(RACINE, Wis.) — The National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) and the NFL Charities today announced plans to produce a 16-page publication designed to improve youth football officiating. The grant provided by NFL Charities will provide NASO with the ability to distribute more than 35,000 copies of the NFL Youth Football Officiating 2001 publication to youth programs across the nation.

Organizations such as Pop Warner Football, Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of America, the National Recreation and Parks Association members and the National Youth Sports Officials Association are just some of the groups that will benefit.

Written by the editors of Referee, the publication will focus on youth officiating and will provide tips and insight on how to properly officiate youth football.

"We’ll continue to place an emphasis on safety, basic officiating skills and much more," said Referee Associate Editor Jeffrey Stern. Stern is the author of the Football Officials Guidebook, a publication introduced in 1999 by Referee. Several Guidebook illustrations and examples of officiating mechanics will be incorporated into the youth publication.

"From the start we believed this would be a great educational tool for youth programs to use to not only train their officials, but also to recruit new officials," said NASO President Barry Mano. "I’m very proud of the fact that the NFL allowed us to test this concept last year, saw that it has value and endorsed doing it again in 2001."

The youth publication will also promote the NFL web site www.nflhs.com. NASO and Referee magazine provided editorial assistance in the development of this NFL web site last year.

"NASO’s relationship with the NFL has been very positive for many years because we have similar objectives, we want strong officiating at every level so that the game grows," added Mano. "There are many opportunities to work with the NFL to promote the game and officiating."