Weekly Bull 9/18/19

SAN DIEGO COUNTY FOOTBALL OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION

THE WEEKLY BULL – Sept. 18, 2019 

Meeting Agenda for Wednesday September 18^th – Attendance, Weekly Bull, Crew Sharing, Calibration, Instructional Video, and Makeup Tests 

Make Up Meeting – If you need to make up a test or need another meeting to qualify for the 2019 Playoffs and the 2020 Draft, please join me on Wednesday 11/20 at Challenger MS in room 102 at 7:00 pm.  Check your attendance and test scores tonight. 

Mid-Season Form – We now should be hitting mid-season form.  Crew organization, communication and mechanics should all be coming together.  We are now A CREW!  Let’s keep ourselves sharp with weekly rules study, game preparation, and crew goals. 

What is Your Weekly Routine? –Some things you can have in your weekly routine are:

• Study of a particular rule including case book examples

• Read the Weekly Bull and view the Instructional Video

• Make a phone call to a crew member or crew chief

• Review your dead ball and pre-snap routine

• Help evaluate last week’s game video

• Scout the next week’s teams

• Review our philosophies and axioms

• Work on your fitness and flexibility

Ball Relays – Remember on long incomplete passes, when there is no ball person, the flanks need to get involved in the relay from the BJ to the umpire.

Support from BJ in Side Zones – As a crew of only 5, we need the BJ to move up and into the side zones on plays that end up out there.  Watch your video this week and see how you’re doing!

Touchbacks – When a kick goes into the end zone, and you’re stationed at the goal line, do not follow the ball into the end zone, rather stay on the goal line and signal touchback.  Remember, offense has the option of putting the ball in play in positions 1-5.

Penalty Enforcement – Everyone has something to do.  Get penalty information, communicate penalty information, cover flag, cover ball, get new ball, communicate with coach, hold re-enforcement spot, march off the penalty yardage, set the box and/or chains, confirm proper enforcement information, signal the foul, communicate the status of the clock.  All of this takes 5 officials.  Most likely you won’t have time to record your foul information, so remember the info and enter it during the next dead ball period.

Cross-Field Mechanics – Because we’re rounding into mid-season form, our cross-field mechanics should now be quite sophisticated and accurate.  Take pride in this important mechanic! 

Reminder - Game Check Weekend for SD Youth Football Fund.  September 20-21. Our goal is $5,000 or $25 per official.  The SDYFF will buy the crew who contributes the most during this weekend a full crew dinner after your game on November 4th, up to $30/official!   Strive to be the best, and we’ll take care of your dinner that night!  Thank you Mike Downing and Jake Minger for your continued leadership in our charitable efforts to support our San Diego Football Community.

BJs Fund Raiser - BJ’s is now going to credit 20% of our food bill to our Charity Fund!  The flyer is attached to this Bull but I believe you can just take a picture of it on your phone and have it in the “wallet” of you IPhone.  Thank you Bob Hood for setting this up and thank you BJ’s management for the support!

Drones – No drones in the stadium. So far I haven’t had any reports of drones.  Great job!

Early Arrival at Schools – Some schools do not end their day until 3:30.  If you are meeting early, and you confirm the school is still in session, meet off campus at a restaurant, and then drive over after school.  I like that you’re meeting early but some schools cannot accommodate.  Check ahead with the AD.

Referees and No Preliminary Signals – How are we doing on this mechanic?  Remember only one signal to the press box.  DON’T WALK AROUND LOOKING FOR AN OPEN AREA!  Waste of time and you don’t look competent. Just a step away from anyone who’s directly next to you.  Once you’ve signaled THEN go to umpire with enforcement information.   THEN go to your new spot!

Keep Your Mouth Shut – Please continue to be careful not to make comments to innocent spectators who might turn out to be the coaches wife or a school administrator.  These innocent spectators are quick to report your comments to administration, the CIF or to the media.  Keep all comments to yourself and save them for the locker room.

Keeping the Restricted Area Clear – We seem to be doing a reasonably good job with this thankless task.  Our focus is on the field, but for safety reasons, the restricted area needs to be clear at the start of the play.  So far so good!  One thing to keep in mind is that it is the same for both sides.  We are on the same crew, so do your crewmates a favor and do the same work for both teams.

Chain Crew & Timer – It is a bonus to officials and teams to have a mobile, well trained chain crew, especially if the tempo of the game is fast.  It is important that schools have their clock operator and chain crews available for when the officials arrive on the field 30 minutes prior to kickoff.  Having a chain crew, no matter how experienced, arrive at the coin flip is unacceptable. Tracking down a chain crew distracts from the official’s and coaches pregame preparation.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month – I will remind all coaches that the SDCFOA supports Cancer Awareness Month and allow teams and individuals to wear pink during the month of October.  You may notice our officials using pink whistle in an effort to be uniform in their observance of this important event.

Injury Time Out – Team personnel will be allowed to attend to any injured players and team support staff will be allowed to bring out water to the team.  Coaches must either be attending to the injured player or at the sideline (outside numbers) to address team or provide substitutes.  No coaches will be allowed to confer with the team inside the numbers.

Evaluations – We have now completed Week 4 of the high school season.  Per Board direction, all crews are to be evaluated after week five and again at the end of the regular season.  Each association crew chief is to rate the crew.  If you are not working with your entire crew, make sure you rate that official(s) on another game.  All completed sub varsity games and AYF/Pop Warner games should already be completed.  Youth game evaluations must be up to date.  First and second year officials in particular need the feedback.  For those of you who have requested to be youth referees, failure to complete evaluations in a timely manner will affect future assignments.

Golf Tournament – This year’s golf tournament will take place on Wednesday, November 6th at Riverwalk GC in Mission Valley.  Shotgun start at 11:00am.  $125 covers golf, cart, and lunch.  $145 gets you all that plus drink tickets and a chance to win lots of great prizes at the raffle.  You can play as a crew, foursome, or play as an individual.  Golfers of all abilities and guests are welcome. Contact Ed Blick, Mike Downing, or Jake Minger with questions or go on-line to check out the details and register at www.sandiegoyouthfootballfund.org

David Hardage Hall of Fame Induction – David will deservedly be inducted along several other officials at this year’s Hall of Fame Induction Dinner next Tuesday 9/24 at 6:00 at the Scottish Rite in Mission Valley.  So to the many fellow football officials who will be attending, thank you all for your support for David and sports officiating!  Tickets and additional info at http://www.sandiegosportsofficialshof.com/2018-induction-dinner

Thank You NCAA and NFL Officials – You never know when one of these fine gentlemen will show up at a high school game and say hi before the game or halftime.  They are also known to even visit with a few suggestions at halftime – like Mike Weseloh did on a recent Friday!  It exciting to be a member of one huge officiating community that stretches from flag football to the NFL!  We are blessed!

Schools and Field Equipment – It’s amazing what we run into these days.  Just this week is was the lack of a Box for the chains so the school printed out four pieces of day-glow card stock with the numbers 1-4 on them.  The box person would hold up the correct number indicating the down and stand in the spot of the line of scrimmage.  Creative, right!  Thank you for being flexible when encountering these challenges!

Overtime Award Nominee – Working youth football, Kerry Huggins finishes two morning games and then fills in for 2 more games when the umpire goes down with a leg injury.  Thank you Kerry, and we’re hoping the umpire is recovering and ready to go this week!  As a result of her generosity, Kerry had just finished working a doubleheader with Lori Stratton (two females working together) then works the second two games with her husband Jim.  Both record setting?

Shave on Game Days – There is really no more to be explained here.  Do it!

Upswing in Ejections Last Week – I sincerely hope this is not a trend.

WEEK 1 – 1 varsity and 1 junior varsity

WEEK 2 – 2 varsity

WEEK 3 – 1 varsity

WEEK 4 – 1 frosh, 2 varsity, and 1 varsity coach

8-Man Football – Remember new rule changes the minimum requirement for players on the line of scrimmage from 5 to 3 (no numbering requirements).  Just like in 11-man where it changed from requiring 7 players to be on the line of scrimmage (now just the requirement of 5 players numbered 50-79).  So, an 8-man team could have only 3 players on the line of scrimmage and 3 in the backfield (6 total players) and still be legal.  Ends and backs are legal by position.  This just allows a team with only six or seven on the field to still be able to legally score a TD even though they are down a player or even more.