Shane Livensparger is the Owner/Operator of Officially Fit and also a Certified Personal Trainer with ACE (American Council on Exercise). I’ve known Shane for over a year and have been asking him to create a Pre-game Stretching resource for sports officials.

Finally, its here. Read the rest of this entry »

This episode of the Referee Nation podcast is sponsored by www.assignr.com.
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This episode of the Referee Nation podcast is sponsored by www.assignr.com.

Jack Childress is the Coordinator of Football Officiating for the Southern and South Atlantic conferences. Recently retired as a referee in the ACC, Jack brings a wealth of passion and experience to his current role. Jack has touched countless officials over the years and is bringing his innovative Core Concept to the halls of football officiating.
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This episode of the Referee Nation podcast is sponsored by www.assignr.com. Working the middle can be intimidating for some. Other’s just say now way! But select officials, the U is the only position to work. Jim Shaw, a Big Ten Umpire and veteran college football official, is this week’s guest on the Referee Nation podcast. Jim shares his insight on being the best football official at all levels, what it takes to make it at the Division I level and some specific tips for the Umpire position.
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Are you willing to say yes? Its a common situation…the conference supervisor ask you to work a game and it’s the first time you’ve had a chance to really step up. The timing is terrible. You will disappoint someone regardless. What if you are injured? Have to drive 8 hours to the game site? Have to work the next day? What will your answer be? Maybe? No? Wish I could?
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Football Film Review and the iPad now go hand in hand. This week’s episode features Big East Back Judge Jonah Monroe and the developer of a new iPad application called Replay Booth. Jonah shares his officiating story as well as the history behind this really cool application for football officials. The application is available on the iPad and the Droid.

For more information visit www.profootballreferee.com/replaybooth

Video or game film review is one of the key tools aspiring football officials need in their toolboxes as they strive to improve their officiating. Breaking down your game film consistently can accelerate your learning and improvement 4 times faster than without it.

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I recently had the opportunity to interview attorney and fellow author, Dick Lister on his recent release of his book, The Third Team. Dick Lister artfully illuminates what is normally the background and skillfully debunks many of the myths that surround the responsibilities of those privileged to be NFL officials. More than that, he takes the reader to a world unknown by many outside the profession—the world officials live in the other six days a week.The Third Team tells the stories from the inside and behind the scenes about who the NFL game official is, both off and on the field. Interviews with 25 former and current NFL officials, former coaches Tony Dungy, Herman Edwards, Steve Mariucci, and Jerry Glanville, along with network analyst and former player Matt Millen, among others, provide a look into a world that is not known to the average fan.

To buy the book, please visit www.thethirdteam.com

This week’s podcast feature’s Zebraweb.org’ s founder NJ Cogliati. NJ is an active football official in the Colonial, Ivy and Patriot League in addition to current role as ZebraWeb.org’s founder.

NJ offers some great advice for aspiring football officials AND gives us the history and story behind his wildly successful web-venture, ZebraWeb.org. ZebraWeb.org is a multi-faceted resource for sports officials, assigners and supervisors world-wide. NJ also discusses the importance of video review in this podcast and shares a resource for all things video. This is a MUST HEAR podcast so check it out!

The Pre-Game routine is one known well by many a football official. Stuart Mullins, a referee in the Colonial, Ivy and Patriot Conferences shares some of his philosophy developed over his career as a wing official and referee. I first met Stuart last year where he was a clinician at the first Blue Ridge Football Officials Clinic Join me as Stuart and I talk leadership, video review, advancement and pre-game outlines.

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