Well hello everyone…welcome back to my Football Blog.    If you are like most high school football officials (including me!), this is the most exciting time of the year.

If you are a veteran official or someone with a desire to become a new official there is much to do and learn.  There are many things you can and should be doing to prepare for the season ahead.  Read on for tips and ideas for new and seasoned officials.

Tips for beginning your career as a high school football official

If you have a desire to become a high school football official then please contact your local youth football associations – these associations are great places to start. They can tell you how your local organizations work and give you specific information about meetings or opportunities to meet other officials.

If you already know any high school officials, ask them to help you find out how to contact your high school officials association to learn more about how to get started.  As a new official you can and should be learning rules, positioning, and mechanics about being an official from other officials or on your own using rule books and materials available through your local association.  Many local football organizations may offer to teach you the fundamentals of becoming a football official – one-on-one training will give you such valuable experience. Find a mentor in the organization if you can.

You can contact NFHS about rule books or acquire them from your associations if needed.

Tips for veteran high school football officials

If you are a veteran official, by now you should have started doing the following:

• Studying your rule books (https://nfhs-football.arbitersports.com/front/105409/Site ) and points of emphasis for the year.  NFHS members can use the above link for football publications – rules, case studies, and officials’ books.
• Taking inventory and ordering new gear if needed, flags, hats, score cards, etc.  I do this every year about 1 ½ months prior to the first game.  Do this early because many times certain items may become back ordered if you wait too late.  There are many sites to order gear from:  http://www.ump-attire.com, http://www.honigs.com, http://www.cliffkeen.com just to name a few.
• Checking your scheduled games and knowing where you will be the first few games.  Many associations use websites for scheduling – find out the website of your association and learn to use it. Also, it’s helpful to know who your assigner is in case you have questions about your schedule.

If you are part of a crew you should have already started to meet together to talk about:

• Gear – what color pants will everyone use this year on your crew or in your association, etc.
• Rules and the NFHS test in your state (certification required test). Studying and knowing the rules – everyone needs to have a solid understanding about the fundamentals of officiating.
• Special situational plays – golden rule – if you talk about a squirrelly play – chances are chance will give you this same play somewhere in a game this year – so talk about those crazy situations prior to the season and during your pregame talks.

This is just a short list of things that you should be or probably have been doing as an official by now. If not then you need to get started with these items as soon as possible!

Thanks for reading and check in again soon for my next blog post which will give you even more tips for veterans and new football officials.

Till then, here’s a five yard delay-of-game penalty for ya!