Pregame help for inexperienced crew

[d1ref2b]

I am white hatting a Varsity game this Friday. My crew is very inexperienced. Does anyone out there have any advice for my pregame or a pre-prepared pregame that I can use? I do not want to read them the rules book or the mechanics manul, but it might almost be neccessary.

[Huskerblue]

I would definitely cover what everyone's pre-game responsibilities are. I would go over free kick and scrimmage kick postioning and responsibilities, running play and passing play keys and coverages. And remind everyone to have fun and enjoy the game.

[Ron_B]

Ditto on what Husker Blue said!!

I am more than willing to share one of my pregames if you want. I have always stuggled with pregames, so mine may be alittle intense, but it will give you some ideas. We use an outline to review positions and mechanics and I add in situations and and some questions. Come to this site as well, you can always find stuff to talk about on this site.

[SWFLguy]

Referee magazine had a good write up on
Pre-Game years ago--- my "R" back north used it
and they sent me a copy when his wore out--
it was thorough w/o being boring or an overload.
I'm not sure if it is still available.
I hope everyone is having a good season !!

[chris s]

Originally posted by d1ref2b
I am white hatting a Varsity game this Friday. My crew is very inexperienced. Does anyone out there have any advice for my pregame or a pre-prepared pregame that I can use? I do not want to read them the rules book or the mechanics manul, but it might almost be neccessary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Make sure you have a good umpire.Hopefully this is 5 man....You need to pick your wingers to be very good(or best of the crew) BJ can be so-so. Instrusct wing men to NOT toss hankiy on anything moving away from them, tell U to keep whistle in hand and BJ to watcth TE and only him, help on deep ones..if any As we say in baseball, pause...read...react.. then THROW the flag...ooops, we just call balls/strikes/safe/out....same thing, but Mr. Whitehat can always wave the hanky. Now, you don't wanna do that too much, but I have waved off 3 in one game.... BS off-play crap by a weak wing-man. Tell wingers to keep mouyh shut with coaches, you do the talking.....goood pre-geme is must....

[Tom Hinrichs]

We have developed a pretty good pre-game (for 4 and 5 man crews) let me know and I'll email it to you.

Most of the stuff that you will hear about what to say in a pre-game is very similar- and necessary. Here are the high points that have been helpful for us.

1. Tell the guys not to look for things to call-the calls will find you.
2. Make sure that the calling official either repeats back the penalty enforcement to you or agrees/disagrees with you when you tell him what the penalty enforcement will be.
3. Never talk to a coach unless another official is listening.
4. Make sure that one of the other officials (HL, LJ or BJ covers the ball during penalty enforcement so that the U can listen to your explanation of the penalty. (good double check)
5. Slap your thigh before you point to the offending team. (gives you time to think so that you dont point the wrong way.)
6. If the press box is not on the west side of the field, be careful not to get turned around when pointing.
7.If you tell them anything- emphasize with the captains not to have thier players talk to the opponent.
8. Most importantly- "Talk them out of five." See if your crew can prevent five fouls. This is the last thing that I tell our crew before we break for the kick-off.

Enjoy the white hat role. Let your crew help you. Just remember that your job starts when the other official's job ends. Once you work the white hat- you wont want to work anywhere else.

[cmathews]

D! good luck...I had this very situation last week.. a 4 man crew 2 guys first varsity game and another was in his second year without much varsity experience...we sent them to this game because it was gonna be a blowout...ended at 65-6 and it wasn't that close even...When you figure out what time to be at the site, and how long the pregame should be....give yourself another 30 minutes...I thought an hour would be plenty, I wished I had an hour and a half.. Good Luck and Have Fun.....

[Rich]

Chris,

Can you elaborate on the situations where you waved off flags? When I white hat I try to limit those situations to ones where the officials WANTS them waved off or when there's a rule misapplied. I don't believe in questioning judgement, especially since I have my own things to watch.

BTW, I think a good back judge is nice to have.

Rich

[chris s]

Originally posted by Rich Fronheiser
Chris,

Can you elaborate on the situations where you waved off flags? When I white hat I try to limit those situations to ones where the officials WANTS them waved off or when there's a rule misapplied. I don't believe in questioning judgement, especially since I have my own things to watch.

BTW, I think a good back judge is nice to have.

Rich

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~
Rich, 2 flags on free kicks, both were for blocks in back when in reality blocks were continuous engagement from the front(blockee spun and was then hit in back) Called by HL as I was coming up his side. The other was a was a clip on the LOS by A, in the free blocking zone....wingman should have never called it, U explained it to winger.

Now tonite, oh boy!!! Frosh game, I am LJ, HL is rookie, U is very experienced JUCO ref and R is grizzled vet. Option play to my side, 3 times I see flag from HL come flying in from backside, 2 flags from him for block in back by defense going for ball on fumbles....gotta learn somewhere!!!