I want to reiterate something I said in my last post: communication between football officials is key – both on the field and off.   This is true whether your crew is new or has been together for a while.

Tonight we had our first high school football varsity crew meeting of the 2009 season here at my house.   After burgers and fixin’s and a couple of brews, we talked about our season schedule and studied for our upcoming officiating test.

If you are involved in a football varsity crew make sure someone takes responsibility for scheduling these meetings otherwise they just won’t happen and you will miss out on an opportunity to build a really solid crew.  If you are new and have not joined an actual crew yet, be sure you attend your local high school football association meetings on a weekly basis.   Again, the knowledge and networking you get from the meetings is invaluable!

Some possible topics for meetings include:

• field mechanics
• kicking game responsibilities
• rules review
• game schedule
• past game situations/scenarios
• studying of new rules or points of emphasis – rules change sometimes yearly
• pregame talk – discuss specifics of the game
• rule differences between 11 man, 6 man, etc.
• pre-kickoff responsibilities – who does what prior to and during the kickoff (don’t watch the ball – watch the players as the ball is in flight)

Studying – Yes studying!  We study so  that everyone is on the same page with respect to rule interpretation.  It is vital that everyone working a game, varsity or not, realizes that it is everyone’s responsibility to understand the rules.  It is not just the umpire or referee’s “JOB” to know the rules; it is everyone’s responsibility.  This is where we start communicating as a crew and building trust and friendships.

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