[A Pennsylvania Coach]

Originally posted by JRutledge

My business is sales. In that business I have to speak in front of people that I have never met, know little about in many cases or they know absolutely nothing about me personally. I have to carry myself in a certain way or my speeches or sales talks mean nothing. Many times when I speak in front of people I have a "script" of some kind to follow. I might not follow it word for word, but I follow some kind of outline to cover the major points. Well as an official I do much of the same thing. I try to come up with situations and try to match pre-reheared "scripts" to cover situations that I might face. One of the things it does is take out the emotion of my words. Because we can get upset at times out there or want to say something that we should not say, so these "scripts" help me say the right things or say what I have to in the proper tone because it is familiar to me. Maybe Drake you need to come up with some things that cover different situations so that you do not come off as arrogant. You can get the same point across by coming up with words that are not threatening or sound softer. And yes you need to practice them just as you do your mechanics or your positioning. You might even talk about this in your pregame or other meetings.

I have always said that we are salespeople. That is all officiating really is. No matter what we know, or how good our "product" is, we have to sell ourselves first and anything we do second. And because conflict is not built in these tests, handling conflict or have a presence is very important in what we do. It helps me in sales, it certainly helps me on a basketball court. But enough about my life.

Peace

I agree with Rut more often than most, and I'm going to do it again. I've never really weighed in on the "presence vs rules knowledge" debate. Rut makes an excellent analogy here, and I want to take it one step further.

Even the slickest salesman will eventually lose his customers if his product sucks. And a homely salesman with a product everyone wants will retire a rich man.

I'm taking my officiating test on June 2. I think it'll be nice to make a little extra money when I can squeeze it in with coaching, and if the parents ever get bad enough to make me want to give up coaching, I'll have a little experience officiating. I'm sure I'll do great on the rules test. But I know I'm going to have to work at the presence. I'm guessing it will come when I get confident in where I'm supposed to be when, and in my mechanics.