they apply them. We tend to look at the decisions made between the lines of a game not just by their effect, but now also by their motivation. Officials are always noticed, even when their performance is near-flawless. Players are called for holding today because the league doesn’t want the Bears to win, or something. We can’t change that attitude, but we’re wise to learn how to deal with it.

“Every Game Is Important”

Somewhere in our society, the role of rules and laws has changed. We’ve gone from making and applying them to control the order of things to using them to interfere with our right to be left alone and do whatever we please. So, when we hear, “Let the kids decide the game,” “Make it be there,” “Swallow your whistle in the last two minutes,” or, “Don’t call any penalties in overtime,” there’s now an undercurrent dragging us all out into open water: “We need you, but we don’t want you.” There was a time when playing a sport taught you skills, teamwork, discipline and respect for your opponent; whatever happened, happened. There had to be a winner and loser, fairly determined. Nowadays, there’s so much more at stake. If people don’t fill the (high school) gym every Friday night, the school board will have to divert textbook money to help pay the mortgage. If my kid doesn’t get a Division II scholarship, I’m going to be up to my wallet in student loans for the next 20 years. If the Fighting Skunks don’t have a winning season this year, it just proves the team shouldn’t have been coached by a math teacher. With so much at stake in this fantasy world, officials must be distorting the space-time continuum. By us doing our jobs, we’re somehow depriving the participants of what’s rightfully theirs.

“Make It Be There”

Don’t believe me? Think I’m being paranoid? Ask Referee legal contributors like Alan Goldberger or Donald Collins about some of the lawsuits they see. How about ones where a player has sued officials because he was kicked out of a summer camp game and deprived of the opportunity to be watched and signed by college scouts?

Now that we’re beginning to understand how officials are the convenient cause of the wrong result, it’s easier to understand our obligations: We must, “Treat every game the same,” “Start each one with a clean slate,” and acknowledge that, “Every game is important”… No, we don’t.

Part of our preparation for any game should be to understand what we’re getting into and then adapt along the way. We don’t decide the outcome; the players do by their actions. Sadly, if I can believe half the barf I read today in Yahoo Sports’ Shutdown Corner and the like, they can expect to be cheated by the officials, thanks to our clear biases and hidden agendas. A coach tried pointing out to one of my partners the other night that his team shouldn’t have more fouls because they were the home team; he knew it was happening because the visiting coach had more than 500 wins.

“Start Each One With A Clean Slate”

The Internet shorthand that applies here doesn’t stand for, “Why 12 fouls?” Preparing for realistic eventualities is part of any successful venture. That includes going out to work the biggest game of your life, which is always the one starting in 15 minutes; it doesn’t matter whether it’s middle school or college. It isn’t prejudicial for the crew to have its own game plan in anticipation of what might happen. It’s sensible.

So, does all this mean that we have to be “… perfect the first time out, and then get better”? No. Ten times, no. If this were the case, every officiating career would be one-game long. You’re never, ever going to have a perfect game — and the teams know that — but some will try to use it for leverage anyway. For them, the ”game” is to paper over their own weaknesses and shortcomings by shifting focus to the officials, if they can. The strength of an official is often shown in how he or she responds.To be clear, it’s a bad idea to tell a coach, “I know you’ve had three kids tossed in the past two weeks. Don’t try that with us tonight.” Conversely, if Coach mentions, “They run some weird formations that might not be legal,” it reassures everyone if you can answer with, “So we’ve heard.” Anticipating trouble is far different from going looking for trouble.

“Treat Every Game The Same”

In my experience, the best officials, coaches and players are the ones who accept both their limitations and those of others, and work from there. By comparison, the people who make the headlines for their troublesome tendencies are often the ones who can’t. As long as they have a scapegoat, their problems will always be someone else’s. As officials, at least, we have to satisfy ourselves with preparing properly, persevering at our avocation and learning from the results to make tomorrow better. We have to rise above the situation, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be accountable or that we can be arrogant about it. AL umpire Ron Luciano once called two swinging strikes on a future hall of famer who waved at chin-high fastballs. He then rang him up on a called strike on the outside corner, drawing an instant rebuke. Luciano said to him, “Yeah? What’s wrong with my strike zone? You’re the one who swung at two up in your eyes.” For balance, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon claims he abandoned an argument with an umpire this season when he was told, “Joe, I’m not trying to be bad.”

“Silence can’t be quoted,” then, seems to reflect two notions. One is the popular saying that you can’t be hanged (hung?) for a speech you didn’t make.

“It Isn’t About The Money”

Hey, all things said, “It isn’t about the money,” is it? Wouldn’t we gladly do this for free? That might be what altruists believe and some ADs hope, but most of us see the game fee as an adequate salve, even though, “They can’t pay us what this is really worth.” Where some officials get in trouble is when they take the game fee as something equivalent to using a prepaid cellphone; they get as much as they paid for, and nothing more. Shameful, really. Once you sign up for the job, give it your best. Always give it your best.A second is, “Silence is consent,” which comes from a Latin proverb meaning if you don’t speak up, you agree. While it was once a good thing to distance yourself from disputes or dissension by saying nothing and walking away, the prevailing wind today blows from a different direction: If you say nothing, it proves you have something to hide (Notion 1). Furthermore, it might suggest that you don’t care enough (Notion 2) and are, therefore, a liability. Both are potentially damaging to receipt of future paychecks. Today, a good official, to be accountable, has to be ready to sometimes explain himself or herself and let the chips fall where they may (might?). There is no substitute for honest dialogue in whatever form.

“Swallow Your Whistle In The Last Two Minutes”

Like many of you reading, I thoroughly enjoy the time I spend on the field and court and hope to stay at it as long as my knees and health will permit, without hurting the kids. The point of this opus is that one more truism applies: “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” Playing, coaching, watching and covering sports has gotten bigger than life for (too) many people and the demands put on us to treat that illness makes our job harder. All around us, we see officiating numbers starting to dwindle as more of us conclude the costs exceed the benefits. The game today — any game — is what people have made it, but the officials’ stake has transcended the sociological changes we’ve witnessed: They still can’t play the game without us.

Despite the motivations, despite the phobias, despite the defects we see in sports today, it can still all work through effective leadership. A lot of that leadership comes from us, the officials, who have no other interest than a quick game and unquestioned result, no matter what anyone else thinks. With that in mind, there should be one firm rule for all officials: Never let the bastards get you down.

There are still enough good people around to notice you did.

The post Comments Don’t Reflect Reality appeared first on Referee.com.

Anyone currently recruiting officials knows the sports officiating industry faces an uphill battle. Work, family, a social life all consume time, and time is extremely valuable. Time is a deterrent for young officials, as is the badgering officials receive from the stands and sidelines. To successfully recruit new, young officials, the sports officiating industry must overcome these and other hurdles, including:

• Up-front costs to become an official.
• Traditional means of recruitment no longer work: email or job fairs at local schools, for example.
• Poor sportsmanship has hit an all-time high and millennials prefer to avoid that scrutiny.
• Conversations on pay no longer peak interest. Millennials want to feel as though they belong to something greater, something that could pose a challenge to officiating recruiters or serve as a selling point: “Join the ranks of sports officials and be part of a team helping to improve the game landscape.” 

How can we recruit new officials, especially those who are under the age of 30, who will officiate for many years? The answers aren’t easy. Modifying what many states do for recruitment, implementing new techniques, and phasing out old unsuccessful attempts at recruiting all must be put on the table to reach the younger generation.

Human resources (HR) expert Laurie Schilling, director of HR for the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), has insightful information on how her company recruits its millennial employees.

1. Network. As a statewide utility, NPPD has multiple colleges from which it pulls graduates, and it works for both NPPD and the colleges. Officiating can steal a page from this playbook in areas where colleges are located. Officiating groups can network with schools and share the need for sports officials by working with administrators to get the word out.
2. NPPD has significantly increased its social media output in reaching out to potential employees under the age of 30. A society of phones, computers and tablets provides unlimited access to social media. NPPD recognizes this and uses it to its advantage.

“(NPPD) posts all of our job openings on our social media pages, to help reach as broad of an audience as possible,” Schilling said. Officiating associations could start setting up social media on various platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) to get out the word that there is a need for officials. Informational posts could be added, such as when a rules class starts, who to contact if interested and publishing images of officials having fun working games.

Schilling also noted that some traditional means of recruiting just aren’t working. “We have marginal success with traditional job fairs. Career fairs are just one step in the process. We are in elementary, middle and high schools.”

Not only does ingraining the brand into the culture of children through positive outreach show how NPPD is improving its communities, but it also gets the next generation thinking about For officials, this means creating community outreach and establishing relationships with the schools in their area.

Schilling also noted that all employees of NPPD are recruiters for the company, whether they are in the position formally or informally. “Whether it’s talking about NPPD to friends, family and neighbors (or) volunteering in the community, employees are as much the face of NPPD as the orange bumpers on the white vehicles seen across the state.”

What’s Not Working?

Not only do the traditional job fairs not yield results for NPPD, but neither does advertising in newspapers, magazines and other traditional means of media, according to Schilling. More surprisingly, “the pay and benefits discussion doesn’t garner the interest they did previously. We have to paint the bigger picture — the impact of the work,” she said.

Officiating groups need to paint the bigger picture, as recruiters of officials, that if there continues to be a decline in the numbers, one day high school athletic events could be endangered.

Schilling advised sports officiating organizations to “cultivate relationships and make it about more than the job, than the money. Let them know what their contribution means and the impact they have on the bigger picture.”

She touched on a continuing theme among those who officiate sports — relationships. It’s a recurring theme among younger officials. Ian Carey, 27, an NCAA Division II and III women’s college basketball official, spoke about the relationship between officials. “The camaraderie extends beyond the season and outside of basketball,” he said. “I’m able to share life experiences with those I officiate basketball with.”

Connor Hoagland, 27, a D-I college baseball umpire and a D-III college basketball official, agrees. “I enjoy the camaraderie in each organization,” he said. “The game brings so many good people together in ways which they may have never experienced otherwise.” In addition to being on the youthful side, both men have officiated for more than five years.

Bobby Von Rueden, who has been a varsity high school official for four years in Wisconsin and is also under 30, agreed camaraderie is one of the biggest parts of what he enjoys, calling officiating a “social fraternity.” He also pointed to the other things he enjoys about officiating the game.

“Officiating basketball builds on everyday skills such as making quick decisions, management of people and communication — communicating effectively in a quick way. Those skills carry on beyond the game of basketball,” he said.

Share Your Story

What these young officials say is an extremely important message pertaining to recruitment. Officiating groups could take the angle of “come and make X amount of dollars.” Instead, a better tactic is to talk about the relationships built along the way.

Hoagland grew up with a father who officiated basketball. He went to dozens of games with his father, having the fortunate experience of seeing the social side of officiating while sitting in the car for many hours listening to conversations about officiating. He’s heard the pregames and seen firsthand the joy that officiating brings to the people working the games. He’s seen friendships built, mentors gained, and even better, people achieve their goals. It’s not easy to put those visuals into words, nor is it easy to show an outsider what it is like being part of the team. However, those intangibles will be a large part of recruiting young officials; sharing one’s personal story and how officiating has enhanced one’s personal life.

Steve Petesch, a board member for the Greater Seattle Volleyball Officials (GSVO) and chair of recruitment and retention, has mastered the art of recruiting volleyball officials. Petesch has seen significant results in his quest to grow his volleyball association.

“Since starting my position as the recruitment chair for GSVO, we have grown our organization from about 50-60 members to about 100 last season. We have become the largest volleyball board in the state (including high school, college and club) and one of the few boards part of WOA (Washington Officials Association) to have seen continual growth over the last couple of years.”

Petesch’s success hasn’t come without hard work and changing the traditional methods used to recruit new officials. He has turned to social media platforms in order to get in touch with younger prospective officials. He created several webpages to include information for coaches and players. He physically goes to gyms to talk with players and coaches about the opportunity to officiate after their playing careers. There is also a junior referee program that allows 16- to 18-year-olds to sign up and become a paid official.

“The biggest thing that I preach to all other officials is that it is OK to break that professional barrier we work so hard to create to, at times, promote officiating to those around you that are already part of the sport and have a vested interest in it,” Petesch said.

His successful go at recruiting officials has been the fruit of hard labor. His formula can be replicated across all sports from California to Maine.

Petesch isn’t the only one working hard to recruit younger new officials. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has recently joined the effort to encourage people to officiate. The CEO of the NFHS Network and director of marketing for NFHS, Mark Koski, shared the NFHS’s national campaign #BecomeAnOfficial.

The campaign’s first year was spent targeting folks who are in college and play intramural sports. This targeted audience already has an interest in the game and most college students are in need of money. The second year was used to target first responders (police, firefighters and EMS providers). By the second year, 19,000 people across the nation showed interest in officiating.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the number that ended up joining the ranks. Out of the 19,000 people who signed up, only 1,801 actually joined the ranks as a sports official. People interested in signing up to be an official can sign up at highschoolofficials.com and their information is sent to their respective state association. Data shows that associations need to contact the potential recruit within 24-48 hours of them signing up on the website. This allows the idea to stay fresh in the recruit’s mind and maintain interest.

Koski said recruitment isn’t the only thing the NFHS is focusing on. The next initiative is going to be spent thanking those who already officiate. It focuses on “giving (officials) a pat on the back, because I don’t think they get that enough,” Koski said.

Controlling Poor Sportsmanship

Officiating recruiters can’t do much about limited time availability. However, sportsmanship is something all officials can help control. This past spring, a basketball official was attacked by a coach from Michigan while working an AAU basketball game in Kentucky. The official was hospitalized. Unfortunately, it isn’t the only story like this, and with social media, various news outlets and word of mouth, these accounts spread quickly. Stories like these are extremely discouraging to potential officials who may be on the fence about joining the ranks as an official.

Poor sportsmanship is everywhere and continues to get worse. It is shown by parents and coaches in third and fourth grade rec-league basketball, and it can be seen on national television from college games to the professional level in all sports.

In contrast, attempts at making it easier for young officials to enjoy what they do are far less visible. The purple shirt campaign in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, is one example of how to prevent abuse of younger officials starting out in the avocation. This season, referees under the age of 18 in the junior soccer leagues are wearing purple shirts in the hope that players and spectators will think twice about using insults and intimidation. The initiative has been developed to give a visual aid to clubs, managers, players, parents and spectators that the referee is under 18 and as such, still a minor. This campaign is based in the UK, but can easily be transferred to local associations, youth leagues and summer leagues, where kids are able to learn the great art of officiating sports. The purple shirt serves as a reminder that those wearing them are just kids, they are learning, and they want to enjoy themselves.

With poor fan behavior as the No. 1 reason officials exit the avocation, according to NASO, it stands to reason that improving fan behavior directed at officials increases retention, and ultimately recruiting of those under the age of 30. Addressing the behavior of coaches, fans and players can be done in conjunction with athletic directors, at annual coaches’ meetings and on game night itself. Improved working conditions for officials will help in the recruitment of those younger officials.

Start-up Costs

An understated hurdle in bringing younger officials into the fold is the cost to get started. Very few 18-yearolds want to give up a few hundred dollars for anything. If that’s what uniform and association fees total, a beginner may think twice about joining the ranks. To start working is expensive and you may not start making money for a few months.

Costs can include the state or local test, first-year dues for the association and the cost of the uniform — whistles, shoes, pants, shirts and the bag to bring it all to your game. Before a 21-yearold woman steps on to the soccer field, she could be $300-$500 in the hole.

One solution is for officiating organizations and governing bodies to start a grant or scholarship program to reimburse new officials some of their up-front investment. This helps alleviate some of the financial burden to the recruit. It would also behoove them to start a hand-me-down program. Officials would donate uniforms they no longer use to new officials, similar to the Fox Valley Blues Umpires Association (FVB) program in the Chicago area (see Referee 1/19, page 56). The FVB held a garage sale to attract new umpires and lower costs. This afforded FVB a huge opportunity to connect with newer, younger aspiring umpires, and helped grow its membership by 120 members over several years.

Millennials look for the ability to rise in their careers. Camp is a perfect avenue to help them achieve that goal. However, it is costly. A scholarship fund that reimburses officials some of their camp cost would incentivize officials to get better and allow those who cannot financially afford to go to camp the opportunity to do so. It would also serve as a recruiting tool in terms of demonstrating a commitment from the association to develop its officiating staff.

A New Approach

Vermont IAABO Board 105 has taken a new approach, which seems to be working, to get younger officials to take the rules class. It started offering a class in the spring to allow high school and college players with fall athletic commitments the opportunity to participate. They take the class and start officiating AAU and summer league games to build interest and get set with a part-time job.

Millennials want the opportunity to grow and be a part of their organization. Recruiting officials under the age of 30 may require identifying the path forward for those officials, showing what it takes to get a JV or varsity assignment in terms of experience and expertise. Mentoring and a clear and communicated path to move up help demonstrate to millennials what is necessary to get to the next step in the officiating profession.

Every sports official is a recruiter of the next generation, as Schilling said about NPPD and its employees. Entering the field, court, ice or whatever other platform we may call a game from, we are all recruiters. Bring a friend to a game and let him or her see the joy that calling the game brings to us. Go down to the youth leagues and talk to the young officials working a youth game for $10 and help mentor them.

Recruiting (and retaining) sports officials under the age of 30 won’t happen in a vacuum. Commitment, communication and support must come from associations and individual officials. When they listen to the voices of the next generation, people get involved and pursue opportunities to self-improve. Investing the time up front in the association can go a long way to bringing the next generation on board when they see the commitment, path forward and support.

FOR FREE RECRUITING AND RETENTION RESOURCES VISIT: SAYYESTOOFFICIATING.COM

Trevor Houle is a millennial basketball official from Brattleboro, Vt., who has been officiating for four years.

The post How to Recruit U30s appeared first on Referee.com.

Unfortunately, the expression of enthusiasm for sports displayed by many people is too often negative. The competitive spirit that gets adrenaline pumping and brings excitement with hopes to see the desired team reign victorious is taken too far. It is not an uncommon occurrence to observe fans screaming obscenities on the sidelines, athletes and coaches expressing poor attitudes, or to see coverage in the media about a fight between parents at the most recent youth competition.

In the midst of wanting to win so badly, some get wrapped up in believing there must be someone to blame if their team is not winning. It could be the fault of the athletes, the coaches, or all too often, the officials. The “culprits” become targets for verbal, and sometimes even physical, abuse. In other circumstances, the desire to minimize the risk of losing is so great that rules are taken advantage of and attempts are made to find any loophole rather than play within the spirit of the competition.

How did the sports arena travel so far down the path of allowing these behaviors? How did sports go from being a fun way to promote social involvement, healthy competition and physical activity to the battles that are used to prove superiority? There is no doubt that a win-at-all-cost attitude has become prevalent in many sporting circles. And while competition can certainly be a healthy and desirable part of the American life, much work should be done in redefining how enthusiasm for sport is expressed acceptably and in protecting all of those who are currently suffering from being targets of abuse.

The problem of poor sporting behavior has incredible depth requiring incredible efforts to resolve. However, with a focus on youth and high school sports, involving the largest number of officials, we will come a long way with a greater understanding of the benefits of and threats to sports, why officials matter, who is the most responsible for sportsmanship problems and how to seek solutions.

What are the benefits of sports?

Involvement in sports leads to enhanced life experiences outside of sports.

Athletes

Over half of American children play team sports and have the fortune of improved opportunities for development as a result. In a report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) cites research that indicates there are health, academic, personal and social benefits for school-aged youth involved in sports. While the health benefits of sports resulting in healthier bones and joints along with reduced obesity may seem obvious, the academic benefits will also impact athletes throughout their lives. Based on conclusions drawn from a Centers for Disease Control report, the GAO stated, “Specifically, it concluded there is substantial evidence that physical activity can help improve academic achievement, including grades and standardized test scores,” and added that, “… sports in particular, can positively affect aspects of personal development among young people such as self-esteem, goal-setting and leadership.” Furthermore, in “The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance — What Women Should Know,” Kathy Kay and Claire Shipman write, “There’s even a direct link between playing sports in high school and earning a higher salary later in life. Learning to own victory and defeat in sports is a useful tool for owning triumphs and setbacks at work”.

Parents

Parents appreciate the benefits of youth sports as most of them desire to provide the best opportunities for growth and success to their children as possible. Involvement in sports gives many parents the peace of mind that they are opening the door to development that will lead to numerous successes throughout their children’s lives. In fact, according to a survey by the Siena College Research Institute commissioned by the Aspen Institute, “In Southeast Michigan, 82 percent of parents said it’s very important or somewhat important for their child to be regularly involved in sports.”

Officials

In addition to athletes and parents, officials also reap great rewards. Just like with athletes, the physical health benefits are fairly obvious. But officiating also provides opportunities to become leaders and role models. Some skills that are developed involve interpersonal communication, decision-making, conflict resolution and dealing with stress. The social-networking opportunities and friendships gained in the officiating world are incredible. And of course, the financial benefits should not be overlooked.

How Does sportsmanship threaten youth sports?

The effects of Poor sportsmanship go far beyond a minor annoyance ­— athletes and officials walk away.

Although participation in sports has been proven to have a multitude of benefits, the opportunity to reap those benefits is being jeopardized by poor sportsmanship. For example, one of the benefits of participation in sports is increased self-esteem. However, it can be deduced that if athletes are the targets of poor sportsmanship, they are not as likely to experience the same benefits and development in their level of self-esteem. Participants’ experiences in sport can go from positive to negative as a result of their own or others’ poor behavior. In fact, the frequency seems to be growing in those experiences becoming so negative that participants are not just losing out on reaching the full potential of the benefits, many sacrifice the opportunity to gain any benefit as they choose to completely walk away. Too often in professional sports all the way down through recreational levels, aggressive, demeaning and other types of unsporting behavior by both active participants and spectators are viewed simply as a part of the competition and a traditionally acceptable part of sports. But while competition can certainly be healthy and enjoyable, acting unfairly or with a lack of respect is not a necessary or acceptable part of any sports competition.

Athletes

When athletes are the targets of poor sportsmanship, they suffer emotionally and being involved is no longer fun. Some athletes work through the criticism, but others decide it just is not worth it. More athletes quit sports because they were no longer having fun than for any other reason. Certainly, displays of poor sportsmanship, particularly those that are targeted at athletes, contribute to this diminished sense of fun.

A total of 17,487 officials responded to the NASO National Officiating Survey. As a result of their efforts, insights can be gained and conclusions can be drawn, which will continue to move the industry into the future. See the survey results at naso.org/survey.

Officials

Athletes are not the only participants that walk away from their involvement as a result of poor sportsmanship. Recruiting and retaining officials has become a major concern across all sports. If the primary reason for becoming a sports official is for the love of the game, the level of appreciation for the sport will unsurprisingly dwindle when not enough is done to prevent verbal abuse, and sometimes even physical abuse. When a disproportionately high number of trips onto the court or field result in unpleasant interactions, many officials decide that their energy and enthusiasm would be better invested elsewhere.

Why Do officials matter?

“Who needs officials anyway? let the games go on without them!”

While there may be some people that do not value the contributions officials make to sports, they are an integral part of sports competitions. In fact, if there is a desire to continue providing both opportunities for competitions and access to all of the benefits sports have to offer, the shortage of officials is a problem that must be combatted. Without officials, competitions cannot be held. Conversations about the shortage of officials may seem commonplace and a problem that will have to be addressed down the road. But, there is not time to wait to address the problems causing the shortage of officials, sportsmanship being a primary one, because the impact is escalating. An alarming number of sports administrators have expressed that competitions have had to be rescheduled or canceled at least occasionally.

Canceled?

Some would ask whether the step of rescheduling and canceling competitions is really necessary. After all, most of the athletes are pretty familiar with the rules and the competitions could just go on without officials, right?

Wrong. Two of the primary responsibilities of officials across all sports is to promote fair play and protect player safety. When officials are not present, the games may go on, but not without the risk of injury going up. In The Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness, Chris G. Koutures and Andrew J.M. Gregory said, “There is consensus that proper rule enforcement and limitation of violent contact can reduce the risk of injury.” And in “Injury Prevention,” “One study said of competitors in nine different sports in 100 U.S. high schools identified 98,066 injuries over a two-year period that occurred as a direct result of an illegal activity as ruled by a referee or disciplinary committee.”

While this information has caught the attention of the medical community, it also causes warning alarms to go off among parents. Nearly nine out of 10 respondents to an espnW/Aspen Institute Project Play Survey said risk of injury is one of their greatest concerns when enrolling their children in sports. In order to keep participant numbers up, it is important that organizations mitigate parents’ concerns by minimizing the risk of injury.

Officials, it turns out, are not just an extraneous addition to sports competitions; they play a huge role in the aversion of injury risks for participants. And this is without even considering their undertaking of preventing poor sportsmanship to the extent possible at competitions.

Who causes sportsmanship issues?

Administrators, Coaches, and officials agree ­— parents are the greatest obstacle to positive environments.

Ultimately, everyone needs to take responsibility for finding the solutions to sportsmanship issues. Certainly, each individual needs to be aware of the impact that his or her action or inaction regarding poor sportsmanship has on everyone involved. But poor sportsmanship seems to be a bigger problem at some levels than at others, and certain groups of people instigate more of the issues.

Parents

It may seem counterintuitive that the athletes, or active participants, are not considered the party most responsible for sportsmanship concerns. But officials are not the only ones that believe that parent and spectator behavior is notably problematic. NFHS found in a survey that of its state association executive directors, 76 percent felt spectators cause significant problems with sportsmanship, while a lower percentage (68 percent) felt the participants cause significant problems with sportsmanship. And that begs the question about how many of the problems initiated by active participants are actually displaying a mirror of behaviors athletes have learned from their parents’ attitudes and actions at sporting events.

What would you do?

How would you respond if your child were involved in a sport in which the coach screamed and swore regularly at him or her? What if your child did not want you to say or do anything? Would you? What if you were the assistant coach while this happened at a practice? What would you do? What if you were just out for a walk in your neighborhood park and saw this happening? Would you step in? Would your response to any of these questions change based on the sport? Is it more acceptable to scream at athletes in a sport like football than in one like dance?

What solutions are being tried?

Initiatives promote sporting behavior, Positive culture.

Some of initiatives that have been tried include:

Silent September

During September 2017, South Carolina Youth Soccer tried “Silent” September. Parents and visitors could not cheer or jeer — silent really meant silent, with no yelling, clapping or making noise at any time the ball was in play. Violators would be removed. The exercise was to start a conversation and raise awareness of unsporting behavior — particularly the sideline behavior of parents. League officials say it was positively received, even by the parents.

Zero Tolerance Policy

The North Carolina Athletic Association (NCHSAA) created protocols that only allowed the head coach to question a call on the field, court or mat; and allowed zero inappropriate language or profanity by players or coaches, whether directed at an opponent, official or himself or herself. And officials who didn’t properly penalize players and coaches for inappropriate behavior faced suspension — a step designed to ensure officials were taking care of business.

Positive Coaching Alliance

Through online courses and workshops, the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) aims to help those involved in youth and high school sports create a positive, character-building youth sports culture — including players, coaches, parents and fans. The PCA aims to help leagues and schools create a culture that promotes sporting behavior.

The post The Facts Behind Bad Sporting Behavior appeared first on Referee.com.

Wait. What?

It’s true. They won’t set you apart. Because all officials should be studying the rules, getting in the right position to make the calls and making the right calls most of the time. Those skills are what bond most officials and make them the same.

To set yourself apart from other good officials you must have something else, something special. You need that It Factor. “It” is what assigners, supervisors and other officials are looking for from you.

At a recent NASO summit, four individuals who have proved they have “IT” in spades came together and tried to figure out just what “IT” is. Fox Sports analyst Mike Pereira, who previously directed the NFL officiating department and is a former NFL official, led a discussion on officiating with former MLB umpire Mike Reilly, NFL referee Gene Steratore and NBA referee Joe Crawford (now retired). On and off the field and court, those officiating icons combine for more than 100 years officiating experience.

A number of It Factors emerged from those professionals. Ask yourself if you have what it takes to reach the next level in your officiating or consistently maintain a high performance at the level you’re at.

Passion

Do you have a passion for officiating or is it just another means to a paycheck? Money is important, but passion pays off. It counts. If you’re hooked on officiating, your attitude on and off the field and court with your fellow officials shows that. You want to go to those weekly association meetings (even the long-winded ones). It never enters your mind not to stick around after the game to discuss things with your partners, because you want to get better.

For many officials, it starts with a passion for the game and develops into a passion for officiating. But for some, that passion for officiating was passed down right away.

“I got hooked on it because my dad was an official,” Pereira said. “So I started at a very young age trying to understand officiating. I learned the game through the eyes of an official.”

Crawford credits his dad, the late MLB umpire Shag Crawford, for helping him develop his passion for officiating as well.

“I was just a fortunate person,” Crawford said, “and I owe everything to that guy because it is what formed me as a referee — that passion, that love that he had for his profession.”

That makes sense to Reilly. Even though he didn’t grow up in an officiating family, he developed a passion for baseball as a player.

“My father was in business, but I have five brothers and we grew up with the love of baseball and the game itself,” Reilly said. “And once I got started and realized that I wasn’t going any further as a player, that desire to be the best official — the best umpire I could be — developed.”

That passion can carry you in officiating. You will be able to see that passion in your partners and it will grow in you as well. It’s not about getting to the highest level, according to Steratore, but rather soaking up the experience at any level.

“You learn how to officiate this game in a car in February driving on an icy road in basketball with a man who probably has been doing Division II or III basketball for 35 years because he loves it, not because he’s on TV,” Steratore said. “Not because he’s making a bunch of scratch or he’s got a nice 401K — he loves the game. He knows how to manage people.

“You’re a young kid in his car and you don’t even know who you are yet let alone interfacing with, when you progress to the college level, someone who is doing this for a living. So now you’re back to the purity of officiating and the purity of the passions. …

“Officiating in its purest sense is in that car while you pick his brain about the interface you had with that D-III coach in front of 100 people four hours away from your house. And what he said to you, how you responded back because you were young and stupid and weren’t polished enough — and he taught you about yourself indirectly. If you were really smart and paying attention, you were learning about yourself, which was a life-learning experience.”

Competition Instinct

A passion for officiating equals a passion for competition. A competitive instinct counts. It shows you want to improve. You want to be better than the veteran official working next to you. You watch the next level because you want to be good enough to reach that next level. You’re disappointed that you didn’t get that state assignment, but instead of moping, you use that “rejection” for motivation to work on your game.

“I loved the game and I love to compete,” Reilly said about baseball. “And I think as an umpire we go out every day and compete against the game to be the best. And when I say, ‘Compete against the game,’ you go out there to be perfect. And we all know as referees and umpires that’s impossible. But that’s our goal when we start that particular game — to be perfect.”

Crawford agrees.

“I want to work with those two people out there and we want to be perfect,” he said. “At the highest level we want to get this thing done, and we want to do it right.”

When you don’t do as well as you set out to do, you don’t let that bring you down. It happens to the best of the best. The key is to not let it knock you out for good. You need to get up and fight to prevent future mistakes.

“It can be consuming. It can eat you up,” Crawford said, “because this year I had a couple hiccups in a couple of the games, and you really start to question yourself a little bit, especially when you hit the old 62, and you start to say, ‘I don’t know. Joey may have a little problem here.’

“But you’ve got to fight it. You’ve just got to keep battling it, and you hope the powers that be have the confidence in you to keep putting you back there.”

Command

There are some officials who make you wonder if they will be able to handle a big game, and then there are other officials at various levels that you know will handle the game. Assigners want them on that big rivalry or championship game. Fellow officials want to work with them. Having that command counts.

“In the NFL, you’re watching a quarterback that just went through a real quick bang, bang hit,” Steratore said. “You’re not sure if it was a foul or not, it’s close as heck, and now all of a sudden there’s three whistles from 40 yards away and someone’s running to you with a foul, but you have no idea of what it was. Convey that confidence, do it the right way and annunciate it correctly.” 

Show you’re in control, and people will believe you’re in control.

“I watch referees. That’s what I do,” Crawford said. “… I don’t know anything about the NFL. I grew up in baseball, but I don’t know anything about umpiring Major League Baseball. But I’ve watched (Steratore and Reilly). They have command. That’s what they have.

“(Steratore’s) command as a referee, (Reilly’s) command behind the plate is what sold these two guys. It’s what sold (retired NBA referee) Steve Javie. The command on the court or the field — how they’re being respected. Now if you call that ‘It,’ I don’t know. But all I know is that they got it because I’ve watched them.”

If you have command, you’re a decision-maker. You don’t wait and let your crewmembers bail you out on a close play. You step up and make the call every time.

“I used to tell officials, ‘You know what? When you’re going to throw (the flag), throw,’” Pereira said. “’Make the decision — if you’re right, (or) you’re wrong. If you’re wrong, who cares? You’ll learn. But when you do something on the field, be definitive.’”

If you are definitive, Pereira said, observers will recognize and appreciate that.

“You can teach him what you want called for holding,” Pereira explained. “You can teach him what you want let go — you can teach him that. But some stuff comes naturally — that instinct, that deportment, that comportment, that physical nature of being when you’re looking at somebody.”

People Skills

How do you interact with players, coaches and your fellow officials? Your personality counts. Crawford said that he learned that concept later in his career, but he believes that being a people person is important in officiating.

“What you really got to do in my opinion is take a step back,” Crawford said. “And (the late) Darell Garretson (former NBA director of officiating) used to say to me, ‘Joey, you’ve got to get a little more of your off-court personality and put it on the court because you turn — you laugh for 22 hours, and then for two hours it’s like somebody put Satan in you.’ And I used to say to him, ‘I didn’t understand that.’”

Crawford gets it now.

“That’s what I’ve come to realize — that you have to be a people person to referee,” he said. “I didn’t say, ‘Nice guy.’ I said, ‘A people person.’ And I think that’s what I didn’t get early on because I was listening to my father who was from the ’50s and the ’60s, and they attacked all the time. That’s how they officiated; it was attack.

“And that isn’t the way of the world today. … If I could do anything from the start again, I think I’d be a little more of a people person.”

Situation Management

Along with being a people person, you need to be able to handle situations that arise. You need to rise above pressure situations and not let them consume you.

“You wonder why some of these guys don’t make it,” Reilly said, “and it’s because … they just didn’t get it. They were good at ball, strike, safe and out — they could do it. But when it came to gametime handling of situations, handling managers, handling the pressure of the game, they couldn’t do it.”

Crawford shared a story about an NBA summer league game in Orlando in which Detroit was playing. Rasheed Wallace, who often led the league in technical fouls as a player, is an assistant coach for Detroit. Tiffany Bird was one of the officials on the game. One of the other referees was an NBA referee. For their first four years in the league, NBA officials work in the summer league.

“There’s a timeout between the third and the fourth period, and I see Rasheed reeling her in,” Crawford said. “So I’m watching and I’m saying to myself, this is why we’re here. We’re going to find out whether this referee has it. So I’m watching her and I’m just sitting there going, ‘Whack him, whack him.’

“Finally Rasheed is being real nice and then, bang, he went right for the jugular. And she just put her hand right up in his face and said, ‘I’ve got enough of you.’ That lady bought me. She now became — this doesn’t have anything to do with a guy or a woman — a referee.”

Handling arguments and other situations is essential in all sports.

“In baseball, the art of arguing is a quality you have to have,” Reilly said. “So when I look for a young umpire that we’re looking for that It Factor — it’s how someone handles himself in a stressful situation in an argument. And it could be different circumstances, one where he’s 100 percent right, and the other one is 100 percent wrong, and he knows it in both cases. But how aggressive is this young umpire who’s trying to find himself?

“And it doesn’t have to be a major league umpire. It could be a high school umpire, it can be a college umpire. But how, when you get in those sh– houses, you know how to get yourself out of them. And when you’re right, you’re right, and when you’re wrong you’ve got to be right. And that’s how you’ve got to handle those things.”

Investment

Officials know the commitment it takes to officiate, but for the most part, no one else cares. And that’s OK. You know you matter to the game.

When the NFL officials returned to work last season following the games worked by replacement officials, Steratore was the referee for the first game back.

“When we went back to officiate it wasn’t about us going back or ‘Look at us,’” Steratore said. “It was about that suddenly just for a moment in time the world understood that officiating was an integral part of sporting events. No more recognition.

“Yeah, did I tip my cap. Did I tip it twice? Yes. … I got more calls driving from Washington, Pa., to Baltimore that day from NBA officials, a couple major league umpires, college basketball officials, every official from every sport called … because they felt something as an official.

“We felt appreciated, which you don’t really strive for but it overwhelms you when it occurs, because without us guys and ladies the game doesn’t happen.”

While most officials will not be elevated by such an ovation in their careers, knowing that you are important, that your fellow officials are important and that your industry is important counts. It sets you apart.

So, what is the It Factor? It’s passion, humility, confidence, integrity, presence, respect for game, command, flexibility, dedication, trustworthiness, instinct, situation management, communication, pride, investment, people skills and competition instinct.

Does that match your list? It is all of the above.

“Every one of those, each word, is what you have to do to be successful, if you think about it,” Crawford said. “Passion, desire, respect … those are the qualities you need as an official at any level.”

“It is all about how you handle yourself,” Pereira agreed. “From my standpoint … that’s what makes an official.”

You can count on it.

FOR AN EVEN MORE IN-DEPTH BREAK DOWN OF WHAT THE IT FACTOR IS AND HOW YOU CAN CULTIVATE IT IN YOURSELF, CHECK OUT REFEREE’S “IT” FACTOR BOOK, AVAILABLE IN THE REFEREE TRAINING CENTER FOR JUST $12.95

The post Defining the “It” Factor appeared first on Referee.com.

They’re Alaska’s sports officials, calling games in some of the coldest, darkest and most remote locations in the U.S.

Much of the state’s organized athletics, as well as much of the state’s population, can be found in and near Anchorage. The state’s most prominent team-sport athletes have virtually all been from there: Former NBA great Carlos Boozer, retired NHL player Scott Gomez and Red Sox pitching legend Curt Schilling all hail from the state’s largest city.

While Anchorage may seem like any community you’d find in the lower 48 — maybe a little colder — sports have floated along the state’s aquatic capillaries as well as its road network and taken up residence in the small fishing villages and Eskimo tribal communities — wherever there are enough people to divide into opposing teams.

The most difficult challenge to officiating in Alaska is also the most mundane: good old-fashioned travel. Remember how Indiana Jones’ travels were depicted as he fought Nazis all over the world? That’s what officials sometimes endure to get where they’re going: a long, smooth arc representing a commercial jet flight to a town of some consequence. That is followed by a shorter arc representing an unscheduled ride in a bush plane of dubious airworthiness that gets the ref to an airstrip hacked out of the wilderness. Finally, the superimposed map begins to fade and the camera zooms in on our hero, peering grimly into the middle distance as he steers his sled dog team toward the tiny plume of chimney smoke on the horizon.

All right, perhaps teams of sled dogs aren’t involved, but snowmobiles certainly are. The rule of thumb in Alaska is that travel is never just a matter of the shortest distance between two points.

“I did a regional tourney and I flew on a commercial jet to Bethel,” explained Robert DeCino, a basketball official with a decade of service in the nation’s 49th state. “When I got there, it was 40 below zero. We then hopped on a bush plane to a small village and were met by the principal. Later that morning the games started. Of course it was dark by 3:30 p.m. and the sun didn’t rise until 10:30 the next morning. About eight small bush communities arrived for the tournament. There was standing room only and that included all around the sidelines and baseline — Eskimos in parkas watching their kids play basketball. After each evening as I exited the gym all that we could see outside were snow machines. That is how these folks traveled to the tournament. In addition, I and only one other official did the whole tournament.”

The state’s northernmost community is Barrow, located 340 miles north of the Arctic Circle. And even though there are no roads that lead into town (you either snowmobile in from a nearby village or fly into the city airport from Fairbanks or Anchorage), Barrow is considered a pretty big metropolis compared to most any other northern Alaska community.

“After the oil pipeline boom a few years ago, Barrow built a $70 million high school,” says Dick Shellhorn, a 32-year veteran basketball official from Cordova. “Strangely enough, because of the limited number of schools in Alaska, Cordova, a 3A school (101-400 students) was in the same league as Barrow, which is almost 1,500 miles away (Alaska’s conferences and districts have since realigned, but Barrow still plays schools 1,500 miles away!).

“We flew all the way up there for a tournament; of course, all the teams were housed in the school. It was late January, cold as heck. Anyhow, all the teams were fed in the school cafeteria. So there was always a big line waiting for meals. It was lunchtime on the second day of the tournament, the line was moving slowly, and all of a sudden, all the Eskimo gals who worked in the cafeteria walked off the job. They all left the kitchen, walked to the south facing windows of the spanking new cafeteria dining area and stared outside. Not knowing what was up, some of us walked over to do the same, thinking maybe a polar bear was walking down the street. We didn’t see anything, but the gals weren’t moving, so we waited to see what was up. Finally, in about two minutes, the very tip of the sun popped over the horizon for about one minute, and then vanished. Once it was gone, they all turned and went back to the kitchen without saying a word. I asked someone what that was all about, and the reply was: ‘That’s the first time we’ve seen the sun since back in November.’”

For 82 days in Barrow the sun rises and never sets — between May 10 and Aug. 2 — and from Nov. 18 through Jan. 24 the sun never rises above the skyline.

Officials have been known to describe fans as “nuts,” but the situation in Alaska is a bit different and more insidious. Behavioral problems are a well-documented fact of life and sports venues are not immune to the consequences of psychological problems that are essentially non-existent in the rest of the country.

“The basketball season here is very cold and very dark,” explained DeCino. “The sport is very big in this part of the state because it is something to do during the winter. It’s the time of year when we get the least amount of sunshine and because of that people get all sorts of interesting maladies, including seasonal affective disorder. There are a lot of suicides in this part of the country because of those maladies and sometimes you can tell there are things going on in the crowd that are beyond your control.”

“Have you ever worked a basketball game in which the tribal chief is on the sideline to make sure you get out safely if the home team loses?” asks Bill Broderson, the president of the Fairbanks Basketball Officials Association.

Tribal elders and sometimes even tribal chiefs will walk with an official to and from the dressing room (if there is one), because when a ref is working a tournament in a tiny Russian fishing village or an Eskimo settlement near the Arctic Circle, he is something far more important than a basketball official — he is a guest.

“When these schools have tournaments the officials are treated like royalty,” explained DeCino. “You eat better than you can imagine. Smoked salmon, soups, casseroles, authentic Russian food. It’s really fun to do those games because of how well you are treated.”

When’s the last time you heard that from an official in the lower 48? One of the benefits of working in Alaska is the opportunity to travel to communities where hospitality is more than perfunctory courtesy — it is a cultural imperative.

Of course that tradition of hospitality is, in part, a response to the harsh conditions these communities must endure. Just as Bedouin tribes are directed by custom to provide three days of hospitality to even their most bitter tribal enemies, residents of Alaska’s remote and unforgiving regions live in a world where a meal and a roof for a stranger (or even an adversary) may well mean the difference for that person between life and death. The conditions that Alaskans endure are daunting enough on paper: raw temperatures of 40 below zero and periods of the year where darkness is constant. But to experience them is to understand that the state’s residents often feel that there are no strangers, just potential survival partners whose names you don’t yet know.

Baseball is played under much more reasonable conditions. The window of weather favorable to baseball in Alaska may be short, but the state’s players and umpires take full advantage of it. In addition to robust youth, high school and American Legion teams, the Alaska Baseball League produced the club many baseball experts believe to be the best amateur team ever: The 1964 Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks had a roster that included Tom Seaver, Graig Nettles and Rick Monday.

The Goldpanners are also renowned as the hosts of the annual Midnight Sun baseball game, played every year on June 21, the summer solstice. Despite a 10:30 p.m. start time, the game is played entirely by natural light and has been since its inception. If the idea of calling balls and strikes by sunlight at 1:15 a.m. appeals to you, there’s only one place to do it.

Soccer, too, is a sport that, thanks to Alaska’s unique weather, finds itself dealing with a short season as well as, on occasion, short games.

“We can’t get on the outdoor fields before June 1,” says Richard Green, chair of the Alaska State Referee Committee. “Usually we try to be finished by mid-September, but sometimes we run into snow on the ground even then. Everyone grabs a shovel and we plow the field so we can finish the game.” Same thing with football, where the eight-week regular season ends in late September or early October, and the playoffs finish up a few weeks later.

While the weather is one adversary, darkness is another. “It gets late early” when summer is on the wane, and one of the decisions soccer officials need to make before a game begins is how long the game will last.

“In soccer, the rules say that a game must consist of two equal periods (unlike many hockey leagues, in which an official can shorten the third period alone to conform to ice time restrictions),” Green explains. “Later in the summer we have to make our best guess about how much light we have and determine how long the halves are going to be before the game starts.”

Whether it’s needing to travel more than 600 miles to serve as one of just two officials assigned to an eight-game tournament, being treated like royalty during a visit to a small native community or determining if it’s really and truly necessary to put a metal whistle in your mouth when the air temperature is eight below zero, Alaska indisputably provides officials with unique opportunities and challenges. In the nation’s northernmost state, the bases are still 90 feet apart and a successful 12-foot jump shot is still good for two points, but the circumstances under which Alaska’s officials do their work make the experience unique and memorable.

Van Oler is a freelance writer and hockey official from Cincinnati. This article was pulled from the Referee Archives and Referee is not responsible for any inaccuracy or misrepresentation resulting from the passage of time.

The post Alaska’s Officials Brave Harsh Weather To Get the Job Done appeared first on Referee.com.

It Takes Dedication

By Brad Allen, NFL referee from Lumberton, N.C.

There is no other avocation that I can think of that requires the level of physical and mental preparation that officiating mandates, and you have to dedicate yourself in order to be successful.

You have to be in excellent physical condition in order to be in the correct position to rule on plays. Add to that the extreme climate conditions that officials encounter and you quickly understand the importance of physical conditioning for officials.
You also have to ensure that your mental preparation is exceptional in order to be effective. Knowing the rules and how to implement them fairly, evenly and within the guidelines of accepted philosophy is important. Managing a game and ensuring equity in your rulings between two talented, highly motivated teams is a great challenge. Knowing how to communicate with players, coaches and officials when the game is “on the line” requires great skill and finesse. The passion and emotion of the contestants can never sway the judgment of the crew. Being able to handle situations that arise separates the average official from the capable arbiter. The challenges of officiating are a great motivation and fun … you gotta love it!

The Field Feels Like Home

By Mandy Love, youth, amateur, high school, college, and former professional soccer official from Bowling Green, Ky.

I have known that I wanted to referee long before I owned my first whistle. My father and older brother both became soccer referees, and I had to watch them referee every Saturday in agony waiting for my turn. I had grown up playing the sport, but for some unknown reason, playing was just not satisfying enough. When I became old enough to referee, in my opinion, at the ripe age of nine I told my father my intentions and he explained that I was still too young to take an entry-level class. That was one of the few times I remember getting in trouble with my father for kicking his car door as hard as my little legs could out of anger. Another year passed and my father finally allowed me to become a certified referee. My uniforms were enormous, and I stepped on my flag but I felt as big as the world!

My feelings about my whistle are still the same. Every offseason lasts too long and a week off of the field makes me feel rusty. People often ask me how I maintain a smile throughout almost every game, however it is quite unintentional. I just cannot erase the pleasure from my face. Refereeing soccer is more than a hobby or a job; it is my passion and it is ingrained in me so deeply that it is a part of me. The confidence I feel on the field has spilled over into almost every aspect of my life, and it has propelled me to believe that any dream is within my grasp. And without any rhyme or reason, the place where I feel the most at home, pacified and comfortable is on that soccer field.

My Dad Was an Official

By Clete Blakeman, NFL referee from Omaha, Neb.

My love of officiating started when I was very young … five to six years old. I literally grew up watching my dad, Glen, work a seemingly endless number of football and basketball games. Each week, I’d tag along with dad and his crew to whatever game they had scheduled. I realized, even back then, how fun and rewarding each officiating experience was for the crew. As a child, I know that I enjoyed every minute of it. After college, I had the great privilege of joining his football crew and kick-starting my own football officiating career. We enjoyed working four football seasons together before his retirement.

It is a Huge Challenge

By Brad Watson, NHL referee from Denver

The thing I enjoy most about NHL officiating is the challenge each game presents. I have to be ready physically, mentally and emotionally. Officiating at the professional level requires commitment to conditioning. Today’s game is so fast and the players have such a high skill set that it’s very important to be in the best possible position to judge a play and make a call. Gaining the best sight line on the ice requires officials to be strong skaters, agile and physically fit.
Being mentally ready for the game is most important. When you are ready mentally you work with confidence. You know the rules, have studied the pregame intel and use your experience to go read and react to the actions. When a situation occurs that brings the temperature of the game up, you have to control your emotions and read the emotions of the players and coaches to restore calm. Having good presence, working with pride, acting professional and enjoying the challenge of the job is what I love most about officiating hockey. I always say, you can question my judgment but don’t question my effort.

It is My Release

By Ralph Davino, longtime high school baseball, football and basketball official from Watertown, Conn.

It puts me in the zone! I could be having the worst day possible and I still lose myself in my game that day. Usually I will leave the venue with a different outlook. It is my release.

It is the Best Seat in the House

By Kevin Yochum, Big League World Series softball umpire and baseball umpire from Fort Myers, Fla.

There is no greater place to be than on a softball or baseball field. Being part of the game is a big reason. It’s the best seat in the house. You can’t get any closer to the ballgame. It’s a wonderful place to be.

I hear (other officials) say, “I do it for the kids.” I’m not disagreeing with them when they say that and I enjoy being around the kids too, but there’s a hundred other things I could do if I was doing it for the kids. I could be involved with 4-H. I could be involved with Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of America.

I do it because I love the ballgame. … The Big League College World Series (last August in Kalamazoo, Mich.) was probably the most fun I’ve had on a ball field. I came off the field and I was so pumped up.

It Gave Me Brothers

By Steve Thorne, 19-year high school football official from Escondido, Calif.

Before I started officiating I had a sister who lived in another county. Now I have hundreds of brothers around the country.

You Meet All Types

By Rick Eberhardt, a 4-decade multi-sport official from Buffalo, N.Y.

You meet just about every type of person there is that exists and you have to learn to deal with all of them in a manner that shows that you deserve to be called an “official.” You meet cheaters, schemers, geniuses and idiots. You meet people persons, individual persons, team players and egomaniacs. You meet talented, mediocre and middle-of-the-road people. Some are destined for greatness, some for failure. No matter who you meet, you have to deal with them as people who deserve the best from you. No matter what age, talent, salary, race or sex, you must give your all. You are expected to be perfect and improve after that.

It’s Like Playing

By Lee Dyer, NFL back judge from Trenton, Ga.

I love the smell of the grass when you first walk out on the field when you get to the stadium. Your heart begins to race, the adrenaline begins to run rampant throughout your body, the excitement takes over as you look around the stadium; you take a couple of deep breaths and then everything becomes so clear. Officiating is similar to playing the game — full of emotion, both highs and lows. I love the challenge of being in complete control of your emotions, maintaining the calmness and the challenge to make a split-second decision in front of 60,000-100,000 screaming fans and knowing you have six crewmates that have your back in the heat of the battle.

It is a Tradition

By Joanne Aldrich, NCAA D-I women’s basketball official from Tewksbury, Mass.

My father was a basketball official and one of the founding members of the local IAABO board in Lowell, Mass. The board presents an award in his name each year to the area high school that exemplifies sportsmanship.

My dad always said, “You do not always win, but you can always be a good sport” and, “You should conduct yourself on the court, the way you would conduct yourself in life.” In addition, I have two brothers and a sister who were also officials … we were known as the “Aldrich Hoop Family.”

So when I went off to college I had to work and was asked what I might enjoy doing, I said, “Sports.” I was hired on the intramural staff and was paid $3 an hour to officiate co-ed flag football, women’s basketball and co-ed softball. It was fun and stress-free officiating, and I was able to help pay for college. That was the start of my passion for officiating basketball. For the following few years, I officiated some while pursuing my master’s in nursing and then my doctorate. After completing my doctorate, I returned to officiating. Presently I officiate in nine D-I conferences. I am also in my first year as the coordinator of officials for the NE-10 Conference, the largest Division II conference in the country.

I look for officials I assign to have the same respect and values for the game as I do. I am blessed that I have been able to enjoy two passions and carry on the “Aldrich Hoop Family” tradition.

It Makes Me Feel Alive

By Brian Alexander, high school basketball official from Aleknagik, Alaska

It is equivalent to flying an airplane, skydiving, skiing a black diamond, anything that heightens all your senses. If you’ve ever experienced a buzzer-beater, that’s what I’m talking about.

It Has Made Me a Better Person

By Robert Nelson, basketball and football official from Gainesville, Fla.

I love officiating for the same reason I love my wife. It and she have made me a better person. I appreciate that officiating has contributed lots of exercise and has helped to keep me in good health. It has helped me to handle stressful situations and taught me how to remain calm in the midst of the storms of life. It has put me in the middle of so many exciting situations where my skills and knowledge have been tested and given me and my crewmates the afterglow of satisfaction when you know you nailed it in a championship atmosphere.

I Get to Be a Part of a Great Game

By Bert Smith, NCAA D-I men’s basketball official from Florence, Ky.

I love being part of the game. The arrival at the arena, the pregame, being with various partners, the competition, the players, coaches, ambience, the focus and concentration needed on each possession. It allows me the privilege to do something I love, being part of the greatest game, men’s college basketball. I also love the fact that no game is ever the same and allows us the ability to make constant improvement.

It Doesn’t Discriminate

By Spencer Hunley, high school football official from Kansas City, Mo.

As a person with a disability, I’m pleased to be a part of a profession that doesn’t discriminate against what I can’t do and emphasizes what I can. The minute my stripes are on, I’m a part of a crew — not an official with a disability.

We Aren’t Allowed to Fail

By Ruben Fowler, NFL umpire from Del Valle, Texas

I love that we are the only participants who are not allowed to fail. What I mean is that we are the upholders of the integrity of the game. There is no swaying what we are attempting to do — to make sure the game is played as fairly as possible. We make mistakes but we make them with the honest attempt to be right 100 percent of the time; I like being held to that high standard.

I Can Be a Role Model

By Glenn Bushouse, soccer and volleyball official from Richland, Mich.

It offers a chance to lead by example. Even after coaches/fans express their disappointment in my calls, I still have the eyes and hearts of the players on the field looking to me for leadership and how to show good character and convictions.

It is the Ultimate Escape

By Glen Thompson, high school official from Tremont, Ill., who has worked football, baseball, softball and cycling.

Officiating for me has always been the ultimate escape. When I am out on the field working a game I am mentally and physically completely focused on doing the job right. The problems of the world do not exist when I am working a game. This was evident five years ago when my mother died in September and my father died in October during the football season. I didn’t miss a game that season, because working the games was my therapy.

It Provides Excitement

By Brittany Henry, high school basketball official from Antioch, Calif.

I love officiating because of the rush of excitement I get every time a player rises over another for a nothing-but-net three-pointer or from two kids diving after a loose ball like it’s a $1 million bill. The passion I felt when I played is still there for me when I officiate and I can feel that passion on the court. Being able to participate and watch these young men and women playing the game because they have that desire to play is a joy to me that you cannot experience through a TV or on the sidelines.

It is the Toughest Thing I’ve Ever Done

By Ed Malloy, NBA referee from Aston, Pa.

I love officiating because of the challenge. It is by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. Unfortunately we miss plays every night, but the challenge of trying to be perfect and get every play right is why I love it so much. There is no better feeling then walking back into the locker room with your partners and knowing that we worked together as a team and that we gave everything we had for those 48 minutes.

I Love Officiating Because It Gives Me Goose Bumps

By Jeff Adler, Foster City Calif., who officiates high school football, youth soccer and Little League Baseball

Working a Friday night high school football game gives me goose bumps. As soon as I arrive and begin preparing for the game, my day, my life, enters a new and exciting realm. When I enter the field, there’s more bounce in my step, my senses are heightened and my competitive juices start flowing. I can’t find that feeling anywhere else.

I Have a Passion for the Sport

By Bill Dittmar, amateur, collegiate and MLS referee from Newport News, Va.

At the core of the reasons why I love to referee is a passion for the sport of soccer. In 1973, my older brother Mike introduced the game to our family by joining the high school team as a freshman. I was seven years old and wanted to learn everything he learned each day when he got home from practice. I joined a rec team and Mike spent hours showing me how to play. Over the next seven years, Mike rose to become a star for both his high school and college teams, my dad became a coach and my love for the game was cemented. By age 11, I was organizing all the neighborhood kids in pick up games and by age 14, I got certified to referee and started coaching. Soccer was now firmly in my blood and forever would help mold and shape me.

Over the years I’ve been blessed with so many highlights but have found a simple phrase that sums it all up: “Special Soccer Moments,” derived from the poem “June Goal,” written by my Dad in 1976. It goes:

You scored, Billy ––
a thrust, a dribble, a power shot
that carried high into the net.
Their goalie tried leaping to his left
but never had a chance.
As you looked toward my approval
you knew we kicked it in together.

Soccer has enriched my life ever since that fateful day in 1973 when my brother came home and said he made the high school soccer team. I continue to coach high school soccer. I still play in a men’s league, have refereed more than 700 NCAA games and am in my 17th season as an MLS official. The challenges are different for each level of refereeing and the emotional payoffs vary, but the reason for being in the game is the same: Passion for soccer runs through my veins.

You Never Know What is Going to Happen

By Jay Sharrers, NHL linesman from Scottsdale, Ariz.

Even though at this point in my career I have the experience and acceptance, there is still that constant challenge from one game to the next because you never know what is going to happen every time you step on the ice. It pushes you to be on top of your game. For someone like me who has been in the game for a long time, there is a certain level of expectation on the part of players, coaches and my supervisors. That is definitely what drives me.

Rules knowledge is a component of it. Knowing the rulebook and being able to execute decisions in a split-second. My colleagues and I have strong personalities with how we’re wired so being able to do a job that you know you’re in a select company of people is very rewarding. It’s not some routine you’re doing day in and day out. You never know what’s going to happen. Having to make those decisions in a split second is a challenge I enjoy.

It Requires Total Focus

By Harold Buck, New Hope, Minn., a longtime men’s lacrosse official who has also worked lifeguard tournaments and fencing.

I love officiating because it has a Zen aspect to it: for those two hours, you are completely focused on the task at hand. There’s no room in your head for thinking about cutting the grass, what you need from the store or how you have to finish your taxes. It’s energizing and refreshing to have that kind of focus on something. Add to that the fact that we actually get paid to exercise, and I can’t think of a better way to spend a spring afternoon than on a lacrosse field!

It Lets Me Work With High-Class People

By Lou Vizza, high school football and college basketball official from Warren, Pa.

Why I love officiating can be simply put as it has given me the opportunity to work with and be associated with some of the finest individuals that walk the face of this earth. Not one of these men or women is without the utmost class and integrity, and I hope by associating with them some of their class and integrity has rubbed off on me and made me a better person. *

The post Why I Love Officiating appeared first on Referee.com.

Think back to when you first started officiating. Chances are there was someone already in the profession whom you emulated.

It might have been the way that person ran onto the field or the court. It might have been the way a runner was called out on a close play at first base, or how the whistle was blown. But one way or another, that official stood out from the crowd. In short, he or she had style.

Many of the legendary figures in officiating circles had distinct individual styles. Men like longtime NL umpire Al Barlick or NFL referee Tommy Bell had a certain mystique about them. Their mannerisms, be it Barlick’s decisive strike call, or Bell’s emphatic way of signaling a penalty, made them appear decisive and in control.

For many years, assigners and supervisors encouraged (or at least didn’t discourage) individuality for precisely that reason; decisive signals or a loud voice helped sell a call and gave the impression to coaches and players that the official was sure of him or herself.

Bottom line: If you got the call right, what you looked like doing it was secondary in many locales.

But that mind-set has changed. Over the last three decades there has been an increasing emphasis on doing things “by the book.” In today’s world most assigners, evaluators, coordinators and assessors prefer that their officials stick to the prescribed signals and mechanics. Conformity is a virtue.

Some of that philosophy emerged by design, the rest from the growth of and changes in the officiating industry.

Hank Nichols has been in the epicenter of all of it. Among the great basketball officials, Nichols worked 10 NCAA Final Fours and six national championship games in the 1970s and ’80s. In 1986, he became the NCAA’s national coordinator of men’s basketball officiating, the first time the organization had appointed a national coordinator in any sport. Over the next 22 years, including six of them as the secretary-rules editor, Nichols worked to standardize officiating practices around the country.

Over time, floor mechanics and other officiating practices became universal. Along the way individualism was deemphasized, in part, Nichols says, because the practice of “selling a call” isn’t as important today as it once was.

“Historically, you had to sell your call if you were going to advance in officiating,” he says. “If you didn’t sell your call real hard in that gym, the people who were evaluating you would look on that as a negative.

“There was a reason for that because in those days, if you sold it in the gym, the coaches and the fans would more likely buy it. And the coaches wouldn’t see the film, or whatever they were looking at, until a day later.”

Nichols points out that today’s coaches, not to mention the media and fans, get virtually instant access to plays, often via digital high-definition technology.

“Because of all the (technology) we have now,” he says, “it doesn’t matter so much if you sell the call in the arena because 20 minutes after the game 16 people have (it) and they know if you got it right or wrong.”

The NBA went through a similar transition when Darell Garretson took over as its supervisor of officials in 1981. Prior to his assuming the post, NBA officials were free to show personalities on the floor. Officials like Sid Borgia, Mendy Rudolph, and later Earl Strom and Jake O’Donnell had distinct on-court personas.

That changed under Garretson, who wanted everyone on his staff doing things the same way. His philosophy generated considerable resentment among some of the veterans on the staff. The common argument was that officials were being turned into robots, but Garretson’s reasoning was that a team should expect the same things from a crew in Milwaukee as they did the night before in Boston.

Over time the NBA staff grew, in part because of the introduction of three-official crews for the 1988- 89 season and in part because of expansion. In the process, the referees became largely anonymous figures. Garretson spent 17 years in the post before retiring, but his impact on the game remains. And Nichols is quick to point out that in the past several years certain NBA practices have been adopted at the college level, such as pointing on a player-control foul instead of the traditional hand-behind- the-head signal.

Some have trickled down to the high school ranks, where officials now toss or bounce the ball to a player making an inbounds pass, instead of handing it to them, which was standard procedure for years.

From the Top Down

The trickle-down effect has had an impact on football as well. The NFL was the first professional league to evaluate its officials using tools that are taken for granted in most sports today, such as a formalized grading system along with film and later video technology.

Through the years, certain officials, particularly referees, have had styles or mannerisms that made them easy to pick out on the field. Men like Bell, Jim Tunney and later Jerry Markbreit stood out, particularly after referees began using microphones in the 1970s.

But the pendulum shifted in the direction of standardization over the past two decades; specifically, since Jerry Seeman was named the NFL’s director of officiating in 1991.

During his own officiating career, which he concluded by serving as the referee for Super Bowl XXV, Seeman stood out for his placid disposition on the field.

Some called it “working on cruise control,” others described that approach as “robotic.”

In any case, Seeman stressed that approach to his staff, in his quest for each of his crews, and for each official within the crew, to approach the task of officiating an NFL game in a structured, analytical fashion.

That philosophy became ingrained at the college level after the late Dave Parry was appointed the NCAA’s first national coordinator for football after the 2007 season.

Parry, who worked in the NFL for 15 seasons before taking charge of the Big Ten staff, brought the NFL philosophy with him as the coordinator. Nowadays it’s hard to tell a seasoned college crew apart from their NFL brethren.

But individual style isn’t completely lost. When Mike Pereira replaced Seeman prior to the start of the 2001 season, officials were given a bit more leeway to let their personalities show. That has stayed with Carl Johnson, vice president and director of officiating.

Legendary referees Markbreit and Red Cashion currently serve as trainers and mentors to today’s referees as well. Both had distinctive on-field mannerisms, such as Cashion’s distinctive “First down,” drawl.

As trainers, they help the referees on the present-day NFL staff find an outlet for their individual personalities while still adhering to league policies and procedures.

Fitting in vs. Standing Out

So what does all that mean for those of us working at lower levels?

In short, the people who assign and evaluate officials are usually more comfortable with someone who fits in than someone who stands out.

Bryan Fink is the president of the South Carolina Football Officials Association (SCFOA). He’ll be starting his 29th season on the field this fall; he also worked basketball for 25 years before giving it up a few years back.

The SCFOA utilizes one of the most detailed officials’ manuals of any local association in the country. Over the course of 52 pages it covers every aspect of officiating a football game. It’s designed for a five-official crew but alternate versions are available for crews of four (for sub-varsity games) or seven (for the postseason).

“I can’t recall how it came about,” Fink says, “but all of a sudden we developed our own manual. … We review the manual every year and it’s updated on an annual basis.”

In South Carolina, officials don’t work in regular crews and it’s not uncommon for officials to travel 75 miles one way to work a varsity game. The manual enables officials from different regions to work together with relative ease.

“It allows officials to be able to work together to communicate with one another using the prescribed mechanics,” he says. “It’s a very good manual. That’s why we try not to deviate from it.”

Indeed, officials are “strongly encouraged” not to deviate from the manual, which was adopted in the 1980s.

Fink, who is primarily a linesman but who also frequently works as a referee, says the manual is particularly helpful for young officials.

He is quick to point out that the SCFOA isn’t trying to produce officials who are clones of one another in terms of personality or style. He maintains that officials can have a distinct style and still stick to their association’s prescribed procedures.

“The thing that allows someone to do that is confidence in their own ability,” he says, “and being very comfortable at their position as an official. At that point in time they can display a little bit more stylistic type of stuff and still be within the guidelines.”

Donna Vavrinec echoes those sentiments. Her umpiring credits include four trips to the NCAA Division I Softball World Series and two assignments to the ASA Women’s Major Fast Pitch national tournament. She’s also umpired at the international level. Vavrinec is now in her second season as the NCAA’s national coordinator of softball umpires.

As was the case in other sports, the NCAA created the softball coordinator’s post as the sport grew, as the number of intersectional games increased and as college softball received more television exposure.

“We have teams traveling across the country,” she said, “and we wanted everybody to be on the same page as far as consistency and enforcing the rules.”

Softball is unique in that standardized umpiring procedures have evolved as much from the bottom up as the other way around. The ASA umpire manual, for instance, is one of the most detailed in all of sports.

Historically, the people who evaluate softball umpires have placed a greater emphasis on “doing it by the book” than their peers in other sports. Vavrinec herself is quick to point out the importance of using standardized mechanics.

“One way we can be on the same page is with our mechanics,” she says. “So we can communicate with one another and know what we’re saying. … I think that standardization came from the need to be able to communicate with people across the country.

“Or take international ball. You may not be able to speak Italian, but you can communicate with your partners through your signals.”

Vavrinec notes, however, that within the guidelines there’s room for some individuality.

“There is some leeway in making say a third-strike call,” Vavrinec says. “There are different ways you can put your own style on your game. It’s not like everyone has to do the same kind of hammer. There is some leeway within the guidelines.”

Some Style is a Good Thing

In today’s increasingly standardized world, Mike Carey and many of his NFL referee counterparts are able to stand out some. A veteran of 22 NFL seasons, 16 of them as a referee, Carey’s own on-field persona exudes dignity and precision, in the best sense of those terms.

Carey cites two circumstances that have made the “personality issue” more complicated for referees — the microphone that referees use regularly at the college and professional levels (and often at levels below that) and the increasing use of instant replay.

It’s important that the referee describe the situation in a manner that provides the interested parties (the players and coaches) with the information that they require, while at the same time keeping spectators and the television audience informed.

“Instant replay is a very, very high-profile part of refereeing,” Carey says, “along with our announcement of fouls. We have a structure of the way they want you to do it and it’s difficult sometimes to do it in a way that’s expressive.”

Although there are certainly styles and personalities that come through.

Carey says there are occasions when it’s necessary to sell a call, whether the play involves the referee, someone working at another position, or several officials working in unison. “You’ll see (officials’) personalities come out in that as an exclamation point,” he says. “We want to make sure the audience sees the result of that play and how it’s being officiated. What did happen on that play.”

Carey cites then-Giants receiver Mario Manningham’s celebrated catch along the sideline in the most recent Super Bowl as a case where “selling the call” was especially necessary.

“The first question was, ’Did he or didn’t he (make a legal catch)?’” Carey says. “Nobody wants to wait three minutes for a replay and Laird Hayes (the side judge) gave a really great sell. It just erased all doubt in anybody’s mind about what happened on that play.”

How Much is Too Much?

So, if there is leeway for style in officiating, what are the limits of style?

A good answer to that question might be, individual style that aids in game administration can be beneficial in the right circumstances. Style that detracts from efficient game administration or is irritating to coaches, players (and partners) is a problem or potential problem.

Dock Sisk started working basketball some 37 years ago in his native Georgia. One of his frequent partners was Sally Bell. Today he observes games for Bell in the Ohio Valley and Atlantic Sun conferences, as well as in camp settings.

Sisk handled women’s college games for three decades and estimates he worked 19 NCAA Division I tournaments; he didn’t work during the 2011-12 season because of a leg injury.

A long career as both official and observer has given Sisk some very definite and practical ideas about what assigners and coordinators are looking for and, more importantly, what they’re not looking for.

“Supervisors are more comfortable with officials who fit a particular mold,” he says. “I think they’re more comfortable with people who are similar.

“The person who does things differently stands out.”

Sisk points out that coaches expect officials to take the game as seriously as they do. Being overly flashy or showy on the field or court can easily create the wrong impression.

“This is serious business,” Sisk says. “You have to be really careful about taking away from the game. That’s the perception that officials who do things differently can create.”

It’s not uncommon for up-and-coming officials to be asked to adjust to their mechanics as they climb the ladder, particularly if they start working at the college level and begin using NCAA mechanics.

Sisk occasionally encounters up-and-coming officials who are resistant to change, to the point of wanting to argue the point. Some eventually adapt while those who do not see their careers stall or go into reverse. But for those who are thinking that officiating at higher levels is becoming too much about “looking the part” as opposed to “getting it right,” Sisk offers the following bit of reassurance.

“(Style) only matters if I can get the plays right,” he says. “If I can’t, all this other stuff isn’t worth anything.”

The post Is There Still Room for Personality In Signals? appeared first on Referee.com.

Baseball

Baseball is a sport steeped in tradition. In the 19th century, new rules were continually being added and existing ones modified. Since 1903, however, the year of the first World Series, the game has been played pretty much as we know it today.

The most significant alteration to the playing rules since then is the provision allowing for the use of a designated hitter (DH). The DH was officially introduced in the AL in 1973. But the idea of having a hitter bat in the pitcher’s place in the lineup was not a new one; it was first suggested in the early 1900s by Connie Mack, among others.

Today the DH is used throughout professional baseball, with the exception of the NL. A vote in 1980 to adopt the DH in the NL failed. The DH is also a fixture in interleague and World Series games played in AL ballparks and has been in place in the Pacific League in Japan since 1975.

The NCAA and the NFHS each have their own versions of the DH rule. It was incorporated into college baseball for the 1974 season after the Big Ten and Western Athletic conferences experimented with it the year before.

Dick Siebert, the secretary-editor of the NCAA College Baseball Rules Committee at the time, noted, “The designated hitter rule for college will be essentially the same as used in the AL.”

But the college rule also provided that the same player could serve as the pitcher and the designated hitter simultaneously, which has proven to be no small matter in the years since.

In the NFHS rule, added in 1976, the DH is permitted to hit in place of any of the starters, regardless of their position.

Other rule changes may not have been as obvious to the casual fan but have had an impact nonetheless. In the late 1960s, concerns arose that pitching had become too much of a factor in the game. Those concerns increased after a 1968 season that saw just six players in all of MLB hit better than .300. In 1969, the height of the mound was lowered from 15 to 10 inches.

On Aug. 16, 1920, Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman was struck in the head by a pitch thrown by Yankee pitcher Carl Mays. Chapman died some 12 hours later in a hospital. As a result, the spitball was banned (save for a list of 17 pitchers who had used it to that point and were authorized to continue to use it). Also, umpires were instructed to remove a ball from play once it became discolored.

LINK: Here is a chronological list of baseball rule changes through time.

Soccer

The modern version of soccer dates back to 1863, when the group now known in England simply as the Football Association codified a set of rules that distinguished “association football” from rugby, its first cousin. The latter permitted running with the ball while soccer banned handling the ball, except by goalkeepers.

The Laws that govern soccer have changed relatively little through the years, compared to other sports. But the changes that have occurred have been quite significant.

The penalty kick was introduced in 1891. It marked the first time a goal could be scored directly from a free kick. Previously all other free kicks were indirect. The penalty area as we know it today became a reality in 1902.

The offside Law has also been modified several times. Under the original code, any attacking player positioned ahead of the ball was deemed to be offside. In 1866, the Law was modified to allow an attacking player to be onside as long as there were three defensive players between the attacker and the goal. A 1925 revision required just two defensive players between the attacker and the goal. The most recent version of the Law, which took effect in 1990, allows the attacker to be even with the second-to-last defender without being considered in an offside position.

But perhaps the most significant rule change in the sport’s long history was adopted in 1998, when FIFA decided to crack down on what would politely be termed aggressive defensive play inside the penalty area. A change in the Laws of the Game decreed that a player committing a foul that deprived an opponent of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity be sent off with a red card.

LINK: IFAB – History of the Laws of the Game

Basketball

The introduction of the shot clock is unquestionably the most significant rule change in the sport’s history. It was implemented in the NBA beginning with the 1954-55 season.

The man behind the idea was Danny Biasone, the owner of the Syracuse Nationals. He saw interest in professional basketball, not to mention his gate receipts, decline in the early 1950s. In that era, teams would build a lead and go into a stall.

Biasone reasoned that forcing a team to shoot within a specified period of time would infuse new energy into the sport.

The numbers bore him out. In 1954, NBA teams averaged 79.5 points per game. The following season, with a 24-second clock in place, NBA teams averaged 93.1 points per contest. Within three years, every team in the league was averaging more than 100 points per game.

For most of its existence, the now defunct American Basketball Association (ABA) utilized a 30-second clock before switching to 24 seconds in 1975-76, its final season.

Men’s college teams were experimenting with a shot clock in the early 1970s. A 45-second clock was formally adopted by the NCAA for the 1985-86 season, although the clock was turned off with four minutes left in regulation. A 35-second clock was instituted for the 1993-94 season and continues to this day.

The women’s college game introduced a 30-second clock for the 1970-71 season and has had it ever since. In some parts of the country, high school games utilize a shot clock.

Next to the shot clock, the three-point field goal has had the biggest impact on the sport. It was first used in the American Basketball League in the early 1960s before the ABA adopted it in its first season. The NBA followed suit in 1979-80.

The NCAA adopted a three-point shot for the 1985-86 season and the NFHS added it the following season.

A number of major rules that were fixtures in the early years of the sport were gradually eliminated as the game of basketball evolved to become the game we know today.

Among them:

• Beginning with the 1923-24 season, a player who was fouled had to shoot his own free throws. Prior to that, one player per team would usually handle the assignment.
• Until the 1937-38 season, there was a center jump after each basket.
• Goaltending wasn’t banned until the 1944-45 campaign.
• The free-throw lane was widened in all levels from six to 12 feet in 1956. The NBA eventually widened it to 16 feet.
• In 1972-73, free throws were eliminated for the first six common fouls of each half. In the NBA, the three-to-make-two and two-tomake- one bonus free throw rule was eliminated in 1981. Now on the fifth team foul committed in a quarter, or if a team commits more than one foul in the last two minutes of a quarter, the opposition gets to shoot two free throws.
• In 1981-82, the alternating possession arrow replaced the jump ball save for the start of the game and each overtime period. The jump ball is still used to settle situations after a held ball during NBA games.

Football

Today, the forward pass is a common strategy. That wasn’t always the case. The forward pass wasn’t legalized until 1906 amid a plethora of restrictions.

Only one forward pass was allowed in any one series of downs. Moreover, a pass that was touched by a player but not caught became a free ball. And if a forward pass hit the ground without being touched, the ball was awarded to the defensive team.

The passer had to be five yards to the left or right of the center. A rule change in 1910 allowed one forward pass on any down but the passer had to be five yards behind the line of scrimmage. That was part of the reason the field was lined in a gridiron pattern for the six-year period from 1904-09.

The forward pass is what distinguishes football from its forebears but there have been a host of other significant rule changes over the course of time.

For the first decade or so of its existence, the NFL played under collegiate rules. That changed in 1933 when the league made several modifications unique to the professional game. Chief among them were making the forward pass legal from any point behind the line of scrimmage as opposed to five yards behind it (the NCAA adopted the same rule in 1941), and moving the goalposts from the end line to the goalline (they were moved back to the endline in 1974).

From then on the NCAA and the NFL traveled separate paths as far as the rules were concerned.

In the post-World War II era, there were major changes to the substitution rules. In 1941, the NCAA allowed unlimited substitutions for the first time, only to abolish “twoplatoon” football eight years later. The substitution rules were liberalized, albeit gradually, in the 1960s. The NFL adopted a free-substitution rule on a permanent basis in 1950.

In 1978, the league liberalized the rules for offensive linemen engaged in pass blocking, allowing contact with open hands. The NCAA adopted a similar rule two years later before revising it in 1985 and the NFHS in 1988.

It wasn’t until 1969 that the NFHS allowed a two-point conversion after a touchdown.

LINK: An NFL feature on rules evolution.

Hockey

The NHL was born in 1917, but ice hockey dates back to at least the 1850s. The earliest set of rules, which originated in Halifax, Nova Scotia, were superseded some two decades later by what were called the Montreal or McGill (University) rules.

Originally there were seven players to a side (the six-player game was introduced during the 1911-12 season) and there were no lines on the ice. Two blue lines were added for the 1918-19 season and the rules concerning the lines have been periodically adjusted since then.

At first, forward passing was prohibited inside the blue line, meaning a player had to carry the puck into the 40-foot wide neutral zone, the only portion of the ice where forward passing was permitted. Starting in 1921-22, goaltenders could pass the puck forward in the defensive zone, but only up to the blue line.

Forward passes within the attacking zone were forbidden until 1929-30. A version of the offside rule was introduced that same year and a forerunner of today’s icing rule was adopted for 1937-38.

It wasn’t until 1943-44 that the puck could be passed from behind the blue line into center ice. A red line was put in that year to divide the ice surface in half and to mark how far that pass could travel. Introduction of the red line marked the start of the game’s modern era. In 2005-06, the red line was removed for the purposes of offside (although not for icing). The change allows a pass to be made from inside the defensive zone all the way to the opposite blue line.

The rules concerning penalties have also been periodically altered through the years. The most significant change came at the start of the 1956-57 season, when a player serving a minor penalty was permitted to return to the ice when the opposition scored a goal. Prior to that year, the penalized player served the full two-minute penalty regardless of circumstances. It was not uncommon for a team with a proficient power play to score several times during that span.

The rules governing equipment have been altered as well. In 1967- 68, the league addressed the issue of curved sticks, limiting the curve of the blade to an inch and a half. Two years later, the limit was reduced to one inch. In 2013, the maximum size for goaltender’s pads was reduced.

LINK: Here is a detailed list of Hockey rule changes. 

Volleyball

Volleyball dates back to 1895, but it was some time before today’s game evolved from there, in part because various organizations published their own versions of the rules.

At first there was no limit to the number of players permitted on each team. In the years after World War I, six players per team became the standard and a team was limited to three touches of the ball on its side of the net, thus establishing the basic foundation of the game we know today.

Over the next nine decades, changes to the rules were, for the most part, intended to allow more freedom for the players, both in terms of their movement around the court and how they were allowed to play the ball.

Historically, rule changes originate with the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and spread from there to other levels of play.

In 1997, the concept of the libero was introduced. The libero is a specialized defensive player. The libero was formally incorporated into the FIVB rulebook in 1998 and spread to other codes from there. While its use is not mandatory, it is common at all levels of the sport.

The scoring system has evolved as well. For many years, volleyball utilized side-out scoring. Matches were best two of three games with games played to 15 points; a twopoint margin was required for victory. Only the serving team could score; the receiving team would gain possession if it won a rally, but that was all.

In 1999, FIVB introduced rally scoring, which allowed either side to score a point whether it was serving or not. Sets are customarily played to 25 or 30 points, depending on the governing body, and most matches are now decided on a best-of-five basis.

LINK: A summary of 95 years of rules from USA Volleyball.

Softball

Softball purists will contend that their favorite game isn’t a variation of baseball. Despite the differences in the two sports, there are some similarities when it comes to the evolution of the rules, which is logical since softball was originally designed as an indoor version of baseball.

Apart from the size of the field and the requirement that pitchers use an underhand delivery, softball’s most distinguishing characteristic is that runners are confined to their bases until the pitch is released (fast pitch) or crosses the plate (slow pitch).

Softball icon Emily Alexander recalls a time when the pitching circle we know today was not actually drawn on the ground and runners could play cat and mouse with pitchers before finally returning to the bag. The “look-back rule” came into being sometime in the late 1970s but wasn’t called that in the rulebook until the early to mid-1990s.

But perhaps the most significant rule change in the sport’s history was the implementation of the DP/ FLEX rule. It was first introduced into ASA play in 1988 when it was called the DP/DEFO (defense only) rule. The rule allowed an extra player to be actively involved in the game, highlighting softball’s emphasis on participation.

Through the years, the sport has modified its rules and equipment to suit the changing times. In the early 1970s, the metal bat was introduced. By the early 1990s, in an effort to add more offense to the game, the NCAA introduced an optic yellow softball. The ASA authorized the use of the yellow ball in 1998.

The post Rule Changes That Changed Everything appeared first on Referee.com.

The post NASO Survey: Diversity & Inclusion appeared first on Referee.com.

s COVID-19’s reach expanded globally during the spring of 2020, people and the organizations of which they were members scrambled to adjust to everything from an avalanche of job losses to illnesses and, in some heartbreaking cases, deaths of family members and friends.

One wouldn’t normally think of an officiating association as an organization equipped to or capable of providing its members with this kind of support during those turbulent and dismal months, particularly when one of the pandemic’s first major U.S. casualties was organized sports at all levels. What’s the purpose of an officiating association when there’s nothing to officiate?

At least one association did, in fact, have a structure in place to provide valuable member support even as gyms were darkened and ballfields sat empty nationwide. Northern Virginia’s Cardinal Basketball Officials Association (CBOA), also IAABO Board #255, “an organization of amateur basketball officials from all walks of life” according to its website, has a four-member Chaplain Team — active since 2016 — that provides members with pastoral care in good times and bad.

The members of the Chaplain Team, seminarians all, are trained and experienced at providing pastoral care, which can include activities such as hospital visits, attendance at funerals/viewings and counseling. One of the primary tenets of pastoral care is the need to set aside one’s own desires in order to serve others.
“They are a tremendously diverse group and you can feel comfortable with any one of them,” explained CBOA member Jerry Caruso, who participated in the program following a cancer diagnosis. “When you are going through that, it is great to know you have people behind you.”

“There was certainly more need for pastoral care this past year than there had been previously, probably twice as much,” said Chaplain Team member Derek Shackleford, who holds both a master’s and doctorate degree in ministry from the Wesley Theological Seminary. Shackleford has also accomplished college basketball’s unofficial “triple crown,” having played, coached and now officiated at that level.

“COVID’s immediate impact on our people was two-fold,” he continued. “The first part was that the normality of officiating was suddenly absent while the other part of it was that life still happened. Employment, family situations, health, were all impacted by COVID to some extent.”

Scott Bach-Hansen is a CBOA officer and a 30-year basketball official who also manages replay equipment courtside for the NBA at Washington Wizard home games. A few years ago, the CBOA board began noticing a number of officials asking for assignment changes in order to care for relatives or attend funerals while other officials were “off the scheduling radar” for an extended period of time as they dealt with a family member’s long-term illness or end-of-life issues.

Bach-Hansen noted the CBOA membership included one ordained Catholic priest and three officials (himself included) who were seminary-trained to provide pastoral care. The seminarians all believed it would be helpful to form a Chaplain Team to support the association. The idea became reality during the next board meeting and the team has been active ever since.

“One of our officials was scheduled for an important evaluation game but had to the decline the assignment because a parent had passed away,” recalled Chaplain Team member Audrey Price. She holds a doctorate in theology from the Catholic University of America and was serving as a CBOA board member when the pastoral care concept was introduced. “We thought it would be a good idea if we had a more organized way to be present for officials in those moments.”

Some may question whether pastoral care is something an officiating association should provide. Some members may prefer their association limit its non-officiating scope and serve exclusively as a clearinghouse for game assignments and a place to discuss the intricacies of the block-charge dilemma.

Others view their relationship with their association and its members differently; veteran officials who find themselves on the same crew dozens of times over the years may begin to view their counterparts as extended family.

Many times, an official has had a soul-bearing “meaning of life” conversation with a partner in the dressing room after a particularly brutal game because that is when emotions are raw and virtually any topic is a candidate for an in-depth conversation. Some officials may actually prefer their association to their family; as humorist P.J. O’Rourke once noted, “Any politician who campaigns on ‘family values’ has never met my family.”

The service opportunities for CBOA’s Chaplain Team have grown consistently, increasing from about half a dozen in the first year to 25 or so in the second year and more than can be counted in subsequent years.

Bach-Hansen is sometimes notified by the association commissioner about an official who may be in need of Chaplain Team services. While other times the association “grapevine” is the source of information about a member who may have lost a parent, for example, or whose home was ruined by fire, tornado or some other calamity. However, the most frequent way the Chaplain Team becomes engaged is at the direct request of an official.
“They help connect members who are in similar circumstances with each other,” Caruso said. “They do it quietly, without a lot of fanfare, and they do a lot more than people know about.”

It takes a lot to prompt an enthusiastic golfer to forego an opportunity to drop an eagle putt, but the Chaplain Team carries the unwritten expectation to always answer the phone because you don’t know who is calling or how serious the reason for calling may be.
Bach-Hansen was contacted a few years ago by an official who was struggling with losses, in short order, of both his job and his beloved mother. He took the call and it was good that he did.

“I was actually standing over an eagle putt,” he recalled. After excusing himself from the somewhat surprised members of his golfing party and retiring to a nearby cart, Bach-Hansen explained he then heard the official say, “I don’t know if I want to live anymore.”
“That’s a pretty heavy phone call to get,” Bach-Hansen said. “My first job at that point was to get him through the day and get him to understand how much value he does have and that he is important to a lot of people.”

Following that initial conversation, the Chaplain Team’s Catholic priest assumed pastoral care responsibilities for the official, who is Catholic. “They speak the same language,” Bach-Hansen said. “While we’re all in the same stadium, he is in the right section.”
When confronted with situations such as suicide ideation, it is important for Chaplain Team members to remain cognizant of the limits of pastoral care, limits that don’t allow for medical or psychiatric treatments of any kind.

“We are only equipped to do so much,” Bach-Hansen explained. “We can only take our type of pastoral care to a certain level, to a point where a person needs professional help.”

To borrow a term that has become commonplace in the age of COVID, providers of pastoral care can be described as “first responders” for people dealing with a wide range of life’s challenges. As first responders, the members of the Chaplain Team serve as a crucial bridge between the people they are caring for and the professional help and social services they may find beneficial.

“We have learned that some of our officials work in these (hospitalization/dementia/hospice) fields,” explained Bach-Hansen as he discussed one association member who had approached the Chaplain Team with a dozen questions about elder care. They referred him to another member who “knows all the laws, he knows the tricks behind the scenes, and he’ll make sure that you get the information you need.”

Funeral service attendance is one of the primary responsibilities of the Chaplain Team, and the size of the organization (CBOA has more than 350 active members) means a number of funerals take place each year.

As Price noted, pastoral care providers learn through both training and experience to suppress the natural impulse to comfort with (too many) spoken words and to be a problem-solver rather than a calming presence. Shackleford echoed his colleague’s observation, noting the most valuable and enduring pastoral care is simply to be with a grieving person.

”When a person is going through a period of grief such as a funeral, they remember who was there much more than they remember what was said,” Shackleford said.
“Normally one of us tries to attend a funeral service when someone loses an immediate family member such as a parent,” Bach-Hansen said. “One season we went to 32 funerals during the year, and that’s tough because we are family. We have to remember the human side and people side of things and I hope the Chaplain Program does that.”

While Cardinal’s pastoral care team supports members of the association, Audrey Price notes officials, players, coaches, administrators, parents and other spectators are all (involuntarily at times) members of the same sport ecosystem. Everyone drags their “life baggage” to the gym or field when they show up to play, coach, watch or officiate. Price recalls a well-regarded high school basketball player acting out, and during a discreet discussion with the coach, she learned the player’s father had died two days previously.

“While you’re not going to make any decisions that impact the competiveness of the game based on that information, the context of the behavior is important,” explained Price. “The player was working out her grief on the floor. It’s not just about the athlete on the floor; it is about the whole person on the floor. People bring their ‘whole selves’ to the games and some athletes are better than others at compartmentalizing.”

Perhaps pastoral care and officiating have more in common than one would think at first glance. After all, both disciplines place a high value on remaining calm while among those in emotional turmoil.

The post Pastoral Care in the Officiating Community appeared first on Referee.com.

“Discussions” over minutiae in the rulebook or casebook are often passionate, with the parties involved staunchly committed to their points of view.

Often, these exchanges conclude with the association president or some other officer saying, “This is what we got from the state office,” an interpretation from the state governing body.

But how are these interpretations made and who makes them? In some locales, interpreters are part of the state association staff. In others, they are outside parties, whether officially or in fact. In some instances, interpreters confine themselves to answering rules questions from coaches and officials, and conducting rules clinics. In others, however, they have assumed other responsibilities.

Paul Feldhausen has been the baseball interpreter for the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association for more than 35 years. For many years, one of his chief responsibilities was conducting rules meetings around the state; today, umpires and coaches in Wisconsin view a rules video instead.

Virtually all of Feldhausen’s rules work takes place during the scholastic baseball season when he fields questions from coaches and umpires from around the state.

“I’m probably only answering questions between the end of March until the beginning of August,” he said. “Then everything dies down.”

Feldhauen also serves as the umpire-in-chief at the state tournament and is in his second tour of duty on the NFHS Baseball Rules Committee. His current term expires in 2022; he previously served from 1996-2000.

George Demetriou is one of the most influential figures in Colorado officiating circles. A longtime football and baseball official, he has served as an officer in the state football and baseball officials associations. (In Colorado, there are separate statewide officials associations for each sport.)

In 2009, Demetriou was appointed as the football rules interpreter for the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA). He assumed the baseball interpreter’s post the following year and has held both jobs ever since.

On paper, Demetriou’s primary responsibility is assisting the CHSAA staff with responses to coaches with rules questions but through the years his role has expanded to the point where he spends only a fraction of his time in that role. “I actually do very little of that,” he said.

Today, Demetriou, who is also a rules columnist for Referee, functions as a liaison between the officials associations and the CHSAA office.

“I do a weekly bulletin during the season in both sports on rules issues that come up,” he said. “And sometimes, in both sports, I’m used as the investigating officer, if you will, for stuff that comes up.”

Demetriou is responsible for reviewing the game reports that referees are required to file following every varsity game. He’ll also interview officials in both sports who are involved in ejections and is involved in putting together the crews that work the state football playoffs.

He is also the author of a football mechanics manual that established standard operating procedures statewide.

The CHSAA selects its state rules interpreters from the ranks of its state officials associations; the associations recommend candidates for the interpreter’s post but the CHSAA has the final say.

Tom Robinson, the CHSAA’s associate commissioner, oversees officiating matters. “We collaborate with that particular (officials association) sport and have them recommend who they think should be the rules interpreter,” he said, “and then we weigh in ‘Yea’ or ‘Nay,’ depending what our experience has been with that person.

“It’s about compatibility and being able to work with that person fairly easily and get things done.”

The state of Washington is unique in that the state governing body, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) and the Washington Officials Association (WOA) are separate entities.

The two organizations collaborate, however, when it comes to rules interpretations.

Officially, the WIAA office issues all interpretations; each of four assistant executive directors is charged with overseeing specific sports. But Todd Stordahl, the WOA’s executive director, notes the officials have significant input into the process.

“That (assistant executive director) may or may not have experience with that sport,” he said. “So we set up a process where we have an eight-person committee for each sport and we use those individuals to help with those interpretations.”

Stordahl says the committees perform a variety of functions, depending on the circumstances.

“Sometimes we send (the rules question) to the committee and sort of get a feeling for what the committee thinks,” he said. “Other times, we’ll just go right to one person; usually there are one or two people on that committee we’ll go to if we need a quick answer and it doesn’t seem like it’s very controversial.

“If it’s something that could be controversial or something that isn’t going to go over real well, we send it to the entire committee to have them banter around with it. Hopefully they come up with a consensus. We share that information with the WIAA and they ultimately make the final decision on whether we go that way or not but most often whatever our committee says is what the interpretation is.”

Stordahl notes the committee system allows for the inclusion of a variety of viewpoints on rules issues.

“You have your book guys, you have your common-sense guys,” he said, “and so by having a committee you sort of get a couple of each.”

In California, most matters impacting interscholastic athletics are handled below the state level. The state is divided into 10 sections under the auspices of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), which serves 1,700 high schools.

The sectional model was created when the CIF was founded in 1914 to streamline the administration of high school sports in a state that spans approximately 163,700 square miles.

Rule interpretations, however, are handed down from the CIF office in Sacramento to each section, then disseminated from there to the rules interpreter of each local association — a total of 172 of them in 18 sports.

The state interpreter in each sport conducts a series of clinics throughout the state (done virtually this year) to pass along rule changes and interpretations.

Brian Seymour, the associate executive director of the CIF, oversees officiating matters in the state. “In each of our sports we have a statewide rules interpreter,” he said. “This person is normally a former official for that particular sport or an administrator that has a background in that particular sport.

“Our state interpreters act on behalf of the state and the 10 sections. And they are the point of contact directly with the NFHS.”

The state interpreters also handle rules questions that are passed up the pyramid.
“That’s where the state rules interpreter really comes into play,” Seymour said, “because that’s a single voice on answering all types of questions when it comes to rules.”
When the CIF is in need of an interpreter, the search process is akin to searching for a new coach.

“We kind of put our athletic director hats back on,” Seymour said. “We have an ongoing list of people we like to communicate with once a position comes open. We have a list of people we’d be interested in talking to about it when the time comes.

“When that happens, we actually solicit resumes and we have people that will put in for the position. And we will interview and we will discuss it among our commissioners and our staff and then select the person we feel would do the best job statewide.’’

Kentucky keeps its rule-interpretation protocol almost entirely in house; interpretations are handled by the staff of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA). That’s not unusual. But the fact that Julian Tackett, the KHSAA’s commissioner, also serves as the state’s basketball interpreter is unique.

Tackett, who has been the commissioner going on 11 years and has worked for the KHSAA for nearly 37 years, had a long career in officiating. He worked NCAA Division I football and basketball in the Ohio Valley Conference and worked high school baseball.
At one time or another he’s served on the NFHS rules committees in all three sports; he just finished his fourth and final year of his term on the basketball rules committee.

“When I took the (commissioner’s) job, I had been the basketball interpreter three different times in 25 years,” Tackett recalls, “and the board just asked me to keep that duty.

“I was a longtime college referee so I knew the rules. They didn’t have a person in the office with a refereeing background.”

The KHSAA sponsors seven team and six individual sports. The seven senior members of the staff, including Tackett, serve as rules interpreters

“We do not utilize outside people,” Tackett said. “Outside people lead to mixed messages.

That has been our experience. That may work in other places. It has not worked for us. So, if we hire somebody that doesn’t have that expertise, we get them trained.”
There are rare occasions when Tackett and his team will reach out for rules expertise.

“For wrestling, we issue the official interpretations,” Tackett said, “but we might lean on a key official in our state. But quite honestly, being here as long as I have, I feel like if I’m going to take the bullet for it, I might as well take the action for it.”

Theresia Wynns serves the NFHS as its director of sports and officials education. In that role, she sits on every NFHS rules committee as a non-voting member.

“We give a rules meeting every year for every sport that writes rules,” she said. “That should be the basis for rules interpretations. And we have a PowerPoint presentation the states have access to.”

Wynns explains the NFHS has a top-down approach to rules interpretations. “We interpret to our states,” she said. “Then it becomes the state’s responsibility to interpret to its constituents; the officials in that particular (state).”

Individual states have a fair amount of leeway when it comes to rules interpretations. “At the Federation, we offer the rules interpretation,” Wynns said, “but if the state determines that it wants to interpret the rule differently, enforce the rule differently, it has the autonomy to do so.’’

Concerns about regionalism — rules being interpreted differently in different states or in different regions of the same state — are hardly new.

People may read the language in the NFHS publications differently but more often, changes are resisted by members of the “old guard” in local associations who remonstrate, “We’ve always done it this way.”

Wynns says it’s important for state governing bodies to engage interpreters who are not only knowledgeable but respected within their sphere of influence and embrace NFHS interpretations and philosophies.

“Unless there is someone strong in the state that is interpreting to all of its constituents, that could muddy the waters, if they have interpreters who go rogue against what the state office is saying,” she said. “It makes a difference if you have a person with credibility, who knows the sport very well and who’s known throughout the state.”

Wynns notes that part of the interpreter’s role is to serve as an intermediary between the NFHS office and their state’s officials. “We don’t interpret to the masses,” she said.
Tackett says a major reason his state handles interpretations in house is to prevent local associations from “going rogue.”

“If we divest too much we end up with a lot of regionalism,” he said. “This (part of the state) does it this way, this part does it this way and that, in my personal opinion, is one of the absolute worst things you can have in officiating.”

The post Subject to Interpretation appeared first on Referee.com.

Being a basketball nomad had its advantages. It allowed Simmons to immerse herself in new cultures while getting paid to play the game she loves, a dream she had from the moment she first picked up a ball in elementary school.
“It was a great experience,” she said. “(But) I didn’t want to play overseas. I’m a Jersey girl.”

Which got her thinking about her interactions with Debbie Williamson, the coordinator of women’s basketball officials for a handful of NCAA Division I conferences on the Eastern Seaboard. While Simmons had the innate ability of all great athletes to tune out officials when it suited her needs, she recalled a handful of occasions where Williamson casually mentioned to players that a career in officiating might be a great way to stay in the game once their playing days came to an end.

“I remember a couple of times when they would call for the captains at the center circle (and mention it),” Simmons said. “I always said maybe, but nothing ever came out of it.

“I had a lot of time to think. I reached out to Debbie, then when I came back to the States she told me she was thinking about doing a Player-to-Ref camp. I wouldn’t say I nagged her, but just letting her know if she was going to have this camp, I wanted to be a part of it.”

The idea became reality in the summer of 2016 when Williamson made good on her informal discussions, creating the inaugural Player-to-Ref camps designed to help former collegiate basketball players transition into the officiating world. That first year, Williamson sent out invites for anyone interested to join her at team camps at Villanova University in Philadelphia and DePaul University in Chicago for a crash course, basically a Basketball Officiating 101.

“No one funds this. I charged them $25 just to make sure they would come,” said Williamson with a laugh.

When it came to her sales pitch, Williamson — herself a former D-I player at Louisiana Tech under storied head coach Leon Barmore — appealed to the players’ desire to remain a part of the game long after no one wanted to pay them for their ability to sink a jump shot.

“Just remember, there are only 13 people on the floor. So your next step is going to be to put stripes on,” she would tell prospective recruits.

She was also quick to point out that step doesn’t necessarily have to immediately follow the last ones taken as a player.

“I did not start officiating until after I coached nine seasons, had three kids and was completing my doctorate degree. It wasn’t until then that I realized that officiating would allow me to be involved in the game I loved so much and still raise my family and pursue my career in academia,” Williamson said. “Unlike coaching and playing, I wasn’t tied to a team so I could say no to basketball when my family needed me and no one knew the difference. How often I officiated was my choice and afforded me more flexibility while allowing me to be on the floor and in the game I loved.”

The initial turnout for Williamson’s first Player-to-Ref camp, while not overwhelming, was encouraging. About 15 campers showed up for the first camp at Villanova, and another eight showed up at DePaul. The camps opened with two hours of classroom work, where Williamson and her camp staff covered the basics of officiating, including rules, mechanics and floor coverage. After taking a break for lunch, the new charges were handed stripes and a whistle, and it was out to the floor to work camp games and get an initial feel for being a part of a basketball game from a completely new perspective.

“That way, when they leave us that day, they have already made connections with the staff that I have in those cities,” Williamson said.

“They have a great feel for the game,” she added. “They know the game in a way that someone who has never played doesn’t.”

What they don’t know immediately — and in many cases, don’t know they don’t know — is how to translate what they have been taught and practiced as a player into becoming an official and performing that distinct role on the floor.

Take Simmons for example, who despite being a basketball lifer had, by her own admission, an eye-opening experience when she arrived at the Villanova camp.
“This was the first referee camp that I ever went to. I entered the camp with no experience at all,” Simmons said. “I didn’t know the proper mechanics; I didn’t know where to stand on the court. I’ve played the game since second grade, but you never pay attention to the refs.”

She proved to be a quick study. And just as important, she was immediately hooked. While she did return overseas for that one final season as a player in Romania, the evolution had begun from Didi Simmons, basketball player, to Didi Simmons, basketball official.

A series of basketball officiating classes began about a month before Simmons returned from Romania, so she worked overtime to hone an understanding of the rules and mechanics before passing a test that allowed her to officiate summer AAU basketball. She made a strong enough impression on the summer circuit to secure a couple dozen high school varsity girls’ games and four state playoff contests during the 2017-18 season as a member of IAABO Board 33 in New Jersey, while also working several freshman and junior varsity boys’ games. And due to her proximity to New York City, she also worked some games in the Empire State.

“I like going to New York to work games to get experience so that when I go to the camps I am already aware of NCAA women’s rules,” Simmons said.

Through it all, Simmons has remained in steady contact with Williamson, firing off emails when she has questions, and discussing possible camp opportunities in the future that will help her reach her goal of one day not only working collegiate basketball, but also at the professional level.

“It drives me,” said Simmons about her long-term goal. “That’s what I want to do, get to the professional level. Back to the professional level, just a different side.”

Of course, not every former player who trades a jersey for stripes will reach the pinnacle of the officiating world. There is a constant need for qualified officials who have a passion for the game at all levels, and that is where Williamson and her camps continue to fill what is still a very specific niche.

In 2017, two Player-to-Ref camps were again offered, at DePaul and at St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y. The original plan was to congregate at the same sites again in 2018, but there was such strong interest in the St. John’s camp that Williamson decided to funnel all her resources into that one camp rather than splitting them among two locations.

“I know there is a bigger demand for more than just the two I’m doing,” Williamson said. “I haven’t really had the time to build it as much as I need to. … It really is my favorite camp of the summer. It’s like coaching. You’re coaching referees who just have to decide if they want to do it. It’s really pretty funny to see them discover the game in a totally different way. It turns the page on their basketball career, just a new chapter.”

Scott Tittrington is an associate editor at Referee. He officiates high school baseball, basketball and football.

The post Transition Game appeared first on Referee.com.