5 Best tips for New officials
 

Trying to shake some liveliness into the boards....

In the vein of the "spouse support group" discussion, what are your top 5 off-the-court (preparation, administration, etc) tips that can go a long way for new officials? I'm hoping to come up with a top 10 for our association's training this year.

Here are some that have been passed along to me that have stuck:

1. Family comes first, Job second, then officiating
2. Always keep a full uniform with shoes packed in your trunk.
3. Black underwear and cell phones are a must
4. Learn how to say "no" to an assignment
5. Rules, rules, rules....you can never study enough

...and one more below



[Edited by pizanno on Aug 7th, 2002 at 08:35 PM]

Re: 5 Best tips for New officials
 

6. Don't take your game home with you.
7. Calling T's on your kids doesn't work!

How long will it be before Mark chimes in with "Bananas for the Howler Monkeys?".......

<b>7. Calling T's on your kids doesn't work!</b>

Works on mine, Juulie--especially when I have a Fox40 handy! It gets their attention fast.

Of course, my 8-year-old has called a couple on me, as well... ;-)

Apparently - not too long.

However, my best tip remains: tuck your whistle in your shirt before you take a leak.

1. If you want to advance, <b>treat officiating as a business, not just a vocation.</b>

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?)

Somewhere along the line, I believe that a group of us that post here were perceived to say that rules knowlegde was not important. I don't believe that is what was said (some would rather have great game management skills), but it is not posible to know how to apply rules without knowing the rules, but you can know the rules, but not know how to apply them.

Hmmmm.
 

This cannot be. Can it?
If we cannot apply a rule, I think we do not know the rule.
mick

Re: Hmmmm.
 

Agree with mick.I think a better statement might be "you can know the rules,but not know WHEN to apply them".That tells you that judgement still needs to be developed.Is that what you were trying to say,Stripes?

Dan-ref is right, for most of us officiating is something we treat as a passion and not like a business.

The question had to do with <b> new </b> officials. IMHO, the last thing they should be worrying about as a brand new ref is advancement. It's kind of like a brand new entry-level employee trying to get promoted before they learn their current job. They should be worrying about becoming proficient at their craft.

1) Listen to the veterans. 90% of what they say is helpful and correct. Ignore the other 10%, but don't argue about it.

2) Don't just read or browse the rule book, study it. Once you know the rules inside and out, you can progress to more advanced things like game management, projecting confidence, and becoming a great partner.

3) Don't accept verbal abuse, but also don't ref with a chip on your shoulder. Only call a technical foul when you think it will make the game better.

Z

Talking about knowing the rules without knowing how to apply them is silly. If you "KNOW" the rules you understand what they mean and how and when to apply them.

It is one for me. Vocation that is.
 

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

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

You might not be able to work on any craft.
 

People do not become officials without setting a goal, realistic or unrealistic. You will not even have a game if your first one you never show up to a game you have a contract for or if you get off one game to do a better one (better by level or money). Kind of hard to work on a craft when no one gives you a game at all.


Peace

Re: It is one for me. Vocation that is.
 

Maybe you'll reread my original post where I did say at some
point you need to treat this as a business. That point
comes not when you decide that you want to do D1 ball but
when you discover your scheduling, billing and outlays
has to be well-managed and documented. BTW, not everyone
wants to do college, or even HS, and just because a hobby
is time consuming does not mean it's anything less than a
hobby (avocation). I can't figure out the rest of your rant.