Say What Right Looks Like
There’s a big difference between warning a player about what not to do and guiding them toward what right looks like. Too often, we fall into the habit of saying things like:…
Ready For Play
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Don’t Just Be a Consumer of Information, Be a Producer
In his 3-2-1 Thursday newsletter, James Clear wrote: “The person who learns the most in any classroom is the teacher. If you really want to learn a topic, then ‘teach’ it. Teach…
Rules Knowledge is Perishable
Rules knowledge is like mastering a second language. When you’re immersed, hearing and speaking it every day, the words come naturally. When you step away, even for a short time, your vocabulary…
Life Tips from @SahilBloom
I’ve shared in previous articles that I enjoy collecting life tips I come across on social media. What follows isn’t written with football officials in mind, but you’ll see how the ideas…
Anticipate a Coach’s Timeout Request
In past Ready for Play articles, we’ve talked about crossover concepts between basketball and football officiating. Here’s another one: in basketball, officials are taught to glance at the bench near the end…
Dealing With a Mistake
Every official has made a significant error, like blowing an inadvertent whistle, making an incorrect ruling, incorrectly enforcing a foul, or mishandling communication with a coach or player. Maybe a coach blew…
Everyone Has a Role in Penalty Enforcement
I’m recycling a Ready for Play article from 2024. We’ve had a few penalty enforcement issues in the first few weeks of the season, so this is a good time to remind…
Referee Signals
In our last Ready for Play article, we introduced the ‘Rule of Two’—a guideline for how officials should signal. This article provides a few best practices for referee signals. When blowing the…