Weekly Bull 7/3/13

All-Star Game – Congratulations to the crew, your new stripes look great and your work was outstanding!  One of the lessons that came back to me as I was walking out with 6 minutes to play is “How to Finish a Game!”  In ideal circumstances, the coaches, players and officials are working together to end a game that is one sided.  If any one of those three does not understand the circumstances, then the game can deteriorate quickly.  We must continue to use preventative officiating, communicate with our players, coaches, and never officiate the score.  The coaches are the only ones who should manage the game as it relates to the score.

“Bonus” Flank Meeting Last Week  – 100 officials signed in and attended the “Bonus” flank meeting with Manuel Alonzo last Wednesday.  These dedicated officials received important feedback on the strengths and areas for improvement from last year’s work from one of the very best flanks in the game!  Special emphasis was given to dead ball officiating in all circumstances as well as working to slow our signals, movements, and decision-making down.  Thank you to the 100 who could, and did, attend!

This Week’s Meeting Agenda – This is one of my favorite meetings as you will begin the evening with a discussion of this Weekly Bulletin (as needed) and then a short viewing of selected plays from last year’s playoffs.  The remainder of the evening will be dedicated to pre-game conferences by crews and officials.  To view this week’s video presentation, go to www.hudl.com and log in using my login which is and use my password: sc4567.  Make sure you are viewing the San Diego County Football website and not the college or other high school hudl accounts.  Then go to the library and look under 2013-14 – “Other Items”  – July 24 Meeting.

Next Special “Bonus” Meeting – Back Judges! – Wednesday, July 31^st – All Back Judges, and others, are invited to attend this meeting that will start at 7:00pm ON THE FIELD!  Manuel Alonzo and I (assistant!) will be demonstrating movements and vision patterns of our deep official.  Again, meet on the field and dress comfortably with tennis shoes.

The Next Regular Meeting – Wednesday, August 7^th – Thanks to Mike Downing and Cathedral Catholic, officials living in the north county can attend the August 7^th meeting at Cathedral Catholic (not the 1^st and 2^nd year and transfer members!!!! They must attend at West Hills in their regular rooms!)  We will be doing rules review, video study, and mechanics exam.  This will be the exact same agenda at both locations for certified members.

2013 Fees – This year’s fees are:

Varsity Referee - $74

Varsity Other Officials - $72

JV Referee - $62

JV Other Officials - $61

Donate Your Old Stripes to the 1^st Year Class – Now that we’re featuring our new 2” stripes, remember to donate your old stripes and gently used uniforms and equipment to the first year class!

Tailoring Instructions – Attached to this email bulletin are instructions for tailoring your game pants.  Please consider these instructions provided by Tony Corrente for the NFL and PAC 12.

Consistency, It’s Our Goal! – I’ve borrowed a few items from a presentation from Mike Weseloh to other college officials and his thoughts on consistency:

CONSISTENCY by Mike Weseloh

Games aren’t played the same; players are not the same, the ball doesn’t even bounce the same, so consistency is a difficult thing to achieve.

Coaches are always asking for consistency.  Is that fair?  Is that a reasonable expectation?

Referee Magazine article last year…”Officials Strive for Consistency…Coaches Crave Consistency.”  

Fair to say the highest level officials are very consistent with their calls and judgments.   

We All Agree …..Consistency is Important, so how do we achieve it?

3 Parts:

1. Preparation

2. Knowledge

3. Concentration

To be continued…..next bulletin…..