Weekend Wisdom, BY: Nick D’Amato
Pride and ego have multiple definitions but these two are unquestionably related to officiating. Pride is an important part of officiating, or at least in developing and rising through the ranks as an official. It will be nearly impossible to get to where you want to go in your career without taking pride in your craft. Are there some that can get away with it? Absolutely, but those folks are going to need such unbelievable natural talent that most of us don’t have, and even still, it will likely catch up with them at some point. Pride isn’t just the feeling you get after a good call, game or season though, understanding where pride comes from can .
To some degree, ego is necessary as well. Officiating is challenging, and if you don’t believe that you can be good at it then you probably shouldn’t be out on the field. However, ego can come out in really ugly ways that can stunt your growth.
“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can
achieve it as well.” – Abraham Lincoln
Pride (noun): pleasure or satisfaction taken in something done by or belonging to oneself or believed to reflect credit upon oneself
When I think about pride in officiating, I think about something one of my mentors once told me. “Take care of the things you can control.” Showing pride in your work will impress partners, players, coaches, assignors, Athletic Directors, essentially all the people that will help
Things that show pride in our work.
- Communicating prior to the game. Whatever the standard in your area is, make sure you are following that. I typically reach out to all my partners for the week via e-mail on Sunday night. If I haven’t heard back from them the day before the game, I call them. If I still haven’t heard back the morning of, I might be reaching out to the assignor to make sure a change hasn’t been made. When you confirm the game, confirm the time, level and location, it can help catch mistakes in your own notes or calendar.
- Showing up on time. Give yourself more time than you need to get to games. Know if you are going to need to stop for gas, etc. Know what kind of roads you are dealing with, if you have games in one-lane roads or high traffic areas, plan accordingly. Some sports like baseball and football often play at locations that are not the school themselves, be aware of this as well. If you are running late, reach out so your partner knows you are coming.
- Have a neat appearance. Again, follow the standards of your board/assignor, but make sure you know what they are. This doesn’t just apply to our personal appearance when we take the field/court. You don’t have to drive a ferrari, but make sure your car is somewhat clean. You never know who you will see in the parking lot and nobody wants to see a ref whose car is covered in fast food wrappers and random clothing. Dress professionally for the school and make sure your bag is neatly packed. Nobody wants to see a partner who looks like they threw things in a bag two minutes before leaving their house.
- Hustle. It gets said over and over again to the point of cliche, but it’s the one thing everyone in the place can see regardless of what they know about the sport, and a lack of hustle is often the one thing players and coaches won’t forgive.
Ego (noun): egotism; conceit; self-importance
Ego is the thing that can really hold you back without even realizing it. The higher up you advance, the more it can hurt you. It’s something many people can pick up on even if they can’t put their finger on it. Here are some ways ego can show up in a game that can hurt you.
- Stubbornness. Even on calls that you are sure you got right, you can acknowledge that a play was close. “Coach, it was close but the ball beat the runner.” Even that little acknowledgement can show a coach the difference between confidence and arrogance. When we really blow a call owning up to it can help, but we can also acknowledge a coach or players opinion without admitting fault. “Coach, I’d like to see that play again/on film.” the statement doesn’t say that you missed the call, but shows the coach that you understand they have a different perspective and acknowledges that you are working to get better.
- Taking it personal. If a coach questions your call, don’t make it about you. Talk about the positioning, talk about what the players did/didn’t do and realize that you may have to agree to disagree. Stick to facts and don’t talk about opinions when it comes to plays. “Coach, I had a great look at that play and the defender didn’t get legal guarding position before contact” sounds a lot better than “Coach, I got that one right.”
- Being territorial. None of us are going to be perfect in our coverage areas. We are going to miss things that happen in our areas, and occasionally we are going to reach into our partners areas. There’s nothing wrong with talking about it after the fact, but wait until an appropriate time. When you do talk about it, don’t make it about you, talk about the look that they had and if it was a necessary call in the game, not about what the call did to you. This doesn’t just apply to on the court either, don’t monopolize pregame and halftime conversations either. Just because you are the Crew Chief or most experienced official doesn’t mean that everyone on the crew doesn’t have something to contribute.
“Ego so big you must admit
I got every reason to feel like I’m that b*tch
Ego so strong, if you ain’t know
I don’t need no beat I can sing it with piano.” – Beyoncé
Pride and some level of ego are healthy and necessary in order to be a good official. But too much ego can be offputting and stall out our career. It can prevent people from wanting to work with us, and make them hesitant to give us constructive feedback. Take some time to thing about situations after you handled them and ask yourself what led you to respond in that fashion. Make sure that you are responding to things in a way that helps you give the players the best game you can, and not defending your own ego.
“Cogito Ergo Sum” – René Descartes
Until next week.
