One of the most important things a football official has to do is prepare well for every game. If an official does not prepare, his crewmates will take notice. If the official prepares hard, his crewmates will also notice. As an official, when you show up to the game, you should be prepared. There are multiple important steps for football officials to take to ensure they are ready for the game.
1. Watch your game footage from the previous week.
If there is any way for you as an official to get your hands on tape from your last game, take advantage of it! There is no better way to improve as an official that to watch yourself and see firsthand what mistakes you are making. Pay attention to the signals you give and ensure they are high quality. Additionally, pat attention to your position on plays. Where you are on each play can make a huge difference on what you can see. If you are doing something wrong, identify it and think how to resolve the issue, and finally practice the correct way.
2. Review what you need to.
Every football official, no matter the level, always runs across something in the game that they want to doublecheck or read more on. In many cases, it is something like a penalty enforcement on a weird play. Try to remember what these things are and spend time throughout the week researching and reading about that type of play. Helpful books for this are the case book attached to the rule book and the Redding’s study guide.
3. Scout teams.
In order to be prepared for the game, you should have an idea of how the game will go. In order to know this, you must scout the teams playing. You can do this ideally through watching film of the team or reading quantitative stats online. Look at things such as win loss record and percent of plays as runs and passes. Looking at these things may help you know the team likes to throw a deep ball, therefore deep wing officials, Field Judge and Side Judge, may start a few yards deeper to try to not get beat. You may also be able to tell if the game will be close or a blowout. Neither is a walk in the park for officials because in a blowout, teams can become very choppy and draw a lot of flags. However, a close game may have coaches breathing down your neck and extra pressure added to it.
Other steps in how to prepare each week will include things such as preparing the uniform, making sure you are in good physical condition and confirming the crew for each game.