After two years of waffling, I decided to work football this fall. I've never done football, but had about 8 years of HS/college hoops up until several years ago. Still young and can run reasonably well, and my expectations and aspirations are different now. Before, I had goals of working a Final Four until I just got fed up with the administrative hassles and travel. Now, advancement isn't even an issue to me; just getting out there and working, be it Jr. Hi, peewee, JV, whatever.

So, other than improving my fitness, what should I do to prepare for this fall? I've had several football rulebooks and have studied the game closely from a rules perspective, so everything won't be brand new. Of course, dealing with the coaches should all come back to me and I expect maturity will help me out in that area. I do want to attend as many training sessions and clinics as possible, but anything else I need to be concerned with?

You should look up your local officials association on the internet. I believe you can ultimately get to it from http://www.referee.com. Click on "how to become an official." You need to be careful of what rule books you're reading. If you are from Texas (which I'm guessing you may be from your name) I believe they use college rules so your rules study may need to change. Either someone from this forum may reply or you should at a minimum go online to the site I mentioned and try to contact someone in your area.

Good luck.

I'm aware of Texas using NCAA rules, and also the differences the state association (UIL) has mandated (there were 31 or 33 in 2004; don't know if that will change).

1. Start reading the rulebook. I am assuming you are in Texas, so you can download the NCAA rulebook from http://www.ncaa.org

2. Start exercising. Basketball is a good start, but the Texas heat during the August scrimmages is brutal. The better shape you are in, the better you will do.

3. There are clinics all over the state that would be good to attend. While some of the material may be over your head, I went my first year and got a lot out of it.

Where do you live and where will you be calling?

Gig 'Em - '94

Dallas area -- DFOA. I'm interested in attending clinics this year prior to the season. I worked football intramurals at A&M in football -- yes, I know, not the same. However, that gave me some familiarity with positions, basic mechanics, who covers what, and I also know the football rules reasonably well for a non-official. My Dad worked many years of football all over the state, though he hasn't worked since the '70s.

When will the new rules come out? Does Texas use CCA football mechanics? Where are some clinics and what types of things do they cover?

When it comes to rules study, I can not recommend this book highly enough:

https://thatsitideas.com/doublesdist...onlineform.htm

I guess the 2005 book will be out in May/June, but you may want to get the 2004 book to get you started.

Texas uses TASO mechanics. I downloaded mine last year from the TASO website.

The two clinics that I would recommend for you right now are the Fort Worth Regional Clinic on June 18 and the Dallas Young Guns clinic on August 6. Both are great clinics and have excellent instructors.

Take what you know and apply, but be open to understanding that you may have picked up bad habits in intramurals. Above all, have fun.

One of the basic commandments..."Know Ye well thy definitions!" Will help to understand what all those rules really mean.

Don't worry about any supposed bad habits, though I know what you mean. For one thing, its been a while, and for another, my reference was only toward an understanding of a) the positions on the field, and b) the BASIC responsibilities of the position (i.e., line judge tends to cover downfield more than linesman and is responsible for downfield in a 4 man crew).

The actual mechanics may not be exactly that, but from what I've read and seen, that's sort of the idea.

Just relax, learn and have fun. You will do fine.

I mentioned earlier about going out to http://www.referee.com to obtain the name of your local association. I highly recommend you hit that site and download the document titled "Officiating Youth Sports Football 2004." It's a great document to view.

For all you veterans...there's a signaling quiz on page 8 that you may find useful. It's not simply the signaling, but the proper sequence of signals in 9 game situations.

First of all, don't lose your great attitude (vis-a-vis wanting to work, not just advancing). Just a couple comments from a relatively new official:

1. Intramurals may not help with rule knowledge, but they do help with some basic principles (such as officiating with the whistle out of your mouth and dealing with irate players, spectators, etc.). As for the rules, at Penn State we used NCAA rules with some modifications, but they turned into a hybrid of the rules the officials used when they played in HS, what they saw on TV on Sundays, and what announcers said.

2. Take what veteran officials say as constructive criticism. Some of them are not always very "diplomatic" in the way they say things to 'newbies,' but many of them have quite a bit of experience to lend, so listen, and don't let it get to you if you don't like the way they say it.

4. Develop a rules 'study plan.' From basketball, I'm sure you know the importance of the rules. Yes, there can be things that are more important than pure memorization of the rules, but I also have seen disasters when officials are out there not knowing the rules. For a rules study plan, try taking a rule per week or every two weeks during the offseason. I don't know how the NCAA book is set up, but to use an NF example....take a week just on the kicking game rule (Rule 6 in the NF rulebook). Study it, come on here to ask questions about it, and test yourself on it.

5. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Everyone on here is nice, they realize you are new at football, and they will answer all your questions (on things related to the rules, on mechanics, on communicating with players and coaches, etc.). I know I was confused, particularly with types of plays (running vs. loose ball), and this board, as well as McGriff's, helped my out a ton.

Good luck!

http://www.gmcgriff.com/discus/messages/4/4.html

http://members.atlantic.net/~gilbertr/

These 2 websites will be very helpful for you. The 1st is a discussion forum that is more NCAA rules oriented than this one, although this one (Official Forum) has some great contributors as well. The 2d is a website built by former SEC official Rom Gilbert and it has EXCELLENT primers on various parts of the rulebook.

Also if there is a little kids league in your area that uses basically the same rules as NCAA/Texas HS, call as much there as you can.. great way to get actual game experience with the rules you will be using..

>>Know Ye well thy definitions!<<

Other than previous officiating experience in another sport, one comment might satisfy any concern on anyone's part in this regard: I'm an attorney. I live by definitions.

I'm actually a little concerned about over-analyzing more than I did in basketball.

Oh, well. Thanks for the input from everyone. Every word was read and will be taken under advisement.