The purpose of this text is to offer information, including career development strategies, about sports officiating, an occupation that attracts little attention as a source of employment. The book presents fundamental techniques for building successful careers as qualified sports officials and illustrates how sports officiating can be taken from the hobby status to a profit-oriented business. Following the author's preface, the text is organized into 10 chapters: (1) Myths About Officiating; (2) Professional Affiliation (Choosing the Right Association); (3) Rules and Mechanics; (4) Thinking Like an Official; (5) No Harm, No Foul (No Calls Are the Unpublished Trade Secrets of Professional Sports Officials); (6) The Employment Picture; (7) Official Business (The Best Way to Make a Career Last Is To Put Business First); (8) A Four-year Apprenticeship Program for Sports Officials; (9) Communications; and (10) State and Local Associations. A glossary of sports officiating terms concludes the volume. (LL)

Sports officials (umpires, referees, judges) play a vital role in every sport, and sports governing bodies, fans, and players now expect officials to maintain higher professional standards than ever before. In this ground-breaking book, a team of leading international sport scientists and top level officials have come together to examine, for the first time, the science and practice of officiating in sport, helping us to better understand the skills, techniques and physical requirements of successful refereeing. The book covers every key component of the official’s role, including: Training and career development Fitness and physical preparation Visual processing Judgement and decision-making Communication and game management Psychological demands and skills Using technology Performance evaluation Researching and studying officials in sport Top-level officials or officiating managers contribute in the ‘Official’s Call’ sections, reflecting on their experiences in real in-game situations across a wide range of international sports, and on how a better understanding of science and technique can help improve professional practice. No other book has attempted to combine leading edge contemporary sport science with the realities of match officiating in this way, and therefore this book is vital reading for any advanced student of sport science, sport coaching or sport development, or any practising official or sports administrator looking to raise their professional standards.

This book offers an evidence-based guide to the development, management, and retention of sports officials. Drawing on research at all levels of sport, from grassroots to professional, this book focuses on best practices for sports officials and for anybody involved in the management or training of sports officials. This book is divided into three parts. The first takes a close look at who sports officials are, their motivations, and the formal and informal organizational relationships that define an official’s position in sport. The second examines the factors that can keep an official engaged in their sport, from building healthy cultures and good physical preparation to mentoring and mental health. The final part looks at the development of officials to elite level, including effective communication, improving decision-making, interpreting rules and laws, and career pathways. With case studies, real-life examples, and the voices of practicing officials included throughout this book, it introduces core concepts and best practices applicable across sports and different national and international contexts. This is an essential reference for all sports officials and for practitioners and policymakers working in sports organizations at all levels.

If you found out you could make more money in less than 3 hours working as an amateur sports official anywhere in the United States rather than sweating it out behind the counter at a fast-food joint working 8 hours.....would you be interested? This book will tell you the: who, what, where, when and how. A guidebook that will take you by the hand and lead you down a "money path" you probably never knew existed. Best of all, no experience is necessary. Learning on teh job is perfectly acceptable. This book will not only open your eye to a new way to make fast money, it will fatten your wallet and bank account at the same time. Read on and enjoy.

Sport officials are tasked with maintaining order and adjudicating sport contests. Given their multifaceted role in enforcing rules, standardizing competitions, and keeping sport safe for all participants, they are a requisite part of the sport workforce. With ongoing reports of annual attrition rates in officiating in excess of 20-35% for various sports around the world, there is more than ample evidence that officiating dropout is a persistent, pervasive, and global challenge underpinned by multiple contributing factors including, but not limited to, the threat of verbal and physical abuse. Moreover, despite worldwide recognition and growing interest in the problem, there has not been a comprehensive resource for sport scientists and practitioners studying or working to reverse the ongoing trend. Sport Officiating: Recruitment, Development, and Retention provides a ‘state of the science’ summary in the emerging area of inquiry limited to sport officiating recruitment, development, and retention, and, provides insight and evidence-based approaches to the development of successful officiating development programs (ODP). This book is a primary reference work using a multifaceted, holistic, and evidence-based approach to integrate key findings from the sport science literature to date in suggesting and providing real-world solutions to the practical issues faced by sport organizers. Sport Officiating: Recruitment, Development, and Retention is a key resource for researchers interested in the development of sport officials and for sport practitioners aiming to implement officiating development programs (ODP) at any level within sport systems.

Written and edited by a team of expert practitioners in the art and science of officiating, the second edition of "Successful" "Sports Officiating" will serve new officials well in their quest to understand and apply the basic principles of successful officiating.