By Jeffrey Stern
Several years ago, I received a phone call from an official — the training officer for his local association — seeking advice. He said he was making a presentation on positioning and showed a video clip illustrating the issues that can ensue if an official gets a bad angle on a play.
“The problem is the official got himself straight lined,” the instructor said sagely.
When he opened the floor for questions, a young man timidly raised his hand. When recognized he said sheepishly, “What does straight lined mean?”
The trainer made a common assumption: Everyone in the room knew as much as he did.
I didn’t envy his situation. While serving as a trainer for my football association, I’ve faced the same dilemma.
On the one hand, you don’t want to talk over the heads of some or all of your members. That is one of the pitfalls of having a guest speaker who has an impressive resume as a college or pro official, but whose techniques, lingo and philosophies are well beyond those of your members.
On the other, you don’t want to mollify the newbies by simplifying the material to the point that veterans nod off during the meeting.
So how do you serve more than one master?
One potential solution adopted by many associations is special separate training meetings for less experienced officials. In some cases, those get-togethers are conducted in the weeks or months before the regular association meetings get under way. The upside is the newer officials come into the regular meetings knowing the basics; perhaps the material that is put before them when the regular meetings begin won’t seem as daunting or foreign. The downside is that means more meetings, both for your trainers and for the newer members. It’s an additional time commitment that neither group may want to take on.
Other chapters set aside an hour or more specially for the newer officials, sessions that take place at the same place and on the same day as the usual meeting. Once the veterans arrive, everyone gets together for a joint meeting. If you get the newbies in the door for the meeting dedicated to them, they’ll likely stick around for the second half as well. Again, the potential pitfall is time. You have to ensure the meeting place is available early enough and long enough for your gatherings. Depending on what time the meetings begin, you may be talking about a five-hour commitment for the newer officials. Or the vets may be asked to arrive late and stay beyond what is considered a normal meeting time.
Another method is to break out into multiple groups based on the officials’ perceived level of expertise. That can work well if you have enough instructors to go around, and if the trainers are savvy enough to match the material to the audience. Coordination is also important. You must ensure any information that is germane to officials regardless of level is the same. To do otherwise invites confusion and discord.
There is nothing inherently wrong with bringing all of your members into the same meeting and doing your best to appeal everyone’s level of experience. If so, it’s important to assure the newer officials that no question is a dumb question. But since many still will be gun shy about putting their lack of experience and know-how on display, invite them to see you after the meeting so you can explain anything that was over their heads. Because some less experienced officials are embarrassed to ask even in front of people at their same level, you may have to answer the same question multiple times. Or perhaps encourage them to email, text or call you with their question to maintain their anonymity.
Whether to meet together or separate may be a question without a definitive answer. The truth of the matter is, you may have to experiment to find out what works best for you and your group.
Jeffrey Stern is Referee’s senior editor. He officiated high school and collegiate football and umpired high school baseball.
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