Advice for new officials

[OverAndBack]

If you kill yourself after every mistake....


...you'll be dead.

Learn from it. Move on. You'll never have the perfect game, but that shouldn't stop you from trying to get there. And if this was a simple avocation, everyone would do it.

It's not. Which is why they don't. We do. And the good ones learn to let their mistakes go, eventually.

If Don Denkinger can let it go, we all can.

[Bob M.]

"If you kill yourself after every mistake....you'll be dead."


REPLY: O and B...can I use this quote. It sounds like something Samuel Goldwyn Mayer might have said in his hey-day.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Bob M.

"If you kill yourself after every mistake....you'll be dead."


REPLY: O and B...can I use this quote. It sounds like something Samuel Goldwyn Mayer might have said in his hey-day.

I think that could be a Maddenism too!

There is some great advice in this thread, being a new guy (to football) myself, I'd say wear the rulebook out reading it but also make sure you understand how to apply it. Make sure you keep asking questions as well, even if its something as trivial as how to call encroachment.

[Forksref]

I have learned best from experience, most of which is bad. If I got something wrong and realized it and reviewed it in my mind, I NEVER get it wrong again. It is etched in my mind. The worst thing would be to repeat the mistake. I had one that we blew in a state championship game. Fortunately, it had no bearing on the outcome of the game. A few years later I had the exact same situation and I was 110% certain of my call. The coach tried to tell me differently, but no way. I was totally confident that I had it right. No way was I going to blow it again, because I studied the rule and became expert in that situation. It's a good feeling to be certain about a call because you have experience with it. Learn from the mistake and it will make you a better official.