Bangor MAFO Begins Using TheArbiter

Most people do not like change.  However, in our transition from our old system of sharing game assignments to using TheArbiter, I have been very pleased with the favorable response by our members.  TheArbiter allows officials to access school and fellow officials’ information while also providing a complete list of games.  Eventually the assigning and accepting of games will be very easy, but learning a new system can be difficult.  I must commend our two assigners, Alan Kochis and Tim Kenney, for their commitment and patience learning a system that isn’t always intuitive.  We have many little bugs to work out and some new features to explore including an online evaluation/feedback system, but I expect that by the end of our first season using TheArbiter, we will all look forward to next year when athletic administrators can enter their own games and be a more integral part of the system.  It is a great tool for them as well.

TheArbiter.net Logo

My favorite part as an official in the Arbiter system is the ability to adjust my “blocks” as my availability changes.  In the past when we sent in our availability for the entire season in early August, I never really knew my full availability.   Now I can make that last minute change in my availability so my assigner can use me to fill a last minute game vacancy.  Also, the assigner won’t have to call several people to find an available official.  Saying no to your assigner makes for a difficult and uncomfortable phone conversation.

We have an excellent group of people choosing to officiate football in the greater Bangor area.  The information and communication that TheArbiter provides along with this blog and increased email communication will help us build an effective learning community that may even result in fewer weekly meetings.   Maybe we can begin some online learning experiences!  What do you think?   Please share your thoughts by clicking on the add comment below.

Call to Master 5-Person Football Officiating

Thankfully, football officials’ associations here in Maine have slowly convinced many schools to hire five officials instead of the traditional four that have struggled to cover high school football for generations.  Frankly, four officials do not have enough eyes to enforce the rules as demanded by the NFHS rulebook.

After working many years with four officials, I have learned that when covering the running plays outside the tackles, there are times when dangerous blocks and/or facemask infractions could not be seen properly.   Passing and kicking plays also lack proper coverage in a game covered by four field officials.  Having worked several games on a 5-person crew, I now know that by studying five-person crew mechanics, discussing coverages in our meetings, and spending additional time in our pre-game conferences, we can begin to truly reap the benefits of having a sufficient number of officials to cover the game of football.

The Texas Association of Sports Officials–Football Division publishes an officials’ manual for a crew of five.  This document is very detailed (69 pages) and is revised annually.  I believe that this can be a very valuable resource for all officials who work on five-person crews.  Somehow I located a copy of this document online when looking for quality resources to share with fellow football officials here in this blog.  I will seek permission to share this manual here in the blog.

In the meantime, I hope our group here in Eastern Maine can refer to this one copy occasionally and slowly learn to cover situations as well as they do in Texas.  I believe that Texas high schools usee NCAA rules for their high school football (yes, everything is bigger in Texas, especially their football when compared to Maine).   Therefore, with rule difference we cannot follow instructions tied to the rules.  However, their directions on how to cover formations, various scrimmage plays, the kicking game, and special situations might be very helpful.

There is a reason that many officials from Texas move from high school to college and professional leagues (NFL, Arena Football, Canadian Football).  With a group putting this much work into its officials’ manual, you know they care very much about doing a quality job.  Let’s make an effort to learn from our officiating friends in Texas.  I suggest that a few of us find time to sit over the next few weeks to see what we can effectively teach as we work to improve our coverage of games assigned to 5-man crews.

Allen Iverson High School Football Highlights

Just for entertainment sake, check out Allen Iverson when he played high school football.

Official NFHS Football Officiating Documents

The National Federation makes many documents readily available to the the world. Sometimes it is a bit difficult for some to find these so I hope this listing and availability is helpful to all of you. The following are links to the NFHS documents on the National Federation website which should download the .pdf files directly to your computer when you click on each link below. Name and save them to your computer for future reference. We are excited to see how many people take advantage of looking at materials that they might never have taken time to check out.

Football Field Diagram

Officials’ Signals #1

Officials’ Signals #2

Football Line to Gain Instructions

Football Clock Operator Instructions

2008 NFHS/NCAA Rules Differences

Official 2008 NFHS Football Rule Changes

Click here to view the list of changes for high school football for the 2008 football season.

NFHS 3-Official Football Manual

The 3-official manual will no longer be part of the NFHS officiating manual.  However, here is the link to download a copy for your records.  Many football associations across the country officiate sub-varsity and middle school games with only three officials.  For this reason, I believe that having consistent mechanics will result in better officiating and consistency so coaches and parents will have more time to focus on their work and not ours.  Download this free copy with NFHS permission by clicking below.

NFHS 3-Person Officiating Manual Download–Click Here!

Download Your Copy Now

2008 NFHS Football Rule Changes Explained

Click on the following link to see the National Federation of High School’s official publication on this year’s football rules changes.

National Federation 2008 High School Football Rule Changes

http://www.nfhs.org/web/2008/02/2008_high_school_football_rules.aspx

Trained, “Focused” Eyes & the Need for an Additional Official

As a sports official, one the most important skills that we need to develop and constantly maintain is the ability to focus on the player activity that is assigned to us per recommended mechanics.  Trained eyes make it possible to see most of what we are supposed to see so we can properly officiate our games.

This following video helps me make my point about “focus” and the need for additional officials.  How did you do?  Could you count the number of passes by the white team?  How aware are you of what happened.  Please take time to read the rest of this blog entry after watching the video.

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Most officials will agree that at the high school level in most sports, we would benefit greatly by having an additional official.  The way that basketball has changed over the years (esp. 3-point line and motion offenses), we can serve the game best by having three (3) officials.  In football, officials cannot cover some blocking infractions and actions against receivers without five (5) officials.  In baseball, we can cover a game best with three (3) which allows umpires to move into the outfield to rule on catches, accurately rule on base-touching and fair-foul balls, and have the ability to create good angles and be close enough to plays.  Hockey also needs to move from two to three (3) officials.  When you are focused on a potential off-sides call, you are not capable of seeing the whole play related to a possible penalty call.

However, given the financial times and some resistance to additional officials amongst some of our coaches and athletic administrators, we must try to do our best with one less set of eyes.   This makes our pre-game conferences and adherance to prescribed mechanics even more important.   We must know our responsibilities and strictly follow required mechanics.  These mechanics (positioning, signals, and use of the voice/whistle) determine how we view and rule upon what we see.  We all know that we make hundreds or even thousands of rulings during each contest we officiate, only to  interrupt games (making calls) at appropriate times.

Some officials quickly and easily learn what to focus on early in their officiating careers.  Others take a great deal of time to properly train their eyes.  Some never master this part of officiating.  “Focus” is very important but we must be careful not to focus our eyes or our mind too much on one or more concerns.  Looking for that illegal screen/block or holding (basketball, football, and hockey) can sometimes avert our focus from seeing the entire play that is often necessary.   With an additional official, you may be able to focus on one thing (and sometimes the mechanics provides for this).

When we say to ourselves/others that we would like to see that play again, do you think we might have focused in on something a little bit too much?  I know that I have been caught by this many times.  Now that it has come to my attention, I know that I need to add this comment and thought to my pre-game preparation checklist.

Count the Laterals Video

Click below to catch the unbelievable final play of a small college game. Some of us think there are 15 laterals. The video quality is not the best, but it would be worthwhile to just listen to the audio and visualize the movement of the ball throughout more than half of the football field. Yes, this is football, but it sure looks more like rugby to me.

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/10/28/count-the-laterals-if-you-can/?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Imagine how difficult it would have been covering all the blocks making sure that the team deserved the yardage gained! Actually, how can a play last that long and have every block be legal? Happy viewing!

Crazy Game Rulings

Do you have any (or hear of any) strange and/or difficult rulings that had to be made during a football game?  Share some of your plays so that we can learn some new interpretations and dig deeper into our rulebooks and casebooks.  My goal with this blog and my other sports officials’ blogs is to encourage officials to spend some additional time thinking about their work on the fields and courts around the world.  The basic premise is simple: Spend more time spent thinking about your officiating and you will naturally improve.

Basketball and baseball officials visited our blogs regularly after getting home from games and were checking their email and assignments (basketball, soccer, and baseball arbiters in the area all use TheArbiter.net for making online assignments).

If you are interested in visiting the basketball and baseball officials’ learning blogs, click on them in the blogroll to the right.  Happy blogging!

Appeal for On-Field Improvement Suggestions

This morning via email I finally got around to requesting some information from local officials to help one another improve their work.  I want everyone to think back over our past season(s) of officiating football games and reflect upon your experiences.  I want a good list of comments (constructive criticisms) of self and fellow officials that we can share here for all to look over now and when we get ready for next season.   These comments should not include names as this blog will not ever allow anyone to embarrass or discredit fellow officials or coaches in this blog.

The emailed request also asked:

•  What do you think is the single most important aspect of football officiating?  It takes a whole package of skills and knowledge, but what can you pinpoint as being most important to officiating success?
• What are your goals (personal and local association) for next season?

Please feel free to post your feelings here.  You will need to register with wordpress sharing your name and email address.  This keeps the anonymous readers from blasting officials.  (Note: Do not request your own blog as it may further confuse you when you log in to respond in the blog.)

If it is easier or you prefer to do so, email your comments, suggestions, and goals to ShawnKball@gmail.com or kimballs@glenburnschool.us.

Upcoming Ratings System Vote

The ratings committee has spent the past year working out some changes mostly pertaining the rating of fellow officials.  Next Tuesday September 4th, there will be a handout and brief discussion of the suggested changes to our ratings system.  Click on the link below to download the new proposed criteria and related explanations.

Fellow Official Evaluation Changes

Along with these potential changes, we also hope to put in place a system to solicit positive feedback along with constructive criticism.  We will share general comments here in the blog and try to include specific comments on your annual rating sheets.