Click Newsletter Category

By Tim Sloan An assigner I work with was telling me about a great idea he heard during his annual meeting with his league’s basketball coaches. They wanted him to assign crews of officials to each day of the schedule but wait until the actual week of the games to tell them which one they would work. That way, the coaches could look over the list of officials for a given night and come up with who would work what game based on the importance of the game, the crew’sRead More

While it’s a good thing to have officials associations experience membership growth, it’s equally important to know what to do with those new members. Because eventually they may land new full-time jobs or possibly decide that officiating is not what they thought it would be. As is the case with all new members, the association’s goal should be to deliver proper training so that the new officials are put on the right games and the mission of the association — serving the schools properly — is not harmed. With thatRead More

By Jerry Grunska A while back a large city assigned football officials individually each year. There were no set crews. Coaches from about a half dozen high school conferences in the community and suburbs got together in spring for a large-scale “draft.” As a result officials were likely to work any position: umpire one night, referee the next afternoon. To be sure, there were advantages to the system. Officials got to meet a lot of association members (there was just a lone organization). Officials were conscientious about trying to performRead More

Officials certainly don’t receive the accolades that players and coaches get for their achievements, and that’s OK. But officials deserve acknowledgement for their achievements and recognition for their tremendous service. Officials associations can provide that for their officials. Offering awards and recognitions can help officials feel appreciated and motivated. Psychic-income is never a bad thing. In order to reward officials, you need to determine for what you’re going to award them. An awards’ committee, criteria, the actual hardware and a time to recognize the honorees are also important. Step 1Read More

Booking a great guest speaker can result in a well-attended association meeting. You likely will book the speaker well in advance of your meeting, so it’s important to confirm the details of the event with your guest speaker the week of the meeting to make sure he or she has the needed directions and information. Even when you book and confirm the speaker, there are times when you’ll have to deal with a no-show. Even though it is not your fault if a speaker doesn’t come, you need to haveRead More

Most officials associations spend the training portion of their meetings going over rules or mechanics that are important for the season. However, one topic that should definitely be a training session is writing game reports. The documentation of what happened after an ejection or other significant event is often used by state office leaders and school administrations to not only determine what happened (since they most likely weren’t in attendance at the game) but what to do next, be it a suspension or more to the offending party. What couldRead More

Does your association develop a budget each year? It’s an essential part of running a successful officials association. Whether you’re setting up a budget for the first time or looking for some suggestions on doing it the right way, it all starts with gathering the numbers. The first step in preparing a budget is to compare the current year’s budget to actual results to gain an overall understanding of the finances of the association. If no budget was prepared in previous years, then a good starting point would be toRead More

By Jerry Grunska Woody Allen once said that 90 percent of success is achieved by just showing up. Not so far-fetched, but add another phrase … showing up and doing the job. All of us have seen people goof off at work. In fact, some people seem to devote much if not all of their energy to avoiding responsibility. Well, we can dismiss them right upfront for lacking leadership qualities. But what genuine attributes do we recognize in bona fide leaders? Some people talk a good game but don’t playRead More

By Jerry Grunska If you coast, you’re toast. We often use expressions like that to remind officials that they should continually seek ways to improve themselves. The same idea can be applied to associations. Are we treading water? Have we become stodgy? Are we overlooking or ignoring ways to advance our purpose? Do members have ideas useful that we haven’t tried? Are there some blind spots in our policies and practices? Can we do something about these questions when the sport(s) we serve is/are not in season? Let’s take thatRead More

By Tim Sloan The time has come. “Max” has been on your board of directors since you were in the second grade. He was instrumental in leading the transition to four-person mechanics in football and his fingerprints all over negotiating game fee raises into the low double digits. In fact, the association wouldn’t be anything like it is today if it weren’t for Max. Just ask him. No, wait; you don’t have to ask him. He takes up a third of every board meeting and 20 minutes of every trainingRead More