5 minute read
LAST CALL
Stick With It
I am currently a certified official with both USA Hockey and US Lacrosse. In fact, I have been officiating in both sports for 10-plus years and I am currently the oldest official (70 years old) in the Indianapolis Hockey Officials Association. I am also a member of NASO, and as part of that membership receive a copy of Referee every month. But why? After all, how much emphasis and how many articles do you see in Referee that deal with either hockey or lacrosse? Very few, if any. But every month I look forward to it.
Why? Well, let’s take a quick look at the June 2021 issue. I read an article titled “When Officiating Breaks Your Heart” and the opening sentence reads “Officiating mimics life.” Could any statement be more true? I continue reading and see the words “bad news,” “angry and frustrated,” and then “accept what happened and try to learn from it.” I feel proud when I read the closing sentences of the article — “We don’t officiate because it is easy.”
In an article titled “Now You’re Talking,” written primarily for football officials, I read, “Communication is arguably the greatest single attribute of an official.” I ask myself, “How well do you communicate as an official?” I read on, and as an official I am reminded that once the whistle blows, the people in stripes are more communicators than officials. It doesn’t matter if it is a holding call in football or a “loose ball push” in lacrosse, you need to communicate the call effectively and if necessary, explain the call to a questioning coach. As the article states, “Coaches have a need and a right to know what is going on in a game.”
Then I read an article titled “All the More Reason” that explains why we choose to be sports officials. In the article I see words and phrases such as “challenge,” “love of sports,” “camaraderie,” “escape,” “fitness,” “stress management” and yes, “extra money.” Interesting, however, that nowhere did I see the word “fun.”
Finally, on the last page of the magazine, I see an article titled “I Answered the Call.” The article dealt with a story about an official’s rise to a very high level of officiating and how he once answered the call from an assigner for a mediocre assignment only to be contacted later by that same assigner to do what was for him the officiating experience of a lifetime. But, somehow, the title of the article said something totally different to me.
As sports officials, whenever we run onto the field, court, pitch or skate onto the ice, each of us has made the choice to “answer the call” and put ourselves on the line. Whenever we take on an officiating assignment — at any level, in any sport — we are putting ourselves “out there” and we will be judged based upon the job we do. How we look in our uniform, how we hustle, our positioning, how we make our calls, the way we handle irate coaches. And knowing that, it makes me realize we are all part of a very special kind of fraternity, a brotherhood if you will, that, yes, also includes women officials.
And whether you are on the pitch refereeing a soccer match, behind home plate calling balls and strikes as an umpire, skating to center ice to drop the puck, or blowing the whistle for the opening kickoff of a football game, we all are charged with similar responsibilities and duties. Keeping order and making sure it is a fair contest, calling what you see and not what you “think” you see, and doing the very best you can to see the contest is played within the confines of the rules as stated in the rulebook. And yes, there are other similarities — we are all human beings and we will make mistakes. We have emotions and in the heat of any athletic contest, as officials, we must do everything in our power to control our emotions. And, for as much as we are sometimes maligned, booed and berated by spectators, without us, they could not play the games.
So now you know why I, a hockey and lacrosse official, am happy to get my copy of Referee every month — it gives me the wonderful opportunity to learn from other officials in all sports and in doing so, makes me a better hockey and lacrosse official.
I wish I had started officiating 40 years ago when I was a young man. Why? Because I thoroughly enjoy officiating. I love the camaraderie and the relationships I have built with other officials, coaches and even the players themselves. When I skate onto the ice or run onto the lacrosse field, I know that for the next hour or so, mentally, I can be nowhere else — I have to be right there, in the moment, paying attention to every detail and doing my very best to make quality calls and make it a fair contest. What could be better than that?
As another article said, “We’re a tough and relentless breed. After all, we’re officials.” Indeed, we are a special kind of fraternity. Be thankful for being a part of it. Harold “Bud” Boughton, Indianapolis, is a certified official with both USA Hockey and US Lacrosse. He has authored three books and is a professional speaker.
Do you have a personal officiating story to tell?
