“Swing Thoughts” is a gold reference that refers to all of the ‘little things” we need to remember to perfect our golf swing.
In this webinar, veteran officials Noah Egorin & Bob Stevens provide a collection of insights they have learned over the years!
[Applause] Um last spring I think Marty was looking for people to speak on stuff and I had started putting together some thoughts and then whatever weekend Sunday night I end up with a conflict so I just been continually writing stuff down that I thought would have been an interesting
One last spring um and magically there was an open Sunday night and we’re going to talk about this and so that you didn’t have to listen to me consistently talk I suckered Bob in to help me um Bob and I spent a lot of time stuck in
Traffic over the summer commuting to do games together um that and as a result we talked a lot of Lacrosse and similar and you know we just got a lot of the same thoughts just from different upbringings I guess so um for those I keep a little notebook like this in my
Car J weird stuff down primarily the pro stuff and when Marty was looking for a topic I was like well maybe just take the 20 years I’ve been doing this and the random things I’ve learned from people on this call some people who we’ve all met before some people you’ve
Never met before um and just talk about things that sort of those little things that make a difference right the big differences or little differences as an official things that um I think make us better um and things to keep in and so I sort of went back to like swing thoughts and
There we go all right so I think about it in terms of golf right um swing thought is uh something you just kind of keep in your mind those little things that when you’re going to hit a golf ball are supposed to like connect with your muscle memory um hopefully they
Build that metaphor and lead your brain into doing specific actions um but in reality uh my golf game’s pretty horrific but when I walk into a field I sort of TI to remember like hey what’s the one thing I’m really going to work on what’s that one thing that I did
Really well what’s that one thing I did poorly what’s the one thing I need to remember to a great game forward and really these are things that I’ve just picked up not necessarily through the types of training that we do right it’s not the the mechanics manual it’s not
The rulebook per se um but it’s those kind of things that I’ve talked to with other really good officials and those officials who you know through other areas have kind of taught us some things on the wrong way to do things um and I just start jumpping down so here’s a
Sort of a list I don’t know I didn’t really put them in great order um but I figured we get a picture also you’ll notice that I don’t put a lot of text on slides so you’re going to see a lot of pictures um Bob anything G jump in one
Nope not so far everything all good all right so we’re just gonna dive in I actually don’t know how long take probably less than an hour um but we’re gonna dive in so the first one um that jumped to my head is get in the book
Right um that that quote I think is is I’m seeing some head nods I think we all know who we give an attribution to that one too right Corey there he is college picture um but also Pete Boyd and for those we’ll talk about in a second um
This one starts for me just because it’s easy right as someone who sort of constantly kind of looking out there seeing what people are saying I’m fairly amazed at the conversations that occur online forums some of the weird us lacrosse Facebook groups where they describe a situation answer it
Incorrectly when it’s specifically a situation specifically in the rule book right it’s there and you’re like why you ask the question you can read it right in the rule book now I know not everybody’s super excited when um Corey responds with getting the book but there
Is something to be said for that um and it’s something I’ve heard over and over so you know what I tend to do is grab a couple cages read them every once in a while never read them in order and just constantly go to the book it’s like an
Opportunity to go learn something so it’s one of the things I keep in the back of my head um but I also mention Pete Boyd for those you know who are young like myself um Pete was the person who trained me when I was started working right he was the guy at Robinson
High School who would hand out USB sticks from whatever consulting company he was working for at the time um and he would put together these kind of relatively complicated scenarios that were all tied back to the rule and make sure that you could answer the question
Of you know where does the ball what happened what’s the foul what’s who serving time where does the ball start right you would have to recite the whole thing and then you get a USB stick for your hard work in there um he was one of
The people who could like recite um the rule book as if it was scripture right he would give you the page number the paragraph the rule number the article the situation all the way down it was just the way he operated I actually never worked with Pete I don’t know if
He was a particularly good lacrosse referee or not but he had the rule book knowledge inside now which is really the foundation of what we’re building um so it’s one of those things that we constantly talk about get in the book get in the book get in the book I will
Be frank I keep my copy as reading material and the appropriate location in my house so I can always just grab it for a few minutes right it’s just something that’s there in a V Bob anything you want to add on this one yeah words words have power and and and
Within the power is the meaning of those words so when we’re talking to coaches use the language that we have in the book right when we go up to a coach and we don’t use language that’s in the book that coach is going to know so if you
Can pick and pull one or two points from the book when you go to report that penalty no coach that was indirect contact to the head right that’s why we have one locked right whatever it might be on a variety of different cases use the language in the book and that only
Backs you up even more all right oh by the way I think when Bob and I were talking about how to do this if other people want to jump in just jump in right in fact some of you are gonna see your name show up in this
Deck so we may even just ask you to talk about all right let your day go and get out of the car uh this was a sort of Paul St Germain ISM pretty early on in the career right no matter how bad your days going you’re going to ref lacrosse
When you get out of the car try to leave work on the side um no matter how terrible your day was dealing with you know whomever um or you know in my case you know you know would it be like the miserable traffic getting from Maryland
Over to a game somewhere in Virginia or it’s the case where you know your spouse is upset for you working eight nights in a row because that’s what had to happen like we can’t take down the kids so just let it go um similarly when we come out
Here let’s try not to take the field with um history right I mean everybody knows coach a doesn’t like me coach you know we had a game last week and I ran Coach B and we had the bad experience um when we step on the field one of the
Things I always try to remember is look it’s not to say there lack of awareness but I’m trying to start from zero right I’m assuming positive intense and we’re just out there to rle across game no matter how bad I did the previous time I
Had the coach no matter how great a job I did no matter what the score was I’m there we’re starting from neutral and we’re kind of walking onto the field it’s a new day right it’s an opportunity for you to reset whatever bad stuff was going on in your life before these next
Two hours or maybe three and a half to four if you got a JB and a varsity so be in the moment right don’t worry yeah all of your other life things are going to happen and they’re still going to be there after those two hours so just
Focus on being at the game and that the rest of the other stuff will still be there but just be in the moment in those two hours while you’re at your game all right this is a good one so the credit for this one goes to somebody I worked with back when we
Still had the Maryland contract the referee first time I worked with him came out wearing aviators looked like he hadn’t shaved in about two days and then he became a college official and I show up through a game and Dave Shan hands me a pair of armorall to wipe down my shoes
Right the level of shining shoes so we talked about right and he sort of it changed his mentality of like every time step on the field I’m gonna look great I’m gonna make sure that people notice how well prepared I am um it’s a little harder today when people aren’t wearing kind of
Leather patent shoes all the time but that little step of picking an Under Armour white which he keeps in the back of his car which I not keep in the back of my car just wipe down shoes and get a really nice look sets the tone for the
Game right the appearance that you’re gonna be ready to go you’ve gone through all the nooks and crannies you’re looking good but that little differ sets of tone with the coaches and really set the toone of the professionalism that we want to bring um by the way if you have don’t
Know Dave he tends to work out of the Maryland side because I think he lives over towards Colombia um but apparently stage water is a great company to be able to cross referee because we have at least two other woa reps who work for
Him who seem to be able to leave and rep games at like noon and weekday so it’s a pretty good Gig if you’re looking for a mechanical engineering job Bob anything you want to add to that one take pride in what you do um what
And how you look yeah some of us are not the most of foot um but how do you look when you get there is your shirt tucked in uh do you make sure that you have a New Jersey uh fresh pair of shorts that aren’t turning gray you know so just
Take a look at that stuff you know yeah we’re getting to this start of the Season uh did you forget to order those new pair of shorts this winter double check make sure you’re all set and good to go for the for the rest of these next couple
Months all right five pair of socks this one I picked up actually from an NBA referee all right so if you don’t know dick vetta started reing the NBA in 1975 ref 39 years in the NBA did 2,635 games and never missed an assignment right you think about the how beating that you
Take running up and down the field um his trick was five pair of socks I wear two um to take care of my feet um my shoes are a little bigger than probably I normally would wear but just the repeated pounding um was a neat trick and something I read
As soon as I read it from it makes complete sense I started actually wearing two pair ofs barely padded um just to make sure I feet uh I will do this no matter what the field what the temperature so even those things in the summer when we’re reing like it’s 98
Degrees on the Delaware Beach Turf which is actually the most horrific piece of concrete you’ve ever refed on right it’s just to protect the feet lots of people here are using the Pocas a lot of padding I’ve got a pair of now Adidas things have a lot of padding but um take
Care of yourself the most that’s the hardest piece of work we do on our body is just the pounding the pounding the pounding think about what your Footwear is think about ways to protect your feet um two pair of socks for me five pair for dick vetta he had a much better
Professional career than I had so take care of your body know your body like chance said at our AGM right know what your body needs uh and make sure that you’re taking care of it it’s a long season so make sure you you have done these things preseason gotten new
Sneaks double socks whatever it might be but also make sure you go check yourself out at the dock make sure everything else is AOK and good to go for this season all right new hat for the playoffs so this was an answer to a question somebody asked on Facebook
About hats referee hats and the response came from cter right this actually came the year after stopped repping when he said he was still buying hats for the playoffs which I didn’t quite understand um but his point was you go into the playoffs you look fresh that’s when you
Buy your new hat it’s gonna look good you had while to break in it’s not all sweaty and Ru in the season I’ve taken this to me something a little differently though too right come late April early May when we start getting those playoff games it’s a time to reset
Um what it’s meant to me has been like walk in as it’s a new season start fresh the grind is real right if you’ve worked all spring you’re working four nights five nights eight nights a week for Marty Bob everybody else you get the playoffs that’s when it matters that’s
When it starts to count that’s when the kids go home so we got to bring our best selves to the game in cter case you wanted to buy a new hat so it look good in my case I really focus on how do I just refresh myself and get ready for
What is the big culmination of the year and I know like our Seasons never end now we go to summer fall winter spring summer fall week winter maybe with a week off maybe weeks off for some of us um but in reality it’s just a good
Chance to reset your mind and think all right playoffs new season come in fresh get the attitude back where we need to be for putting out our best product in the Feld Bob anything there win or go home you got to have that mentality in come playoff time you have to work to
Try to be at your best come playoff time um I know for myself personally um I’m not my best right now in the beginning beginning and middle of the season I’m at my best towards the end of the season right so make sure that as you go find
That one or two things that you can pick on each night work on it and by the end of the season or towards the end of the season you know you’re in a good spot mentally physically and be ready to go for those kids all right so traveling
Light right widespread pan for those who appreciate the jam band scene uh reality I’m giving Bob credit although this was something Mike Le mentioned a couple weeks ago on one of these calls where he talking about being crew chief so once again back when we had the Maryland high
School contract I had been trained to bring your bag to the field you know in case you need your third flag lost a battery lost eight uh pencils in the game whatever the case be you had it with you and when I walked up to a again
F chvy Chase Bob manuso sitting in his Toyota at the time drinking what can only be described as the largest Starbucks thing I’ve ever seen he gets out he takes his key puts it on lanyard walks right on the field he’s like let’s go right I’ve now since kind of taken up
That get on get off the field I think if you’ve ever had chance to work with um Dan Bennett you know sometimes he’s off the field before the ball stops moving at the end of the final whistle the point is big game you want to be able to
Move quickly get off the field and travel light um as Mike said like we don’t want to have to run back grab all our stuff we want to be able to move quick get out of the way and really you don’t need bring all the extra bag of stuff with
You all right up that H all right Bob you want to take mechanics yeah let’s go ahead let’s talk about it um so mechanics right how do we present oursel on the field I alluded it to a little bit earlier right I’m not the most Fleet
Of foot right now so what can I do to make sure that when the camera’s on the lights are on that I know or at least I present I know what I’m doing it’s our mechanic right it’s how we look it’s how we act it’s the way that we do things that
Matter right so when we’re blow the whistle all the eyes are on us are are your mechanics so fast that nobody in the stands knows what has no idea what you called right or is it the most deliberate thing so everybody knows that’s a loose push white ball right
Whatever it might be right so take a moment slow yourself down I get it the game is Fast and the kids want to go but that’s our opportunity to take a minute slow the game down and make sure that we are we are correct then when you go to
Report to the table right uh our C notes are we moving where are we on the field how do we look have you looked at yourself in the mirror to practice your mechanics right take a look at yourself in the mirror do you do it correctly is
Your arm all the way up here is it directly straight out so these things matter right not like I was saying words matter but the way our appearance looks and the way that we do things also matter are we hustling are we walking right um those people see effort um and
So when you put out a good effort with good mechanics right you can cover a lot of really good stuff and make sure that you have your field covered your players are covered and your crew is covered as well yeah so and for those who remember
Steve back from the the earlier days in my my refering career back when we were still in bla I vividly recall working a game at West Springfield I think it was with John Bennett myself and Steve one of the first three man games I had done
And we were still at the time putting our hands up every time the ball went out on the sideline which I was not doing and he laid into us about mechanic both just I hadn’t been taught him well I didn’t know him I didn’t treat him as
They were gospel we just didn’t use them and as a result he cleaned us up that day it’s always been in my mind God got to get the mechanics right got to get the mechanics right got to get the mechanics right um this became especially important this summer um for
Those who don’t know Bob myself we did a lot of box and the mechanics are all kinds of different I mean they’re basically hockey mechanics um and as a result it was yet another thing of learning because it makes a huge difference when you do it the right way
You build authenticity with the coaches they trust you um they know they’ve got somebody who’s read the book trained and really know what they’re doing and as soon as they get sloppy they know they can take advantage of you because don’t know what you’re doing all right you’re creating habits
For kids too so I got a story on this before I show youon so this back goes back to when old Park was still old red park right this was before became word of Grace NV I volunteered to go help a a bunch of high school kids learned to rep I don’t know
Icebreaker I think might have been what they called it at the time and the high school kids running the game game and some kid took the ball in the end line although it went out on the sideline the high school kid blew it in and played and screaming at me Noah stop
Them stop them you’re creating habits for everybody on the field not just the referees but the players right so this one goes to Dennis uh store right he was running the running the day and he got in my ear couple things he highlighted to me
That day that L with me which is one we create habit for ourselves on the field all the time right those things that we do well once we start doing them we we continue to do bad habits thing but more importantly to us he was like the
Players need to learn so if you’re lazy and let them bring the ball in X even though the ball went on the sideline didn’t move them if you’re letting them get a start from the wrong place in the field if you’re letting them get away with pick whatever thing that just
Doesn’t feel important to you they’re going to keep behaving that way and make it harder down the road um how they treat the officials the just remember that we’re out there we’re setting the standard and that the kids will adapt to us and not just in
One game across all the games we we WRA in across all the games they play Bob Yeah couple quotes here from Mike Tomlin ste’s head coach right I’m a commanders fan but I have a great respect for Tomlin because he is the standard right the standard is the standard many
Different quotes that he has that he holds his players to right from Antonio Brown to Ben rothberger to Le’Veon you’re talking about some of the most talented football players in the world right plus all of their other life things that they have going on how does
Somebody as a leader of men be able to take those guys bring them all in a room and be on the same P page forging forward right and that’s where we all have to be as a group as well right our standard is the standard we can’t
Deviate from that for one second because as soon as I do or Noah does right well then now we’re creating for all the these habits that the kids pick up on and then they say well uh the other rep my last game let me do it well we can’t
Have that happen right so we talked about this in the AGM in a variety of different ways the standard is the standard and we have to stick to that all right don’t cross up so I know where exactly where this point happened it was about three years ago I’m at
Langley I’m working with one of our better officials and you notice was doing something I keep my whistle on this finger and I was doing this or this kind of not going across my body really basic and as soon as he mentioned it I was like you’re right it looks terrible
And um we shouldn’t be doing it it just looks bad um right so mik CLE black gets on my case it’s in my head even though I did screw that up at least once last night um Reaching Across My Body um mostly because we’re holding a whistle
In our finger and we blow it and we want to point but take a second put your hand up switch hands don’t cross your body it’s a little thing but it looks great um so this one I learned from Mike and then earlier this season we kept Mike
Doing it at the Hopkins C all right this was a little unfair because he’s running full Sprint on a 10man ride where Hopkins shot the ball but there was actually a settled six on6 going the other way that I couldn’t get the screen capture for where he did also the same
Thing but it’s just one of those thing that just doesn’t look as good take a moment put your hand up point the use the other hand you just blew the whistle it looks better little thing big a difference Bob mechanics matter we’ll go back to a couple slides too mechanics
Matter all right so you know I’ve learned a lot from Mike C over the years including how to get brownies for managers without being creepy um and that taco in the bag is far superior to Chick-fil-A but since Mike’s not on we won’t let him explain why that is all
Right uh Bob you want to take the next one yeah um so in life right we all make mistakes uh how do you learn from it what do you do to take that moment to learn from it and not make the same mistake again right uh we’re human we’re
Not robots there’s going to be plenty of mistakes that we miss within a game it’s okay to fall on your sword you actually will gain a lot more respect from your peers and the coaches right if you own up to that mistake but then you can’t let that happen again right there’s no
Way you have to be able to learn from that mistake and say you know what that’s one I got to store and I won’t make that one again so learn from it it’s an opportunity to learn grow maybe fall on your sword but also at the same
Time know that oh yeah I’m not gonna make that one I’m not GNA miss that one twice so just use that as an opportunity to learn grow and it’s okay right be better next time next rep yeah and they’re going to be big ones right I mean they could be really tiny things
Real technical or big big mistakes that you know fire might stop and pull golf the board because you didn’t move the ball outside the box after a loose ball push on that fell into mic um things like that that are big um could be impactful but once you make that mistake
Never make it again right keep it in the back of your brain all right you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying Richard Petty all right kti something about it but to be frank I learned this from a guy Nam super um Tom played at Washington and
Lee he was number seven I was number six we shared a locker he was our faceof man he had every cheat in the book oh side note he went to the same high school as Mike Highland on Philadelphia and so one day my senior year his junior year I had
Him show me his face off stff he showed me every treat he had the one finger two finger I mean he had grabbing the ball you name it he had it in the Playbook um and basically explain this is like I’m cheating every face off I get I remind
Myself that before because face off guys are generally just scumback right they’re there they’re going to try to take advantage however they can um when you go to put that ball down you got kind of in your back of your head always say hey there’s something that’s gonna
Happen here and it’s gonna be something I’m not looking for because they’re that good um he pulled one of the greatest ones I’ve ever seen uh in an NCAA playoff game my senior year he blew a whistle out of his mouth in a close third quarter face off against Dennison
And we got the ball right it was huge transition play he’s giggling on the sideline because he pulled this one off in a playoff game right that level of thing now here’s the thing his son is now a senior place for performance I don’t know some one of
The schools that we don’t have a contract so I he’s at St John’s um he’s a Faceoff man P Joel and I had him this Summer he tried at least twice two of the things that Tom had taught me back when I was um in in college with like I just it was
Just being taught um so just the thing to think about is these people when you go to do a face off you got to keep pay attention and it’s not just there blow the whistle and get it going keep an eye out look for it find the patterns they
Are really sneaky I always keep that in the back of my head Bob so one more of quote to go off this right if you’re not if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying the players quote is it’s only cheating if you get caught right so as an
Official what are we doing to nip it in the bud right away for me it starts in my pregame right I take pride in having a very thorough Faceoff meeting in my pregame especially in high school right it’s not just me telling them what they
Can and can’t do it needs to be a conversation with the players it needs to be okay tell me what you are allowed to do tell me what you aren’t allowed to do right then they they feel more involved right with them answering those questions they’re going to have to all
Right great you’ve talked about it pregame they’ve answered questions right and now you know this is what’s going to happen right there’s nobody we’re not trying to trick anybody on the face off right so as an official if you nip it in the bud early and have that pregame
Conversation we’re not going to deal with this for the next 48 minutes right if you talk about it now if you skip over it yeah it’s going to become a huge issue um so just make sure that you take care of it in the pregame because that
Can alleviate a lot of your problems later on Bob you want this one yeah big one so where’s your hat pointing right so what does this mean well a as you go back and watch yourself on tape see where your hat is pointing right because we all know the ball has
Never caused a penalty ball has never caused a penalty right so we’re always looking at where our eyes need to be do we have our proper coverage area are we seeing the right things right and if you’re not take a look and see where your hat is pointing because most likely
It’s probably watching the ball when you should be if you’re single side right you’re watching ball at X when you should be watching something inside in the crease and you miss it and somebody’s screaming how do you miss it how do you miss it on the film you’ll
See well where’s your hat pointing oh it was pointing at x no wonder why my eyes are in the wrong spot so make sure you know where your eyes need to be to be able to trust yourself and your crew mates yeah all the other thing is I mean
One of the things going back to trying to learn a new skill this summer with box they refer to the concept of big eye and little eye which I thought is interesting I’m still trying to figure out exactly how to pull that one off but
You know how do you use your your vision how do you use your your kind of thoughts where you can primarily focus on one thing but keep an eye out for the movement the weird thing coming out of the other side um it’s a good one you
Know you can see it it’s really clear I know last night um I had a scrimage actually a couple fols here and like there were a couple times where I was good remembering to keep an eye on the shooter but there were other times where my head just started to wander where I
Wasn’t worried about my area I just started to think as Bob talking about them I F the ball behind at X when it shouldn’t be where there’s too much contact on the priest that I’m missing something big happens and you don’t see it and you can’t make the call it’s
Really a big deal um because the tape doesn’t want that stuff all right Rob Brockton special don’t kill the grass um really noticeable when you’re out there it’s hard when you’re standing there by yourself um you don’t see it the one year we had a huddle watched a lot of my games that
We got filmed up there I just started watching and I thought I was working really hard and then you start noticing that maybe you’re not working as hard as you think you are um always a reminder in the back of the head move with move to don’t get stuck standing still go in
And out move keep on your toes whatever it is U this is like the one that Rob used to really notice with our officials like a lot of us sit there and kill the grass I took it the wrong way I moved around a little too much so Matt Davis
He’s a guy out of saloa um he was at the Laredo I went to and he started saying I looked like I was jittering in dance mve he’s like you’re moving without purpose um and that was his next point which is if you’re going some there you’re going
There for a reason so for me when I was Trail I would kind of wander usually about three steps in a triangle that was sort of what was described he’s like you’re just wandering all over the place with no purpose so think about when you’re moving not just don’t just kill
The grass but move for a reason move to get to a place you want to be at move to so you get a better angle and when you move you know you’re running you’re not walking on the field you know even if it’s a little Trot get your elbows up
And move with purpose so that you can get to where you’re going you’re ready to move with b f yeah like fit saying is here move to improve by uh another term that I use is find competitive matchups right so we’re focusing our coverage area um we’re
Talking about big eye little eye here right so you have your coverage area but then your little eye is focusing on that competitive matchup within your coverage area so like fit said move to improve right so if you’re being straight lined to where you see uh the back of a player
And not the space in between right that you’re officiating you need to move your feet Left Right forward back whatever it might be so move with purpose don’t kill grass and make sure that you’re officiating those competitive matchups within your coverage area all right give me three steps letard
Skin all right this one was talk to you by a guy named Chris long I’m guessing nobody here knows Chris um because he got his college stuff up in Boston and then moved to Seattle before ever repping a college game and you know has a strong West Coast ncla career but
Nobody here Chris played at RPI he coached RPI but one of the things he picked up and just talked to he’s like want a shot if you’re League you take three steps on nearly every shot and you’re always gonna be there in case it’s contested because you can take more
Than three steps it’s like that shot you take a couple steps and they know you’re looking at it they know where you’re going You’re not planted your body’s up on your toes thinking about moving to the end line to make sure you’re giv the the right Callum shots um something he
Just picked up and kind of passed on and you know a day chance put Leonard skard up on a slide is always a win Bob anything you want to add to that one hustle and have fun right if you ever work a game with me those are my kind of
Last words before we go out on the field right and here’s one reason why give me those three steps just hustle right hustle and have fun in those three steps with you hustling will take care of itself all right this is a good one I love this don’t assume as the single I
Probably should have common there move to the midline so this is a good one right don’t assume but even better the fine folks us lacrosse have given me a video to play for this one and I don’t know if this is the intent but I noticed something when watching this one and
It’s something I got feedback on at Ledo and I want to point it out because it’s something that we all do and if you’re not thinking about it you won’t notice it so we going Jump Ahead doesn’t we don’t need to watch the whole video you kid Me so much for this thing oh better hit the right SL all right so I wanna all right so as we watch this video um I want you to pick up on something first uh my gut says this is calber Hall St Mary so it’s probably a bunch of
Baltimore guys who do everything correctly and perfectly although I can’t 100% say that all right so what we’re noticing here is number 41’s gonna bring this ball in and touch it in which makes it weird if this is a college ruled game because you probably didn’t have to do
That but what you’ll notice look at the single side coming into the frame all right first off he’s walking he’s looking pretty sloppy he’s got his back to the field but he’s just not hustling right look there he is look at that TR all right let’s do that again just to
Make sure everybody sees that one because this is really noticeable he comes in and then this guy from Cal Hall throws this really great pass and what’s gonna happen is he’s gonna miss this ball and our single side is just kind of like yeah nothing big can happen right
Whoops misses it ball goes over it’s over back there’s the lead he’s taking off and our single side is probably still at the straining box on the far side um just one of those things that if you’ll notice contested balls that come back to the middle if that single side
Isn’t coming back up to cover we’re going to create all kinds of Havoc if there’s a turnover so something I got it was something that came was mentioned in a game I did down in Richmond Loro was a ball came back up to Midfield it’s like just don’t assume take a couple steps
Back as it gets contested up the Midfield you’re going to want to be able to get to the Midfield quickly so you can go the Le go um in some cases I’ve had weird ones where the single Swap sort of Bobo has done that a few times
Where he’s like just go if the ball stting the wrong side with a single invert um not necessarily the mechanic I’m used to but what’s one of those things pop you’ll see it a little right so this one goes the other direction similar here right you got
Single side over there down low boom hits the pipe is this and that gu off running you can actually see it pretty well in this right his first thing the pipe and he’s going because he knows it’s going to be conted going the other direction and we’re ready to move but
What I really like about that first one is you know nobody expects that kid to throw a terrible pass and have it go to Midfield as a result be hust to get there and be in the right plac Bobby you want to add that yeah so don’t assume but anticipate H watch
Lacrosse have a high LAX IQ right that will help you become a better officier as well so you don’t have to assume things you you you can start to anticipate things you can start to see things move and happen you know when the ball’s swinging uh you know from one
Side to the other make sure you’re working that yo-yo get out of the way right when a Dodge is coming down the alley anticipate where that shot’s going to go hopefully the shooter shooting low in a way or high in a way but they shouldn’t be shooting near pipe so what
Does that mean for you as lead what does that mean for you as single right are you going to be able to hustle and be able to see if there’s a contested ball on a sideline or an end line are you there right so don’t assume but also
Watch and learn the game have a lack a high lack IQ we talk about it from a players perspective but even from a an official’s perspective we need to make sure that we have high LAX IQs all right so just kind of to piggyback off what we were talking about on the last
Page right um hustling right it means something and Pete you had a great thing here in the chat to chime in uh I’ll let you take it from here but one thing that I have is hustling it’s going to reward you in the end Pete what else you got to add to
This uh Pete fell asleep at the wheel so this this one so p mentioned this one to me three years four years ago big game he’s like no you run to the 20 every time the 20 on that field is there for you right most these high school Fields
That’s gonna be 10 yards up from the goal line so if you run to the 20 slow down a little bit when you hit the 20 you’re cruising right into five yards up from the goal line and for those who like to get really low you can burn
Yourself all the way down but it’s the single that 20 yard line is the place you should be running part to every time Pete you found the mute button Hey listen man I just sorry my my my uh systems on mute but listen the thing is
This always stay two lines ahead of the ball if you stay two lines ahead of the ball you will run way less in a game if you watch and anticipate for them to come to you you’re out of position yeah so just think about it and
By you moving is gonna get that single side moving that single side moving is gonna make that trail move when he needs to it is contagious just like good lacrosse when you see it it happens because it’s contagious that’s all I got man thank you all
Right he did not fou you so this this one I had a g i this is our requisite chance to show Bruce Walker out here on the picture no it’s mute um all right so years ago I was working with Bruce Walker and Sean Simmons and there was a slash Sean walks
Over the threes and mean mugs the poor kid from Woodson all the way to the poundy box and Bruce starts laughing right just giggling so we come over end of the quarter and Bruce is like he didn’t Val you Sean Let It Go man and it’s something that’s kind of hard to
Remember right like he didn’t hit you with the stick rarely are they fing you I mean I guess if they curse at you get a little upset but in reality he fou somebody he goes to the bux he didn’t personally insult you he didn’t hit you he didn’t off
Sides not on you you threw the flag you call it you welome over but for some reason he took it really strong like always personal about uh until Bruce told him giggled I mean the giggling P um so just remember in the back head
It’s a fat it’s just a fat he didn’t hit him he didn’t foul him he didn’t foul you hit you with a stick it’s just a fact go ahead Bob yeah one more thing to add is these are kids right these are kids uh I don’t have any kids of my own
But I I work with you know this age population all day every day right they are going to make mistakes right it you are the adult in the situation so how you conduct yourself right is going to trickle down to that player as well right so making sure that we just stay
In a professional moment right that’s going to allow that player to know hey all right yeah I F you know Johnny on whoever but it wasn’t at me as the official and so we can’t take that stuff too personally and just know that they’re kids as well makeup calls don’t exist on video
So this one I picked up from Gary Krauss I think maybe last fall down actually when it was still word of GRA so I was working with somebody a ball bunched up hit the players hit the defender’s hand not on the stick right easy call and he refaced him Gary is standing
On the sideline watching because apparently Gary just hangs out at word of Grace Just 247 during the fall the rep extra games and after the game Gary said what in the hell are you doing he’s like well I messed up a call earlier and I was trying to make up for it and
Makeup calls don’t exist on video and it’s really a good one to remember I mean that’s an extreme example of where somebody was technically incorrect on the call they were making to try to make up something but even those little things they’re gonna cut a piece of tape
They’re gonna show it to Marty and Marty’s gonna go yeah he probably screwed that one up even though he didn’t see with the context of the game beforehand right if there’s something it goes the wrong way you caught something a little tight you got to be consistent
Through the game but you can’t make it up there’s just no opportunity to do that especially where games on tape that we do Bob good all right this one Marty and I may disagree with so Marty even used this at the AGM the intent of the rule right
So H this is years ago maybe Henry and I were on a game and this was like when the face off guy jump had to go off the field kind of that time frame when that rule is coming in and I don’t remember but somebody met Kevin Giblin said the
Intent of the Rule and that was enough to send him off he said there is no intent to the rule there’s a rule book it’s black and white call right we know that the reason the rule book has and there is intent and the reason they
Wrote the rules or are but the rules and the rules and there is no intent for R We call we call it black and white we call the game the way it’s meant to be played and we don’t call it intent um especially if you say the intent of the
Rule you’re just opening yourself up or taking a beating Bob yeah that’s what we talked about earlier in the slides using the language that’s in the book right those words have power those words have meaning right we can’t deviate from that because then we lose all credibility
Right so we have to make sure that we understand what are what’s in the rulebooks and then be able to explain that to a coach using that language all right Bob you want this one yeah I’ll take it from here so uh like Noah alluded to I started we officiating
Box this summer um and they have this nll way right so taking a look at that left side working hard focusing on your coverage area being in the right place working as a unit what’s one common thing that you don’t see on there it’s the rules right so what can
You do besides getting in the rulebook to make sure that you know what you’re doing right so hm let’s go back to another common theme tonight hustling working hard right hustling and having fun it’s just one of those things that you just have to ingrain into yourself focus on
Your coverage area right so you have to be in the right place at the right time right especially in the Box game where everything is so tight around the crease you have to be tight in there and that might be my own fault for the field game
Because there have been a couple times early in the season that I’ve realized I’m way too tight you know for the field game and so that’s an area that I got to work on but it’s something that you know that you have to do in the game right so
Secondly right being at the right place we talked about that focusing on your coverage area where are your eyes where are your eyes right the ball has never caused a penalty so are you trusting your partners are you trusting your own training to make sure that your eyes are
In the right spot finding competitive matchups right uh seeing what’s going on off ball because you know your eyes have to be there last but not least communicate it is imperative that we communicate both verbally and nonverbally right so it helps with all aspects of our game it helps us in every
Aspect of life right so just communicate you can it’s okay to overc communicate but make sure it’s snapping to the point right um we can’t underc are the four factors that they’re looking at when they’re looking at a professional acros referee working hard being in the right place not mechanics
Not rules I think maybe they assume those to be there but it was if we’re in the right place to make every call doesn’t matter if you’re get right or wrong you’re not going to take a lot of stuff in the coaching right you’re gonna
Be in the right place to make the call and if you’re in the right place you’re probably gonna make the right call um it’s just one of those things that that continually pays dividends when these kind of four factors are being looked at as your evalu are you working hard are
You focused on the coverage or you be in the right place um pretty straightforward but it was interesting to hear them talk about those being primary values which we don’t always think is the first thing you need to do when you’re efficient all right every game matters to someone
So let’s credit this one to West Bent those who don’t know West West was an All-American back in the 60s um played for Hopkins played football for Hopkins is an assigner for Sol does their youed stuff now um look there’s Bob Scott hanging out in the background you don’t see him right
There right there Bob Scott right I think actually that may be Jose can’t really tell but the must familiar um this is the Lutherville tonium for those not from Baltimore right you grow up in a town called racer Town you’re a midlevel team you never beat Lutherville
Or cockyville they kick the snot out of you routinely um but like one year like in seventh grade you have West berer as your official he shoots the game half ass you lose on a unbelievably close game that probably would have gone the other way had not been for a less than
Ideal officiating crew and for the next 35 years your friends continue to talk about because that meant something to guys who never went beyond wreck LaCrosse or never went beyond High School Lacross they remember that one time that one game because for them that was a big deal um so it doesn’t matter
If it’s weight field um versus n right which is a game that’s going to go to running time 99% of time those games mean something and we’re getting paid to do a job Bob anything you want to add before I jump to the the other slide on this one be a
Professional right uh that’s what we have to be is be a professional right look at this official here coming out with uh who knows what kind of jacket and an umbrella that’s not a good look we we hold ourselves to a professional stand standard right the standard is the
Standard right so let’s make sure that we do that every single time we’re out on the floor or out on the field right it matters to that coach who might might be his last year coaching you know it matters to that senior uh it matters to that freshman for that valuable playing
Time right it matters to everyone a part of that game and we need it to make sure it matters to us and by the way that is very likely picture taken from somebody reing with woa um this might have been like a Summer monsoon when we were all working
Summer tournaments um can’t be 100% sure but that very well could have been somebody one of our officials working a game that day right because we’ve had experiences like that where we put where we’ve gotten complaints right this is actually a picture that’s taken I think from some officiating Forum on redit but
Like it’s not the best reputation right we’re there to get paid to do a job let’s put our effort no matter how miserable the weather is it’s still all right let’s take a pallet one so a lot of us work you know they’re college guys they’re guys working big
High school games they’re you know High School varsity JV doesn’t matter every once in a while just go work a u8 game like it is a pallet cleans a bunch of kids who just want to run around and have fun and play withr their parents
May be a pain in the butt it doesn’t matter the kids are out there smiling they don’t keep score they don’t know what the score gonna be they don’t care you can walk over and be like you having fun and every one of them’s G to say yes
And it just reminds you of like why we’re out there doing this right and it’s a contribution back to the game but it really does kind of I like to say clean the pallet after a coup you know a hard week of Monday through Friday running around chasing down games that
Are in high school stadiums you go out to some grass field where the goals flipped over because they don’t have enough goalies and every one of those kids is just excited to be playing a sport right running around having a good time none of them are going to curse ATA
Every one of them after the game is just going to be excited that they ran around got sweaty and maybe a couple of them upset that they got checked Bob you’re a part of the game right like we get to be a part of a childhood
Game so it’s okay to bring yourself back to those roots and do it it’s fun like Noah said yeah you know what one kid might get upset you know he go cries to his mom but that’s okay you know take a moment to bring yourself back to your
Roots of man yeah like Noah here right when his first days remember that first Christmas or whatever holiday you got a lacrosse sck and you slept with it for weeks months until the season started then you like was never out of your hands like so be a kid you know take a
Pallet cleanser and do those games if you don’t have a college game or if you just have a free Saturday because we know we need to help out like it’s one of those things that it’s okay you you could be a little bit of a kid too and
Talk to him have fun with it yeah if you need a pallet cleanser just ask Marty for some little kid Bucky box Lacross man that that they can’t even see over the boards at them are playing High School like all you see is the top of their foreheads when you’re standing
There but they’re having a blast right just running around throwing the ball at a goal right just enjoying themselves all right last slot right it’s supposed to be F Nathan caner for those who don’t nobody knows who Nathan caner is but that’s my grandfather he ref if it had a scoreboard a
Ball uh two people competing he probably was a certified official for it he dragged me all over the Mid-Atlantic to track meets swimming wrestling basketball soccer was his big one he was president of the Mason fix and soccer association for years but he always just reminded me like this is just fun like
It’s like being a kid in Camp again that was his theory he was is just there to enjoy himself he wed really good games he wed really bad games he got yelled at in front of me by crazy parents but it was always just there as just like look
It’s a sport we’re doing this because it’s fun and remind yourself it’s not a job right we get paid but it’s lacrosse Rec right it’s not like we’re working our rear ends off to hit ones and zeros into a computer like you do between whatever time you get to work and when
You sneak out to do a game if you don’t walk off the field or walk to the field with a smile we’re probably doing it wrong right and that’s kind of the key motivation um Bob anything want to add there yeah I got one here so quote from
A former coach of mine it might have been from somebody else as well but uh it goes what you put in is what you get out right so put in a little bit of time effort energy and you’ll be surprised how much fun you have as the outcome
Right so again take that pallet cleanser leave your stuff at the door before you step on the field leave it at the gate you know and then go in and have fun and always mindself what you put in is what you get out right you put in 100% effort
You’re probably GNA enjoy what you just did for the past two hours right you put in 50% effort your mind’s going to be wandering about other things you’re going to worry about oh what i g to do when I get home like no be in the moment
Right be there you’re a part of the game that’s a cool thing so enjoy it and remember what you put in is what you get out yeah so we’ve used up an hour I just wanted to open it up just in case anybody had ones that you know were top
Of mine to them um things that you know jumped out to their head they was like oh that’s a good one or you know what you guys aren’t talking about this which I’ve carried around in my back pocket for years so I’ll open it up real quick I think you guys make a
Great Point here on this last slide that every game is somebody’s biggest game whether it’s that coach or that parent or that grandparent is coming to watch their grandson uh I I can tell you this firsthand you know coaching my grandson’s 9u soccer team has reminded
Me of what it was all about I started coaching lacrosse uh after playing when my brother started playing when he was a little kid and it is literally taking me back and it is it is a much bigger deal to people that you can never understand
So keep that in mind you’re always doing somebody’s biggest game every time you’re out there well if nobody else has anything to add uh appreciate you guys tuning in listening to us uh no and I really did enjoy putting this together for you all and uh keep keep an open dialogue if you
Have something that comes up throughout the year uh that we can maybe add onto to this for next year or or future presentations please let us know um this is not a you know an end product this is a continuous working document so please you know anything shoot it my way shoot
It Noah’s way uh we would happy to take any of your feedback yeah and Bob and Noah let me let me just thank you guys for putting this together because I think my biggest takeaway and I would imagine for people like Pete and Jose and any and will and anybody that’s been
Around for a while you know you you brought up a lot of names that we haven’t heard in a while and it was great to see those names come across the screen I think we all had fond memories of a lot of those guys and it really
Just proves the point that you know it takes a village right it this is a a hand-me-down sport right the best ideas are stolen nobody’s coming up with anything original if you can just open up your mind open up your ears and open up your heart you’d be surprised what
You can glean from other people and do that each and every time that you’re out there and if you’re the senior official if you’re the experienced guy that make sure you pass something meaningful each and every time you’re on the field to a crew mate and that’s how we all get
Better okay we are an association of people right this is a people business I’ve had that conversation a lot with recently with people recently this is a human resources business is what it [Applause] is
