Staying Focus and Continuing to Grow While in Quarantine

The Cold Truth

We are living in trying and difficult times right now, but that does not mean we as an officiating community can relax and stop our growth. Now more than ever we need to dig in and be prepared for when sports do come back. Why might you ask? Because when games do start playing the expectations around them will be higher than ever before.

When the first games start playing it will have probably been at least 4 months since any event has happened from the professional level down to the youth. Everything is going to be a first again for the fans, the player, and us the officials. That pent up energy is going to be released on the first play and carried through to the end as we have never seen before. It will be as if it was everyone's first time with all of those emotions and butterflies of experiencing their first game.

Though that might be fine and very entertaining for the fans and players, it will be a disaster for the men and women enforcing the rules. So, how do we avoid that? By continuing to master the rules and mechanics.

Rules

Rules are what makes a game a game. Without them, we are simply playing a backyard event. With them we have billion-dollar industries, a means to get an education and something to vest our interest and soul into. As an official, it is crucial to make sure that our knowledge of the rules is spot on from the youth level up to the professional. Just as the stakes rise for the athletes and coaches as the level of play rises so too does it for us as officials.

It is during this lockdown and lack of pre-season that we can take full advantage of growing our knowledge. You can use this time to advance your knowledge from that of a newbie to rules connoisseur to finally a philosopher and historian of the rules. How to accomplish this is not a one size fits all ordeal but something that needs to be customized to the individual. But here are some ways to accomplish it:

Set up a time daily to review the rule book. With as little as 15 minutes a day, you can make it through the rule book in 4-6 weeks. We recommend starting at Rule 2 (normally this rule is designated for definitions). Do not forget to always go back there when you read through the other rules.

Take rule quizzes or do case plays. A great source for case plays for football officials is at Stripes101.com. They put out case plays every Monday through Friday, in English and Spanish.

Rule review plays and situations you encountered in previous seasons and make subtle changes to them to see how the ruling could change. You can use a situational review as an opportunity to get your entire crew together or members of your association together through tools like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or any other app/software that can allow communication and video. You can also use a situational review to discuss mechanics and how to improve them.

Mechanics

Speaking of mechanics, they are what separates the best from the rest. Good mechanics can be the difference in making the correct ruling or having a fan in the stands asking if you need their glasses. I would be lying if I said that improving mechanics without being on the field would be easy. There is no substitution for getting live looks and having someone there to evaluate but in a world of social distancing, we can still improve them.

The two best methods to do this are read and becoming an owner of your sport's mechanics book and practicing them. The first of those two are methods is easier. Similar to learning and advancing your rules knowledge set a schedule to do some daily reading or every weekend dedicate some time to read your mechanics books.

To improve the physical side of the mechanics find some open space and work your footwork. Practice your signals in the mirror and the announcements that coincide with them. As a back judge, when I go outside on my daily walk I try to spend a quarter of it walking backward. I try to not turn around but use my other senses to determine my surroundings. With that, I also practice moving from backpedaling to side shuffle to run. For basketball, you can work on moving on the baseline or adjusting your angle in C while avoiding coaches and players. Every sport has its movements and you can work on those so when the games come back those movements are not foreign.

Conclusion

Self-isolation during these unprecedented times does not mean you have to stop growing as an official. What it means is that you have to modify and change from the tried and true to something new. It is up to us to be ready for the first pitch, tip, or coin toss when sports come back. Share what you are doing to stay prepared and continuing to grow!