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 could be included as part of a training session for writing proper game reports and the procedures surrounding games that involve situations? Here are five keys:
1. What events merit game reports?
Ejections are not the only items that need to be reported. State association leaders, conference administrators and school principals cannot possibly be at every event under their jurisdiction. A game report can bring a problem area — anything from poor dressing facilities to safety problems on the field or court — to their attention. Here are several of the items or events other than ejections that are possibly worthy of a game report:
- Poor facilities, cold showers, locker rooms
- Lack of security
- No administrator on duty
- Positives, such as sandwiches and drinks provided or other exceptional hospitality.
- Safety issues, i.e. sprinkler heads, long jump pits, loose covers, plate sticks up out of the ground, gopher holes.
- Sportsmanship, positive and negative, by fans, coaches and players
- Uniform issues
2. What absolutes must be in a game report?
The following items are necessary to included in a game report:
- Basic game information, such as teams, date, location, etc.
- Event that caused the player to be ejected.
- Any supporting facts or events that led to the incident.
- Exact quotes of what people said. Don’t use symbols or leave out profane words. The people reading the report are adults and can handle those quotes.
- Names of all officials and a way to contact the officials for more information
The game report serves as the official account of what happened. The assigner and the administrators need the event to be described in as much detail as possible with relevant facts. A running account of the game isn’t usually needed, but a running detail of exactly what precipitated an ejection is. It is also imperative to include any events that happened afterward, or to write the statement that the game concluded without further incident.
3. What never belongs in a game report?
Officials should keep the following out of their game reports:
- Opinion
- Embellishment
- Pregame history
- Hearsay-extraneous information
- Emotion of the officials
- What an official “should have done”
- Misspellings or grammatical errors
- Judgment of penalty
- Apologies
Anything that takes away from the account of what happened or adds information that is not needed should not be included. Also, the report you write will be viewed by people who are educators, administrators, and if the situation was drastic enough, possibly lawyers and judges. It is imperative that reports be written correctly and make sense, without misspellings or grammatical errors.
4. What procedures should happen immediately after an incident through the time the report is filed?
Officials should do specific things while still on the field or court and then after the game has concluded when a report should be filed:
While still on the field/court:
- Administer the ejection correctly.
- Make written notes of the circumstances, including anything that led up to the ejection.
- Make sure the ejected person is where he or she is supposed to be. Some rules require that a coach leaves the field or court, while a player might simply be relegated to the bench.
- Don’t rush through and forget your other duties, but get the game going. Most situations calm down once the game has resumed.
After the game:
- Follow up with coach, reason for ejection. Some ejections require automatic suspensions. If that’s the case, make certain you have informed all of the necessary people before leaving the site.
- Get with partner as you walk off together. You need to walk off as a team, partially for protection and partially in case anyone tries to confront you about the incident.
- Make sure security is aware after the game. If there are any concerns, having a game administrator or security available for protection can be a good idea.
- Lock the locker room. As you discuss the situation with your partner(s), you don’t want any interruptions, especially from an angry home coach.
- Call the commissioner or assigner. The coach and athletic director will likely call the commissioner or assigner with a complaint or inquiry. Call them quickly to get them up to speed and let them know a written report will be coming.
- Collaborate with the crew, and come up with a consensus as to what happened. It’s important to note that you aren’t trying to fix a story here, but just make sure all crewmates agree on what happened.
- Stay away from the media and other people. There are no good reasons to talk with media or fans about the incident.
5. What should happen after writing and submitting the report?
- After writing the report, share it with your crew. They can see if what you wrote is in line with what happened and what was talked about after the event. If the event was serious enough or if the report gets challenged, then it is likely that all members of the crew will be contacted.
- Proofread/reread the report. Before submitting the report, give it one last thorough read. Does the report say exactly what you want it to say? Remember, it’s got your name and reputation attached.
- Confirm that it was received. Email and faxes are usually reliable, however, if you don’t get a response back from the person you sent the report to, then you can’t be sure it was received.
- Don’t worry about consequences. You’ve done your job; let the administrators do theirs.
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