Every high school football official can be placed somewhere on two simple axes: will and skill. Skill represents rules knowledge, mechanics, positioning, judgment, and experience.Will represents effort, preparation, curiosity, coachability, and the desire to improve. Almost every challenge we face…
I dislike the axiom, “What we permit, we promote.” That saying implies officiating is a binary endeavor. It suggests if we allow a player to “get away” with a word or act, we are somehow promoting it. We study the…
Remember, we’re interacting with teenagers on the football field. We can’t expect them to exhibit the same self-control as fully-developed adults. They may not know how to properly resolve conflict. Their coaches yell at them after they get manhandled by…
Dealing with coaches is one of the most essential officiating abilities. I had the privilege of observing one of my mentors, Mark VanGampleare, expertly communicate with coaches. I’ve also dialogued with Randy Campbell, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Football Officials…
Sports officiating is highly stressful because referees must make numerous split-second decisions, often resulting in significant consequences for both teams. These rulings frequently produce intense disagreement from players, coaches, and spectators. The subsequent emotional strain has contributed to an alarming…
I had dinner with my mentor Mark VanGampleare. After I complained about my online poker bad beats, our conversation shifted to the current football season. In recounting a play from a few weeks ago, he said, “We need to ‘make…
About 6 months ago I stumbled upon a “Recon and Sniper Foundation” Facebook group. They provide useful precepts from a Recon/Sniper perspective, and wouldn’t you know, this morning’s post dovetails nicely with one of the principles we discussed at last…
Robert “Cujo” Teschner, former Air Force F-15C Eagle Fighter Weapons School Instructor and F-22 Raptor Squadron Commander authored a compelling book titled “Debrief to Win.” His book examines the precepts of identifying the root causes behind why a team achieved…
What is the difference between how a mother robin feeds her babies and how a mother chicken feeds her babies? The mother robin partially digests the food and then regurgitates the food into the babies’ mouths. The mother chicken doesn’t…
We’ve had the privilege of having former CSFOA officials who have worked NCAA National Championship games speak to our association. I’m going to sprinkle some of their golden nuggets throughout my “Ready for Play” posts. Greg Burks was the R…
