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JRutledge · #1 (**permalink**) Thu Aug 08, 2002, 02:34pm

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan_ref

Quote:

Originally posted by JRutledge
1. If you want to advance, treat officiating as a business, not just a vocation.

2. The best officials does not just know the rules, they know how to apply them.

3. Officiating is more than blowing a whistle.

4. Look the part and you will be precieved that way.

5. People skills is probably the most important attribute in officiating.

Peace

Uhhm, it's avocation. A vocation is your occupation. An avocation is what you do apart from your occupation - hobby, part time business, pastime, etc. While I would agree that at some point you need to treat it as a business, I would strongly disagree that it's ever more than an avocation for 99.999999% of us who do it. Also, (and I hesitate to ask) how can you know how to apply something without knowing it? Kinda like saying a doctor doesn't have to know medicine, he just needs to know how to apply it. (And please, please don't ask me if basketball refereeing concerns life & death, OK?)

OK, you disagree. STOP THE DAMN PRESSES, STOP THE DAMN PRESSES!!!!!

I did misspeak. It is not just an ADVOCATION, you better treat it as a vocation.

Officiating is a business. Now one said anything about life or death (but you of course). No one ever said that it applies to everyone. But if you want to move up to the college ranks and the HS varsity level, in MY AREA you better treat this like a business. If you do not, you will find yourself at home instead of working. Now to me treating this as a business or more of a vocation is to your benefit. You will go to more camps, return calls quicker, take care of your paperwork the way it is suppose to be taken care of and just approach officiating with the seriousness the coaches and players take it. If that is not the case, I would just blow off games if I do not want to attend that night or afternoon. If the players and coaches are spending the off-season getting ready for the season, you better do the same. Whether that is leagues or rules study or simply going to an association meeting.

The football season is starting on August 30 of this year and I have attended two weekly meetings this week. I will be attending another one tonight. So I spend as much time if not more getting ready for each season as I do. So 3 days a week I will be attending meetings for football alone up until the season starts. I will be attending one meeting every week during the season and with all the rules study and discussion I will have with other officials. So if this is just a hobby, I am spending a lot of time with a hobby.

Peace