Officials Training

[JackofAll]

Officials in our region are developing improved officials recruitment and training programs. I'm curious what other regions are doing in these areas that they find particularly helpful. Specifically with respect to training, do established officials tend to meet for more than just a single meeting to cover clarifications, revisions, and updates? How many meeting/clinics do new officials typically go to? Some lax advocates in our region have suggested transitioning to more of that I'll call a 'football model' where officials meet on a weekly basis (approx 10 weeks) for study sessions, followed by on field clinics at coordinated scrimmages.

I'm all for advancing and developing our training strategies. I'm also interested in what others across the land are doing.

Thanks for sharing,
Jack-of-All

[Trilax03]

i'm looking to get into either coaching or reffing mayb both for the younger kids...i know we hav madatory classes to take...i'm not sure all details but i thnk it's once a week and they probably go over rules and stuff

[eme]

One thing (of several) we do in our state to help the new official in his first season:
New Official (NO) comes to watch two veterans work the varsity game. In the jv game that follows, NO is on the far side with a veteran right behind or with him on the field...moving up and down the field with the NO and helping him as need be with advice, positioning, etc.

[laxfan25]

In Michigan, lacrosse became a sanctioned sport last season by the MHSAA. the MHSAA reached out to the lacrosse official's community through MichLOA to assist in training new recruits. MHSAA had promoted the need for new lax officials heavily.
We had training sessions on the east and west sides of the state at the same time. There were two three-hour sessions for new officials, for a total of six hours of training. We used the US Lacrosse new officials training book, which is a good resource, along with the 3rd Team on the Field video. The narrator on the video is extremely well spoken and very handsome to boot. (George Clooney-esque in terms of sex appeal, or is it Steve Catrell??)
MHSAA alos had a mandatory rules meeting later that was another couple of hours. Last year I had over 25 people in the class, but many were coaches and parents looking to find out more about the game. We did add a small core of actual officials. One of the challenges though is that there is limited opportunity for field exposure to actual game play, which is a vital component of any training program - putting into practice what you've read on the page. With the demand for officials high during the season, it was difficult to pair up experienced refs with the newbies - hopefully the assignor can work that out better this year.
We recently had another 6-hour training program, and i had one attendee in west Michigan. There will be another session in late January, hopefully with better turnout.

[LaxRef]

We have a series of 5 meetings each winter. IIRC, two cover rules, one covers two-man mechanics, one covers 3-man, and one covers communication and other issues. You have to make 3 out of the 5 meetings (with high school officials needing to do two-man and the COC guys doing 3-man).

The meetings are usually 4 hours long each.

Meetings during the season would be a pipe dream, since most of us are maxed out on games and would not be able to spare another night for a meeting.

[ploaref]

Here in Philly we have been trying some different approaches to this the past year or two.

Traditionally, each spring, around the end or February, we would have The Clinic...a 3-4 hour event that is "mandatory" for ALL our members. The format for this thing has been changing lately, but basically, it's a chance to gather everybody together to hand out rulebooks, collect dues, go over new rules, interpretations and mechanics, and we walk thru each of the major rules in separate classrooms, rotating the instructors to each place (the instructors used to stay and the groups rotated...this way the attendees don't wander off while walking between classrooms). This Clinic has traditionally included existing AND new officials, and this past year we also invited our new Youth Official category of member.

Prior to 2 or 3 years ago, there were not a lot of separate training opportunities for new officials, above and beyond the Clinic. Three years ago we began "Cadet Classes" for new officials which involve 6-7, 2-hour evening classroom dates. This has worked nicely and brought in more (and better trained) new officials. We use the MDOC Training Manual and Video. We have 3 different sites on three different nights in the Philly Metro area to make it easy for someone to make-up a class if he has to miss one for something else...we seem to be getting a lot of hockey and basketball officials lately, and these classes are "in-season" for them...

We also started Youth Official training classes two years ago for 14-18 year olds that want to ref at the Youth (U-15) levels. This has been very well received, although we do have a little disconnect between those attending class and those who actually follow thru and get their stripes (they're better players for it...).

During our scrimmage season, every one of our members are expected to do at least three events. We have paid closer attention to getting the newbies out at this point. Teams pay the Association (PDLOA) for scrimmages, to fatten our coffers a little, so our members are not paid (directly) for scrimmages. You'll have 10 guys at some scrimmages, and we do some "shadowing" with senior guys in these cases. We have the Youth officials come out to one of the several local youth tournaments for early season on-field work.

The in-season stuff for us involves meetings every two weeks (roughly) during the season, and attending 75% of the meetings is considered "mandatory" for all officials (under threat of game loss) although this is difficult to enforce, especially amongst our older guys. We like to have the older guys make these meetings, to work off their experience, to re-inforce the training for the newer guys, and also so that "old habits" are weeded out. We have these meetings in two different locations, again, to lessen excuses for not attending...

What else have i missed, you guys? Did i get it right? ...there are several PDLOA guys on this Board (we advertise the Forum on our Association website...)

[Woodenstick]

New referees got 4 x 2 hour classes and shadowed an experienced referee at a scrimmage. For me, though, the best training was working with a good ref who shared wisdom and showed you how to make it happen. And then there are the coaches, who were always willing to share their "expertise." :)

Once you are a ref, you have to attend roughly 5 of 7 x 2 hour meetings, which mostly cover rules and mechanics, plus some administrative stuff, plus one annual test. The meetings start before the season, and then go maybe one every three weeks.

Once a week would be a little much. I mean, my wife already thinks that refereeing is a cover story....

[jbellsby]

I was curious what videos are available for training. How good are they? I'm looking for better ways to keep the kids entertained during our meetings. It would be nice to have real game situation to view then just reading the rule book.

[laxfan25]

I was curious what videos are available for training. How good are they? I'm looking for better ways to keep the kids entertained during our meetings. It would be nice to have real game situation to view then just reading the rule book.

The only training video I am aware of is "The 3rd Team on the Field" training video produced by US Lacrosse. It is a very good tool that covers many of the basics. It is now available on DVD or VHS tape. The DVD will let you jump quickly to specific areas, so that you can intermix the video with portions of the training class.
It definitely grabs people's interest at the beginning as there is a several minute intro of very exciting lacrosse action. Unfortunately I think it also shows that in the NCAA tournament, many plays don't get called that should be called at every other level. I wince when I watch some of the game sequences. In my last training class I had the DVD, but not a remote control. I would like to have had one to go through some of the game video in slow motion, to better illustrate what might merit a call. On the tape it is bang-bang action and tough to comment on as they quickly move to the next exciting play. One thing that stands out also is that the tape must have been made before the "dive" rule was put in, because you will see several plays where the shooter dives into the crease.
Overall though, a great training aid, and the narrator does an awesome job! Academy Award caliber in most reviewers' opinion.

[shrekjr]

We are still working on training improvements as lacrosse grows in this area. At the beginning of each fall and spring season, new official recruits attend sessions in the classroom Friday night, again Saturday morning, usually attend and observe a game Saturday afternoon, then back in the classroom Sunday afternoon. Hopefully, they are able to work a tournament before their first real game that counts.

Experienced officials are all encouraged to attend the COC meeting, then all officials are "invited" (required but not enforced) to attend a local pre-season meeting to discuss rules, mechanics and handle administrative issues.

We have discussed the possiblility of having meetings during the season (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, whenever) but once the season begins, everyone just seems to be too busy with games being played seven days a week and barely enough officials to cover them all throughout the week. We do a good job of communicating through email, but meetings and further training during the season don't usually happen. I hope we can get to that point soon.

I think our biggest issue right now is who is "qualified" for COC status. Beyond the basic requirements as stated by COC, we have finally reached a point where we probably have more officials than necessary ready to "move up" to the college/club level. We have been debating ways to determine who is the most qualified to make the jump. Simply having "X" years experience and getting a recommendation from two friends isn't enough anymore. Nice problem to have, but do any of you have any suggestions?

[ploaref]

I think our biggest issue right now is who is "qualified" for COC status. Beyond the basic requirements as stated by COC, we have finally reached a point where we probably have more officials than necessary ready to "move up" to the college/club level. We have been debating ways to determine who is the most qualified to make the jump. Simply having "X" years experience and getting a recommendation from two friends isn't enough anymore. Nice problem to have, but do any of you have any suggestions?

In my mind, the short answer would be to organize some sort of Observer program, if possible, to allow senior, existing COC guys to evaluate status and determine if moving up is warranted. Maybe your Governor can get involved (you're welcome, Clint)...and hey! i know there are TONS of COC clinicians in D-8 (thanks to A&M being there), so why not recruit those guys in the effort!?

[shrekjr]

In my mind, the short answer would be to organize some sort of Observer program, if possible, to allow senior, existing COC guys to evaluate status and determine if moving up is warranted. Maybe your Governor can get involved (you're welcome, Clint)...and hey! i know there are TONS of COC clinicians in D-8 (thanks to A&M being there), so why not recruit those guys in the effort!?
Clint has been involved. And we have started a formal observation program at the high school level.

We're debating the possibility of a point system assigned to the different level of high school and youth games. For example, a certain number of points would be earned based on the level of the games worked and it would take some minimum number of points to apply for COC in the district. That way, those working the most games at the highest levels would have the most points, and theoretically, would be the most experienced and qualified to move up. The thought being this would be a better way of knowing who is actually experienced as opposed to strictly taking the number of years of membership. We actually haven't come up with a formal plan to implement yet, but we're trying to get good officials at the COC level in this area....not just guys who have been around a while so they get to work college games. The hard part is having to deal with officials who are far enough apart that you can't reasonably observe them all, and having to rely on some personal references isn't always the best way to judge ability.