You’ve thought about becoming a football official and need a place to get started.

Find out about the local officials associations in your area. An officiating association is a group of officials who meet periodically to discuss rules, mechanics and philosophy. They are a great way for new officials to learn from veteran officials.

Attend a game in your area and ask the officials what association they belong to and whom to contact for information. The association will be a valuable pool of resources for training, obtaining games and getting to know the officiating community.

Attend association meetings. At those meetings, some held before the season starts, you can ask questions about rules, mechanics and positioning. Those sessions will be a foundation to get you started properly.
You will be constantly on your feet. A wide vision of the playing field is a must. Quick reactions and speed are advantages. As the players’ ages increase and the competitive levels increase, the physical demands will also increase.

Expect lectures, demonstration and exercises on the basic rules at local association meetings.

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• Polished, black athletic shoes, preferably cleated.
• Striped socks.
• White knickers and a black belt.
• Collared striped shirt, both short and long sleeves.
• A fitted black hat with white piping.
• Officiating tools: flags, down indicator, beanbag, information cards, pencil, whistle, lanyard, chain clip, sports watch with timer, signal card, ball pressure tester.
• Estimated cost: $225. Veteran officials sometimes have "hand—me—downs" that help new officials get started.

Talk with officials at a game, contact the athletic department of a local high school or contact your local recreation department. They will be able to give you the name of the state governing body for high school athletics. You will be expected to complete a registration form for affiliation with a national, statewide or local association. Often there will be a fee that must be paid with this registration which goes toward additional officiating training and insurance. Often, with your state association fee, you will be provided rulebooks and other materials. The fees range from $10—$75.

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Game fees vary widely based on the players’ age group, competitive level and the state you officiate in. You can expect the range of $10 for youth games to $45 for competitive high school varsity games.
Ask a respected veteran official to be your mentor. That mentor will help answer your questions and provide crucial support. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about situations and rules. The more you talk about officiating, the more you will learn about it.

dditional requirements may be a written test with a minimum passing score, payment of fees for the coming season and association meeting attendance.

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Climbing the ladder: Here’s the path for starting and continuing your officiating career:

*The youth level: Many officials start at that level. Contact your local recreation department leaders. Your local association should also help you make contacts to get games. Pop Warner league offers youth games in many cities.

For information, contact:

Pop Warner Football
586 Middletown Blvd., Suite C-100
Langhorne, PA 19047
215/752-2691
www.popwarner.com
www.pwlsreg@aol.com

*Upgrading to high school: After working some games, you may feel you have the skills and confidence to work higher level competition. Contact your state association for registration information.

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) is the nation’s governing body for high school athletics. Contact the NFHS for rulebooks, rule changes and information on your state association.

NFHS
P.O. Box 690
Indianapolis, IN 46204
317/972-6900

In most cases, state associations can put you in contact with a local officials association. NASO has more than 4,000 local officials associations in our database. Local officials associations assign games, many times offers mentoring programs and assist in training. You may Contact Us for a local association near you.

High school athletic directors, association assigners and other officials will help you get games. Attend local officiating camps and clinics. They are focused on helping umpires learn and improve.

*Upgrading to college: College football is a highly competitive level of play. Officials with one year of youth league experience would most likely not be a candidate even though there isn’t a designated number of years of experience to reach the college ranks. Obtaining a conference schedule and advancement within a conference is based on the league or conference. When first trying to enter a particular college conference, talk with officials who are currently in the conference. They can give you valuable information such as the conference commissioner and umpiring camps to attend. College athletic directors or sports information directors can also be helpful. Click here for a NCAA college conference directory .

You may start your career in the NAIA, work an NCAA Division III conference, advance to a Division II schedule, then on to a smaller Division I conference and culminate with a major Division I schedule. Attending officiating camps is an important tool to improve your officiating. Not only can you learn from experienced officials, you can be seen by those who assign games at that particular level, most often conference commissioners or officiating supervisors.

The collegiate national governing bodies:

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
P.O. Box 6222
Indianapolis, IN 46206-6222
317-917-6222
http://www.ncaa.org/

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)
23500 W. 105th Street
P.O. Box 1325
Olathe, KS 66051-1325
913/791-0044
http://www.naia.org

National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA)
P.O. Box 7305
Colorado Springs, CO 80933- 7305
719/590-9788
http://www.njcaa.org

*Professional league: Though you don’t have to have top—level experience to become a professional official, some experience is required. For example, it would be impossible for a person with one year of high school experience to be a serious candidate for the NFL. An NFL candidate must have at least 10 years of experience with five of them at a collegiate varsity or minor professional level. For the NFL, candidates are interviewed by clinical psychologists to determine levels of intelligence and ability to handle extremely stressful situations. The NFL’s security department also conducts thorough checks into the candidate’s personal background. Finally the candidate is interviewed by a panel from the NFL officiating department and is given a rules examination.

The professional bodies for football are:

National Football League (NFL)
280 Park Ave.
New York, NY 10017
212/450-2000
http://www.nfl.com

Arena Football League and Arena 2 Football League
280 Park Ave.
New York, NY 10017
212/450-2000
http://www.arenafootball.com/index.html

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