Officiating's Highest Honor

It takes an extraordinary individual to win the preeminent award in officiating.

A lot of officials are outstanding on the field or court.

Plenty of officials display strong character, integrity and ethics.

Many officials give selflessly of their time, talents and money to worthy causes.

Thousands of officials nationwide fit the bill for all of the above.

How many fit that bill and are still a cut above the rest in all three of those areas? How many exemplify the "service above self" spirit that defines the Gold Whistle Award? More importantly, do you know an official or retired official who embodies everything that NASO’s Gold Whistle Award stands for?

Many officials who go the extra mile in serving their communities do so without fanfare. But every NASO member knows a fellow official whose work off the court has gone unheralded. That’s why NASO is seeking your help to find the 2006 NASO Gold Whistle Award winner.

Rise Above It All

"Sometimes, the most wonderful thing about this game is that it stunts your growth" – Then Oakland A’s pitcher Dennis Eckersley, in an 8/95 The Sporting News column.

Getting the "big" game and the "big" game goes awry. It’s three months before the season and you finally get your assignments for the upcoming year. You’ve been waiting anxiously to see the teams you’ll be working. In the back of your mind, you’re praying you don’t have to see Coach Loudmouth and begging for a chance to work "the big one."

You tear open the envelope and peer over the games. There it is! You’ve landed the big one! You’ve got two perennial powers pitted against each other; it’s the game everyone who is anyone in the area wants. You’ve worked hard for it. Hey, that means you’ve arrived! You’re like a kid in a candy store as you race to the phone to call your partner.

Six months have passed and "the big game" is finally here. You’re juiced up and fighting to keep emotions in check. The standing room only crowd is frenzied before the game. And it is looking to be a great game!

Guess again. The home team leaps out to an insurmountable lead and the game is a rout. You can actually feel the game deflate as the crowd, the players and the coaches sense the game is over within the first few minutes. You are disappointed and your concentration wanes while the game drones through the final period. Suddenly, harsh words are exchanged among players as frustration sets in and you react too late. A fight erupts, players are ejected and coaches are blaming you for the game being out of control. You can’t help but think how all your officiating "buddies" with "I told you so" attitudes are thinking you couldn’t handle the game. The "big game" has gone south and you went with it.

The solution: Develop an "every game is a big one" attitude. That is not easy to do, especially for the competitive officials who measure success by the number of games or the records of the teams playing. Sure you enjoy the challenge of officiating, but the games truly are for the participants, especially the kids playing. You are only a small – albeit important – part of the game. The quicker you realize that, the better attitude you’ll have toward all your games.

Remember this: Most anyone can work the well-played games. It’s the well-handled, poorly played games that separate great officials from average ones. When the game’s score or sloppiness gets out of hand, great officials turn it up a notch and finish strong

Heavy rules preparation followed by a rules error. You are a rulebook guru. Whenever a local official has a rules question, your phone rings. You probably should install a 900 phone number so at least you can make some money doing it, but you love talking rules. You’ve got five copies of the rulebook and study at least 15 minutes every day. In fact, you’ve got a rulebook sitting on the back of the toilet so you can study during those "down" times!

In the heat of a well-played game, a somewhat strange play happens, though you’ve seen the play before. You make the call and the coach goes crazy. "He doesn’t know the rule," you think as you administer penalties swiftly. Your partner hesitantly approaches you to verbally replay the play and ends his last sentence with, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I’m sure," you fire back. Your body language exudes confidence while inside you’re starting to question yourself. The ruling has major impact on the outcome of the game.

After the game, you race to the rulebook to prove to your partner that you’re the rule master. There it is, in black and white. You were wrong! A sudden sickness envelopes you. You slump down in your chair, knowing that you may have cost a team the game and severely damaged your reputation as the all-knowing guru. "I’ve read that millions of times before. How could I have made that mistake?" you think to yourself. Your partner tries to cheer you up, to no avail.

Solution: Forget about it for now and remember it for the next time it happens. Unless you’ve got a 16-megabytes-of-computer-ram brain, you are not likely to remember every possible scenario that could happen in a game.

Don’t go flushing your rulebook down the toilet! The best thing to take into your next game is to talk things out with your partner (or yourself!) if either of you is even the slightest bit unsure. Penalty administration is not a race and sometimes slowing things down mentally can help you avoid errors. Remember, no one is perfect. It’s the "strive for perfection" that makes us better

Young stud rising faster. You, as they say, are "the man." You’re the official who walks into Wednesday night association meetings and all in attendance begin whispering to each other, "There he is." You’re the best in the area and, even though you don’t seek the fanfare, you enjoy it somewhat. You’ve worked hard at it for the last 20 years and are simply reaping some side benefits. The scuttlebutt is you’re going to state again and you’re a lock to move up to higher levels of games in the next few years.

In the group is a young, athletic, All-American looking official who just a few years ago finished a stellar playing career at State University and began officiating to stay in the game. You hear he’s a natural, but you’re not worried because he’s so young and just getting started.

The next year, the young stud attends a few camps and impresses some of the higher-ups. He lands a big prep game as a fill-in when an official gets hurt. "They must not have asked me because I’ve had those teams before," you think to yourself, justifying the slight. The young stud has a great game, makes some tough calls down the stretch and is instantly revered by the officiating power players.

A few college coaches were in the stands for that game scouting some players. They noticed the young stud from his playing days and thought it was great to see someone that played so well at such a high level get into officiating. They were so impressed with his composure and skill that the coaches called the college conference office the next day to recommend him. A few positive letters from camp directors later and the young stud has flown right by you as if you were standing still on his way to college games.

His meteoric rise crushes your ego. You’re no longer the talk of the town, and the games you’re working don’t seem quite as exciting.

The solution: Instead of competing with other officials, help them achieve their own levels of success. Develop a commitment to the game you officiate. When you think about improving the game as a whole, you’ll realize the more good officials there are in your area, the better the game will be. Take pride in the fact that you helped someone become a better official – maybe even better than yourself. If you’re only in officiating for you, you’ll likely have a miserable existence in officiating. Your over-competitive and jealous nature will catch up to you. Keep working hard at your game too and – to borrow an old cliché – let the chips fall where they may. You and the game will be better for it

Pull Up a Chair ...

Everyone who’s ever stepped onto a field, court or rink to officiate a game has a story to tell. Here’s a story about some real soul-searching. (Do you have a story to tell? Write it down and e-mail to lastcall@referee.com.)

Hanging By My Fingertips
By Pat Wasp

I stood transfixed as my heart thumped in my ears. I was new to officiating; she was not new to coaching. I was sure she was right about that rule I had just kicked, but I wasn’t going to admit it.

We were a spectacle; two people locking horns on the battlefield of ego. I left the game angry and ashamed of myself for letting a wrong stand because of my own incompetence. I could not shake the feeling for days. I dove into the rulebook searching for the cure for a case of the bush league blues. I would have to sharpen every skill and challenge every action and reaction.

But that wouldn’t be enough. I wouldn’t learn until later that the key wouldn’t be found in the rulebook, casebook or officials’ manual. The key to success was inside me all along. All I had to do was allow the perceptions of others to penetrate my defenses and confront my excuses. What could be simpler?

Early in my career I considered other people’s opinions irrelevant. In every evaluation I was told I was too aggressive and my presentation was "over the top." Self-deception immediately intervened and gave me a number of plausible excuses for my behavior. I reassured myself that my strength was just a misunderstood gift. It did not seem fair that I was required to alter myself just to be more acceptable to others. I hung on to that little ridge of self-deception, but my feet were already dangling over the cliff of awareness.

In my very next game I sold a call so hard I almost blew out my shoulder. To add insult to injury the crowd actually laughed. I could justify the aching shoulder but the public ridicule really hurt. I swayed violently between my refusal to change and the fear I could not. In that moment I was hanging by one arm, and it was starting to burn. As I dangled there consumed with self-pity, a life-saving rope dangled within reach in the form of a 70-year-old evaluator.

Roger had seen it all in officiating. He personified quiet strength, courage and gained my immediate respect. After a difficult game, Roger pulled me aside to say he liked me and thought I was a good official. I was disarmed and unprepared for the next bombshell. He shared with me a conversation he had overheard in the stands. Someone actually said "I would not have that crazy woman in my gym." That "crazy woman" was me, and that comment bothered me at a level I cannot articulate. My arms had finally given way and I was freefalling heading for a major collision with the truth.

There is an old saying the truth shall set you free unless it kills you first. It took me some time to decide if I was dead. In order to succeed I would have to change my basic attitudes and give up a lifetime of carefully crafted defense mechanisms. It started with a smile. Quite literally I began practicing smiling. First, I smiled during free throws and throw-ins, and later during live ball I smiled at my partners. I felt like a complete idiot and it challenged my deepest view of myself.

I altered my mechanics to be less aggressive and softened my presentation. Over time I changed my demeanor with coaches and partners to become less demanding and confrontational. Then a miracle happened. As my basic attitudes changed, people around me were transformed. I landed on my feet and the only thing I broke was my own ego.

Pat Wasp, Portland, Ore., officiates women’s basketball at the NCAA Division II and III levels. Previously she officiated prep soccer and softball.

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