17 Secrets To Getting Games - Sample Chapter

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Contents Section 1

What to Do As a New Official

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Section 2

How to Get a Full Schedule

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Section 3

How to Get Better Games

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Section 4

How to Get Playoff Games

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What To Do As a New Official So you’ve already decided you want to officiate. Congratulations!

It is one of the most rewarding ways to stick with a sport even after your playing days are over. Now what? As a new official, it is tough to pinpoint exactly what you need to do and who you need to talk to. There are forms to be filled out, fees to send in and games to be assigned. The following will help you go through the proper channels in getting started up and assigned your first games. Use the guidelines to help jump-start your new avocation.

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The first step you will need to take is to become certified within your respective state. You can become certified by contacting your state office to find out the proper steps you need to take in order to become certified.

Once you’re certified, one of the best decisions you will make as a rookie official is joining a local officials association. Contact your state office to get a list of officials associations in your area. It will make the most sense for you to find an association that is close in proximity to where you live and/or work, at least to start with. Later, you may find that an association that is further away is a better fit for your needs.

Associations handle many of the assignments put out by local high schools and middle schools. Getting familiar with the officials in your association will help you build an instant network of people. Many game assignments will come by word of mouth. Assigners do not have the time to go and watch every interested official work a game. The more officials you get to know, the more knowledge, experience and likely games you are going to have access to.

Once you are a member, be an active one. Go to meetings.

Volunteer to officiate games for special events. Attend entry-level clinics that the association puts on for your sport. You are paying dues as a member of the association. Make it worth your while by being an active participant.

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Secret Secret Know the Rules

That seems obvious. Clearly, rules are an important part of the game.

Getting to know the intricacies of the game can be a daunting task. Here are some guidelines to getting to know the rulebook: 1. Go over the rulebook quickly. You won’t remember everything you read but don’t worry about that. Skim through it and familiarize yourself with where everything is. That way, you won’t have to rely on the index nearly as much.

2. Categorize the rules. Read the rulebook in the following order: Definitions, live ball/dead ball, other game-specific chapters, fouls and penalties, scoring and timing regulations, players and substitutions, officials and their duties, court and equipment, rules changes and points of emphasis.

3. Chapter breakdown. Now the real studying begins. For each category of the rules (Definitions, Live Ball/Dead Ball, Fouls and Penalties, etc): • Visualize — For every rule and subsection of every rule, immediately after reading it, imagine a specific play related to that rule and visualize yourself applying the rule.

• Quiz yourself — After visualizing a play, write down a short quiz question related to the rule and the play you visualized. That will not only re-enforce the rule in your head by writing it down, but you’ll also have a handy quiz for later review after every rules study session.

• Cross-reference — Have your casebook handy when studying.

After you’ve jotted down your quiz question, look up that same rule application in your casebook and read through it, making adjustments as needed in your quiz questions.

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4. Have several copies of the same rulebook. For convenience, it’s good to have more than one copy of each rulebook. Keep them wherever you spent a great deal of time such as your living room, bedroom, office, etc. That way, one copy is always accessible when time permits.

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5. Read in short increments of time. After you initially read through the entire rulebook, study in increments of 15-20 minutes per sitting.

Digest the material in bite-sized pieces.

6. Review the rulebook each day. Read some part of the rulebook each day, including during the offseason.

7. Study just before falling asleep. Many studies prove that memory retention is enhanced by studying right before sleeping. Instead of watching TV before you fall asleep, read the rulebook.

8. Check related casebook plays. Once you’ve grasped a rule, read related casebooks and manuals before moving to the next rule.

Casebooks enhance knowledge by taking rules and placing them into game situations. Take quizzes and tests, which will reinforce what you already know or emphasize what you don’t know.

9. Talk with rules experts. When you attend your local association meeting, connect with a couple trusted rules “experts.” Make them your “go to” people with questions about specific plays or rules when you are unsure.

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Know the Mechanics

Once you have a good or even basic understanding of the rules, the next thing you will need to do is begin understanding how to apply the rules through your calls. The term “mechanics” encompasses a couple of different items.

First, it is your signals. What information do you need to give with your hands on any given play? In football, when and how are you starting up the clock? In volleyball, how do you signal for an illegal rotation? In baseball, how do you call a balk? The list goes on. Understanding what you need to be communicating through your signals is a big part of the job.

Once you know the signals, it’s important to practice them in order to make them as strong and crisp as possible. Get in front of a full length mirror. That will help you visualize and see exactly what you look like when you are signaling. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but repetition is key to becoming a mechanically strong official.

Second, it is where you are supposed to be and when. Each sport has its own guidelines for where officials are supposed to be on the field or court at any given time. Some officials are stationary and others require movement. Then there are different mechanics within some of the sports depending on the number of officials used for a contest. Get a sense of where you need to be and when.

The best way to understand positioning when first starting out is to go and watch games. The hard part will be turning off the fan mentality and turning on the official mentality. Watch what the officials are doing and where they go during specific scenarios and plays.

Most sports provide an officials manual that gives you all of that information. Familiarize yourself with the various aspects of the mechanics in your sport.

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Respect Veteran Officials

One of the beauties of officiating is that you can start at almost any age.

Sure, a lot of officials get their start right out of high school or college, but many others first don the stripes and blow the whistle later in life.

Regardless of how old you are when you first step on the field or court there is one very important thing for every rookie official to keep in mind: Pay the utmost respect to your veteran partners, even if they happen to be much younger than you.

Many rookie officials rarely think that their younger partner is going to be wiser when it comes to matters of the game. There are a number of young officials out there, and some of them can be quite knowledgeable, even though they happen to be the same age as your oldest child.

The most important thing to do in that situation is simply relax and understand that your young partner isn’t trying to show you up or establish some sort of psychological dominance. Any good official realizes that we’re all in this together and it’s in his or her best interest to help you out as much as possible in order to ensure you both have a great game.

Remember, if your partner has been officiating for a while and has seen some postseason assignments, then it’s likely he or she has some good info to share, and are simply trying to pass on to you the information that was taught to them when they were just starting out.

Also, remember that as strange as you feel giving advice, young officials are often reluctant to give it for many of the same reasons. Most don’t want to seem out of line by telling someone older than them what to do, and it takes a great deal of courage to tell a rookie, no matter what the age, “This is what I think you can do better.” Understand that if a young veteran approaches you he or she is taking a big step to broach the subject in the first place.

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