What Do You Do?

 

Over the last couple of football seasons, as our officiating crew left the locker room to go out onto the field for the opening kick-off, one of our crew members would yell out “Do What We Do!”  It’s a jokingly rally cry similar to ones other ball teams use as they head out onto the field.  This expression has often left me contemplating “what do we do as officials?”

Let us break-down officiating into 3 areas of “what we do”:

1)    Prepare

2)    Perform

3)    Evaluate

Prepare: Our preparation includes being physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually ready. Preparation looks different for each crew member and includes both individual and crew preparation. Our preparation includes rule study, video review, physical fitness, and mental focus.  In addition, taking care of our families is a critical part of preparation each week.

Perform: Once we have prepared, we can then perform. Our performance is not just when toe meets the leather for opening kick-off until the clock hits 0:00 in the 4^th quarter. Instead, performance includes our individual preparation during the week, crew meetings, and travel and hotel interactions. It also includes communication with clock operators, Red Hats, Sideline Replay, university staff, along with pregame, on-field, and post-game responsibilities. And do not forget, performance includes our interactions after the game.

Evaluate: Personal and crew evaluation of all aspects of our game performance—pregame, during game, and post-game. We review all parts of our performance to determine what was done well, what can be done better, and where the individual official and crew need the most help and improvement. Examples of evaluation include penalties/fouls called, mechanics, and communication with players and coaches.

Galatians 6: 3-4:  3 For if a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

In verse 3, Paul, the writer of Galatians, instructs us to avoid being conceited or prideful.  Pride is a great danger and always comes before a fall. Then in verse 4, Paul further instructs us to examine our own work instead of comparing ourselves against others. We can certainly review and learn from others, but not in an attitude of how much better or worse someone else is compared to me.  Our achievements are for our own personal or crew rejoicing, not to “show-boat” against others.

Looking at our crew’s rally cry “Do What We Do”, it’s a never-ending, inter-related cycle to Prepare, Perform, and Evaluate.  When we DO those things, we can most often rejoice in the results as Paul stated in Galatians 6: 4.

Without proper self-evaluation, failure is inevitable.

John Wooden