First White Hat
 

This week I'll be the White Hat for the first time ever. I was wondering if anyone has any tips so I don't make a fool of myself. I've been reading up on my mechanics and enforcements.



PS. NEW to Forum

The key is to slow down and don't do anything unless the crew knows exactly what you're doing. Oh, and focus on your responsibilities at the referee position.

It's a process. I've been a white hat for 10+ years and I still find ways to improve every week.

Stay back. Then when it's time to move forward, stay back a little longer. Get a wide view, read your keys, and protect your QB.

And KNOW YOUR SIGNALS!!!! :)

I see a lot of white hats running up to the football on every play, essentially ping-ponging back and forth. Move when you need to help move the football or be a presence, but otherwise, stay wide and deep. I give the RFP from at least 10 yards back and wide.

Always wind the clock with the arm facing the press box. You don't need to chop down and then wind, just wind. You don't need to wind the clock on a snap (one of the guys on my crew does this when he WHs the subvarsity games and I always get on him for that).

Main mistakes I see with new white hats:

1. Getting too close to LOS. 12 yards is about as close as you want to be. Your state may have specific mechanics for scrimmage kicks, you should know what they are.

2. Going too fast or moving when you signal. Set your feet before you signal (RFP and penalty). Give your penalty signals to the pressbox in slow motion.

3. About the only time you have the spot is on a sack. So stay back. You can help relay the ball in on short runs that end in the side zone or spot the ball on long incompletes (when your U goes to relay the ball in). Otherwise, stay back and deadball officiate.

4. I would prepare a pregame. We usually only give pregames for Varsity games (and I spend a little time talking to younger officials). But having a pregame prepared helps you understand what you and your crew will be doing in certain situations. Especially know what to do on penalty enforcements and measurement (all eyes on you for these situations).

5. Go ahead and prepare what you are going to tell the coaches in the pregame meeting and the captains at the coin toss. I also would go get at least a 50c coin for the toss.

6. Make sure you have an official that is assigned to watch the game clock when your back is to it (usually U).

Know that your crew will want to do a good job for you. As the others have said, just be slow, calm and cool. You'll remember from when you first started doing this that taking a little extra time on things isn't as long as it feels. What feels like 10 minutes is in reality only about 2 seconds. Allow yourself time to get it right.

Also, don't talk down to the other guys on your crew just because you're in charge now. Support them, and they'll support you.

Re
 

Thanks for the tips guys. I know once the game gets going my nerves will settle down. I'll slow down and take my time, make sure I got my calls and signals right before I do anything.

When giving signals, pretend you are on TV even if you aren't. It will slow you down and force you to give big, clear signals. Go ahead and announce them as if you are on TV - it will again slow you down and make you think about it.

Solve problems on the field - does no good to solve them in the locker room after the game.

Make sure your zipper is zipped.

Welcome to the white hat club - reserved for the smartest and best looking football officials. :)

Yep, what RichMSN said - many White Hat's feel the need to go up to the ball to signal the RFP and also they do the same for a 1st down.
It's a 1st if you signal it from next to the ball, it's a 1st if you signal it from 10yds away.

Sometimes you do need to get to the pile, but more often it is one of your buddies who will do that and you should hang back and take a wider view of stuff and pick up dead ball action.

1st WH game coming up here too.
 

I just found out I'm going to be white hat for a JV game for the first time too. I'm nervous already and I've got 2 weeks yet to prepare. I am interested to hear how your game goes and anything you did before/during that helped or hurt. The perspective of a nervous newbie like me will be interesting.

I've read everyone else's suggestions to you also. Great advice all around. It's interesting to me that the suggestions for every position include go slow, stay calm, watch keys. It's a good fall back for me when I'm on the field in any position especially if the game is getting good. If I feel before a play that the excitement is starting to infect me I'll repeat something like that to myself or talk to myself about who my keys are on this play.

These days I get a bit nervous when I'm in a position other than WH. I work a wing about 10 times a season and umpire at least twice whether I want to or not. I WH the rest of the games.

I had a good reminder last night of how hard it can be to work a wing position. I had coaches complaining from the opening kickoff. They acted like the restricted area was some kind of new thing and when I told the coaches they couldn't be on the field between plays, they looked at me like I had three heads. Combine that with the fact that the whined on every flag and one of them started in with "I'm an official, too" (so I told him that certainly he knew the rule about the restricted area and would he please remind his assistant of the rule) and it was a long game. Oh, I had to keep time, too, since we were on a practice field away from the main stadium. Starting a watch on my left wrist with my arm punched back was hard enough, but I'd forget to start it when I was supposed to and vice versa. I found myself starting and stopping it opposite from what I was supposed to to try to even things up. We probably played an extra five minutes beyond the 40 we had on the clock.

I also saw an amazing phenomenon that shouldn't have surprised me, either. We had a 1st and goal from about 18 inches away and the QB sneaked right in and after he scored the fullback probably gave the runner a shove from behind. The coaches on my side went nuts and I told the coach, "The runner was already in before *anything* happened." He barked something at me and then the WH (who's our BJ on Friday nights) told him the same thing and the coach looked at me and said, "That's a good explanation. Yours wasn't." I shrugged, we said the same thing. But the WH gave him credibility or something. I see that on Fridays when coaches want to talk to me about something they could've easily talked to a wing about. Amazing how they think the WH makes me special. It doesn't, trust me. Except that I can't keep my hats clean like the other guys.

So give me the relative peace and quiet of being the WH and being in the middle anytime. :D

The key part of being a WH is penalty enforcement, but PE is a team effort. I got a DVD from our Week 1 game today and for the first time ever, it was from the local TV broadcast instead of the chopped up "plays only" tape we normally get. This gave me a chance to really watch how we handled PE -- our pace, our chemistry, our duties. For example, they had the camera on me when I gave the prelim, but when I gave the final signal, the camera started on me and moved to the umpire as soon as he started marching off the penalty. My goal is to complete my reporting at the same time the ball is being spotted by the umpire.

The key is to make sure that you and the umpire take enough time to verify what's going to be enforced. I *always* use yard lines. I'll say to the umpire: "10 yards from the spot of the foul, so we're going from the 38 to the 28." At times, I'll let the umpire communicate that to me instead of me doing it. He's gotta be as good as me in PE cause I will make at least one mistake a season and I want that to be caught before we get back in the locker room. Our back judge (on Fridays) and the relevant wing get the information from the umpire -- the BJ to record the penalty, the wing to communicate back to the offending coach.

This takes time. In reality, it looks normal on tape, but feels like it takes forever on the field. So slow down even more than you feel like you should. The only long discussion I saw on the DVD was on a kickoff out of bounds we had where I needed the U covering to tell me whether R touched the kick before it went out of bounds and he took a bit to sort it out in his head (it was a squib that hit two players and went out). On the tape it was clear R touched it first and K knocked it out after, but it all happened very quickly. I liked how I pulled the U away and we had a nice chat about it and then I stepped out and signaled. It did look like it took a while, but so what? The announcers didn't even say anything about it.

The key thing is to know your keys, protect your passers and kickers, and trust your crew mates. By that, I mean look where you're supposed to look and don't let your eyes drift downfield when they're not supposed to. If there's an acrobatic catch downfield, you are probably the only guy in the place who will never see it. If you have an umpire who is good with PE, make sure you tell him not to let you make a mistake.

I'll be sure to report back on how it goes. I've got four games that day, 2 WH and 2U.

Well, I survived my first white hat. Overall it went smoothly and wet. Had one unsportsmanlike penalty for taunting after a touchdown, but other than that, it was mostly basic penalty enforcement. After the first one my nerves pretty much settled down.

Glad to hear it went OK. I forgot to mention the most important thing about WH. Make sure you've got a coin with you, because it makes you look like an real idiot if you have to make the captains do rock/paper/scissors......

Luckly I remembered to bring one.

I survived
 

Well, I survived my first white hat experience.

Things I did wrong.

Signals were real fast and I didn't really clear myself from the area to do them. I just sorta did them. They were right at least but still obvious it was my first time.

I freakin forgot until like the third score that I'm suppose to repeat the touchdown signals after a score. I just ran up there and signal untimed down hollared out "untimed down", waited about 5 seconds or so and blew it in.

I forgot to hollar "it's gone" or something like that for the first few passes and the first punt.

Basically all the things one would do to kinda control things, I didn't do for almost the whole first half. At least I remembered a coin :)
I felt like a chicken with my head cut off and it definately took a while to get enough of the hang of it to feel like I wasn't making a fool of myself.

Well...next chance is on Wednesday. Learn from this and try again. JV is for me to learn too I guess. I'll get better.

If those are it, I'd say you're well on your way.

You just described pretty much every white hats first time!!

Listing your own mistakes for the world to see says a lot. You recognized your errors and learned a little something about the game and yourself. The journey has begun on the right foot.

I know it says this in the mechanics book, but I've never understood why it's needed -- all it does is take one person who's cleaning up and force him to turn to the press box to give an signal that's not needed.

As for the rest, it will eventually become second nature if you do it enough.

I would totally agree with Rich...I never signal after the score to the press box for this exact reason. You turn to signal and a kid gets jacked 30 yards away from the score and everyone sees it but you. I also never signal or say untimed down...if you are at a varsity game I hope the timer knows not to run the clock on a PAT.

Well...next chance is on Wednesday. Learn from this and try again. JV is for me to learn too I guess. I'll get better.[/QUOTE]


Lower level games is exactly where you should be practicing your craft as the white hat. I am the white hat on my varsity crew and during all of my lower level games I try not to white hat the games and have someone that is less exp. do it...the problem is not a lot of guys know how to white hat or just don't want to...too much pressure? I feed of that pressure to make me a better official.

Practicing at the lower level will make you much more comfortable during varsity games…concentrate on all the little things also and it will come.

I've always assumed the reason for the referee repeating the touchdown signal was to confirm there weren't any fouls on the play. How does your crew handle plays that result in a touchdown when there is a foul? Or am I just out in left field?

Or worse, nobody sees it because you are the only one at that point trailing those players.

I didn't say it in the last post, but I don't signal the TD either. I'm in good company if you don't do it either, GWR. I don't say "untimed down" either. No timer (except once at a freshman game) has ever run the clock on a try. I save the untimed down mechanic for an end-of-quarter untimed down.

As for how the press box handles a play with a penalty, they can either see the flag on the field or my preliminary signal for the foul. I've never had a press box confused by my lack of a confirmation TD signal. If it's a clean score, they'll see the teams line up for the try.

And if they want to do that in a frosh game, I, for one, am not going to stop them. ;)

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