Good Reading

June 6, 2008

Honesty, integrity, loyalty, commitment. Those are all words necessary when describing a good official. Honesty: Making the crucial call that could decide the outcome of a game. Integrity: People believing your call was made completely without bias. Loyalty: Your assigner knows you can be counted on you will be able to count on the assigner for games. We all know that just to be an official in any sport takes a high level of commitment. Its members often define a group’s identity.

Officials with those qualities pass them on to their officiating organization. Any officials’ organization that is regarded highly is because each of its members present themselves in a professional manner at all times regardless of the level, gender or location of the game.

As officials, we often don’t think about whom we work for. Many are considered independent contractors and are therefore your own bosses. Some may consider themselves as working for the association or even the assigner. Ultimately, you are working for the very same people often considered adversaries, the coaches and players. Their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with officials that work their games will be passed along to their governing body. That governing body can ultimately be the one to decide whether or not to renew your contract. The combined abilities and actions of a group’s officials will define the personality of that group. That perceived personality makes up the cornerstone of the relationship your group builds with the league’s governing body. It is extremely important that every member of your association realizes that his or her actions will ultimately make up the personality of your association.

Your organization’s reputation and personality will be of utmost importance when the local and state organizations go through the process of reviewing bids and renewing contracts each year. There will always be an association trying to come in at a cheaper price thereby doing a disservice to us all. There are rare cases where a large group or chapter will try to steal away another conference by bidding low with the intention of becoming more competitive later. That is where your reputation as an outstanding organization will allow you to defeat such attempts. Bids are not always won on price alone. The product must be commensurate with the price it is being offered at.

The leaders of the group should be the ones to set the tone for how they wish their organization to be viewed by various conferences or state governing bodies. That tone must be conveyed in both actions and words to the membership of the organization since each of them are ultimately ambassadors for the entire group. Once you have established and maintained a solid reputation, your entire organization will be well respected by the athletic organizations you serve.

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