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Association leadership has an awesome responsibility to its members. It is easy for the leaders to get bogged down in the details. If you want a motivated group of ever-improving officials, you should have a vision of where you want the group to go. More important, you must communicate your vision to the membership. If your vision is for everyone to work to their full potential and improve their skills, you are being genuine. If you show them a training plan for the next 12 months and they can seeRead More

One of the most important documents for your association is the bylaws. Bylaws are rules adopted by an association to manage its affairs and regulate the internal practices and procedures of the association. Bylaws serve to define the relations, rights and duties among members and define the powers, duties and limitations of directors and officers. With a workable set of bylaws, setting out the rights and powers of members and officers, issues which often confront associations can be easily resolved. To be of any value, the bylaws need to beRead More

By Jerry Grunska I learned how to ride a bike years after I’d acquired the skill. That is, I read in a physics article that balancing a single-file two-wheeled vehicle required turning the guide wheel in the direction of the tilt. If the bicycle starts tipping to the right, in other words, the handler must turn the handlebars in that same direction, which steadies the motion and keeps the rider upright. It is a fascinating prospect, because if one contemplates the dynamics, logic would seem to favor the opposite turnRead More

There are two basic types of telephone calls that occur really late at night. The first is the personal emergency call: Someone has died, been involved in an accident or been put in the pokey. The second type is the angry coach or A.D. call, telling you someone lost a game because of the officials you sent out. How do you handle the latter kind of situation where propriety and common decency apparently have no material bearing?  Have a properly functioning timepiece. That is to verify the answer when youRead More

There is an old saying: “Luck favors the well-prepared.” That tenet holds true in many facets of life, certainly. But leaders of officials associations should always consider what might happen on that inevitable “rainy day.” For example, what would your association do if your number one trainer moves, gets injured or simply decides not to serve again? It’s a question worth asking, and a possibility worth preparing for. Imagine the snowball effect of having your association’s training program interrupted for a season or even just a few weeks. Would youRead More

Meetings. You may think of them as necessary evils. They are the obstacles to be overcome and the pills to be swallowed before we can get on with the season. But meetings don’t have to be dreaded by your members. Done right, your meetings can be not only excellent learning and development tools, but enjoyable evenings of officiating fellowship. Get it together. Officials are busy folks. Meetings are typically held during a weekday evening. That means that your members have to hurry home from work, wolf down dinner and rushRead More

By Jerry Grunska Your association has asked you to evaluate a fellow official and you have been given an evaluator’s checklist. In many instances checklists offer only a limited perspective on how officials perform. The trouble is that listed characteristics are often too general and don’t reveal specific officiating actions (hustles, applies rules accurately) in a particular contest. There are a few things you can do to improve your method of evaluating. Use descriptions. For accurate particulars, an evaluation or observation report must describe, and doing that requires more thanRead More

It’s decision time. The owner wants $10 more a night for the room you rent for meetings. You want to get the latest program to help pull video plays for meetings and the place where you hold the banquet has raised its prices and eaten up your entire subsidy. You need to raise dues—but how?  Reach an agreement. Make sure your executive board buys in. Few things tend to antagonize the membership more than asking them for more money: “What? I’m making $10,000 a year from games you assign meRead More

By Tim Sloan One of the marks of any strong officials association is the favorable impression that its leaders project on their environment. A leader, in that context, is not necessarily any member of the executive board, but rather anyone who, through his or her actions and behavior, compels others to cooperate and lend support. Without leadership, any organization stands to become ineffective or irrelevant and risks going the way of the dodo. Alan Goldberger, officiating legal expert, will tell you, “It’s all about relationships,” and those are built basedRead More

The relationship between local officials associations and state associations is sometimes considered an oil-and-water thing: two elements that just don’t mix well. But it doesn’t have to be. Understanding the role of your state association, how it relates to your local officials association and how best to work within that framework can help usher in a new era of cooperation, effectiveness and growth that can make you and your association better. If your local association’s relationship with the state office could stand some improvement, it can be achieved through followingRead More