High School Football Referee Guide

Well, I never did get a chance to write a season wrap-up for this blog, but now is as good a time as any. Our varsity crew had a great year and we are all looking forward to working together again this fall. Hope you all enjoyed your season and learned a lot that you can take with you next year.

Oh, and I absolutely have to give a huge shout-out to the New Orleans Saints!!! Black and Gold Superbowl, huh???? I hope they play a game us Saints fans can be proud of….

Thanks to all of you who faithfully followed my blog this past year – I will be back again in the late summer with some new ideas and tips to share with my fellow football officials! Let me know if you have topics you’d like me to cover.

Enjoy the off-season everyone!

Watching game film – so just how good are you?

Do you think  your crew is good, great, or even perfect? If you think your crew is perfect, and that there is no room for improvement – pack up that whistle, flags, and stripes and retire.   But seriously, one of the ways a crew can get better is to watch film of your crew officiating a game.

You can  request a copy of the game film from the athletic director or head coach.  Thanks to a comment on this blog made by a fellow official, our crew started bringing  a blank DVD and a shipping envelope, addressed back to me with postage applied.  (thanks for the great tip, Jeff!)  We hand this to the coach or AD and ask for a copy of the game film. Then when it arrives we set up dinner at someone’s house  (the one with the best cook of course.  No not the officials – but one of the wives) and watch the game film together.

Everyone anticipates a really good display of their skills. Watching film helps each person to critique themselves and to offer advice to each other.  Prior to watching the game film we vow to not be nit picky.  We also decide to each take 1 – 3 things away from the film review that we can work on to get better individually.  This is a learning tool – you will be surprised at what you might or might not see your crew do.   You make your crew better by working to improve, listening to coaches, offering advice or asking for advice.  Watching game film is no different – it’s a learning tool for everyone.

Watching the game film:

• We find the good points to point out
• We also find the bad points
• We look for each other in proper position
• We look for stopping the clock
• We look for continuing officiating – it is very easy to stop officiating on a play
• We look for missed player actions – it is very easy to “Not” see a cheap shot or what appears to be a cheap shot
• It is also very helpful to slow down the action to see what you might or might not have called on a particular play.
• We critique our selves on measurements
  • running play coverage
  • position
  • action in and around each person’s zone
  • action that continues out of bounds
  • potential late hits
• Game film is also a great way to help you keep a log/journal of things you want to improve on each game, each play and each year.

In the end all of us want to get better and this is a great tool to utilize.

Till next time – here’s a five yard delay-of-game penalty for ya!

The season is going along really well….here are some pictures of a local Junior Varsity game I worked a couple days ago.

Last night our crew watched a game tape from last week’s varsity game. Next post I’ll talk about the value of reviewing game tapes.

What a week! I have had a Jr. High or Jr. Varsity football game every day this week so I’m behind in my blogging. Meanwhile, here are some pictures taken at yesterday’s Jr. Varsity game between two local rival schools. (the home team won!). Our crew’s first real Varsity game is tomorrow. Looking forward to working with the guys!