I have just finished my 25th year as a high school and collegiate official. I wonder where the time has gone, and even though I have been working for a long time, I still want to be better.
After a season, I have found it to be helpful to think about what I did to improve myself over the last season – did I study the rules, more? did I attend a clinic? What did I do to become a better official?
If the answer is nothing, then, while experience helps, just working year after year, may not make you a better official. If you want to be better, you have to practice at being better, and to do that, one must educate him/herself.
Being an official is an incredibly difficult hobby. You invest your time away from family, and you invest money in all the accoutrements that are necessary to be prepared and play the role of an official.
We do that, why?
When people ask me, why, I say that it feels really good to be able to administer a highly competitive game, where the players, play, and the coaches are able to coach. In the best games, there is a sense of trust between the two teams and the officiating crew. The players, play. The coaches, coach.
Each of the three teams are able to do what each has prepared themselves for. Yet, those games do not happen by chance, they are the result of your willingness to be a constant learner.
First, read the rule book. More importantly, develop a common sense and fair play understanding in how to apply the rules. Next, attend more trainings and clinics. I learn something at every clinic and because of that, I have more arrows in my quiver of experience, to draw out, when I’m in the middle of a game. Last, want to get better. None of this matters, if you do not want to improve.
One conclusion that I have come to after all these years is that the better I am, the easier my games will be. Simply put, It is to my benefit to improve.
Stephen Perez is the President of the Wisconsin Lacrosse Officials Association
Read more: Become an Official
