The Official View: Night with the Crew
By
Brent Rice
MHSAA Assistant Director
October 1, 2018
By Brent Rice
MHSAA Assistant Director
In this week’s edition we discuss the power of our words and delivering them proactively, examine a football rule regarding rushing the punter and take a look at an “It’s Your Call” at the volleyball net.
It’s Official!
The Words We Use: Officials face criticisms regularly for their rule enforcement, judgment decisions and even positioning. As we know, these criticisms will be tossed about whether you get plays and rulings correct or not, so there is very little we can control in this area. One area we can control the criticisms we receive is the way we speak to others.
I’ve heard people say, “I’ll give them respect when they earn it.” If that’s your line of thinking, maybe you should consider giving respect simply because it’s the right thing to do. The way you communicate as an official to coaches, players and administrators reflects on you professionally, and often is a determining factor on how these parties view you in carrying out the rest of your responsibilities. If they think you’re a bad person, they often don’t give you the benefit of the doubt in close-call situations.
There are a number of books written on the art of diffusing situations through the words you use. One that immediately comes to mind is “Verbal Judo” by George Thompson. It is rather succinct and definitely worth the read. It provides much more detail on the philosophy of word usage, but let me provide you with a couple of seemingly innocuous phrases that can draw the ire of a coach and should be avoided:
“Well, that’s the rule” – Rules citation is very important when providing explanations, but simply stating that the rule says so sounds flippant and is looked at as a cop-out. Instead, start with “By rule,” then use rulebook terminology to describe the situation and ruling.
“Calm down” – While this is much better than the cringe worthy “Shut up” or “Hush” we hear being used from time to time, it still can provoke a primal urge to respond and can actually have the opposite effect of what is intended. Instead, try getting the results you desire by having them talk it through. Try statements like “All right, I’m listening to you,” or “Okay, explain to me what you’re asking.” And when using a phrase like “calm down,” trying adding an “if” statement along with it. For instance, “I’ll explain to you what I have if you calm down.”
Rule of the Week
FOOTBALL Team R loads up the box with rushers to put pressure on K’s punt deep in its own zone. As K1 punts, R1, coming from the center of the line, just gets fingers on the ball and partially blocks it. R2, from the edge, then firmly contacts the kicker’s plant leg and sends him to the ground.
Ruling: This is not a foul (in itself). The rulebook does not provide that only the player who touches the kick is excused from contacting the kicker. This exception to the rule refers only to when “the defense touches the kick.” (9-4-5-b) Of course, this does not give carte blanche to defensive players to go out of their way to unnecessarily rough the kicker just because the ball is touched.
It’s Your Call
VOLLEYBALL The clip from this week picks up after an extended volley. As Team S plays the ball over the net for its third hit, a front row member of Team R makes a play on the ball. The questions is, are the two contacts by the front row R player legal? Why or why not?
Last Week’s IYC Ruling: The basic spot on the play is the end of the run. Using the all-but-one principle, this foul would be penalized from the spot of the foul (A’s 35). If the defense accepts the penalty, it would be A’s ball, 3rd-and-27 on A’s 20. If the defense declines, it would be 4th-and-8 on A’s 39. This is definitely an instance that you want to run the options by B’s coach before enforcing the penalty. (Click to see the video from last week.)
Official View
After a long, hard-fought Friday night contest between Rockford and Greenville, crew members (left to right) Dale Feutz, Brian Donovan, Sam Boland, and Luke Griemsman stop in at a local Rockford eatery to discuss the night’s game over a meal.
Haslett Cancer Games Touch Close to Home
By
Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
February 18, 2020
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
By pure coincidence, it happened to be Valentine's Day.
However, that date on the calendar served as the perfect backdrop when two schools and two officiating crews paired up for a "Coaches for Cancer" girls and boys basketball doubleheader Friday at Haslett High School.
Adding to the poignancy of this particular Feb. 14 were the still-raw emotions for the host school, which lost its longtime principal, Bart Wegenke, to pancreatic cancer a month earlier.
"This is our second year participating in a Coaches vs. Cancer event at a basketball game," said Haslett athletic director Darin Ferguson. "The event was actually planned before Bart’s passing."
Wegenke, 53, was widely recognized in educational circles for his excellence as an administrator, and also was an accomplished basketball official at the high school and collegiate levels, ascending to NCAA Division I status.
During a recent booster club meeting, there was discussion of the event, scheduled for the home doubleheader versus local rival Fowlerville. In attendance was Mike Conlin, whose son Jace is a member of the Haslett golf team. Conlin also assigns basketball officials for the Capital Area Activities Conference and is owner of Correct Call Officiating Outfitters, provider of licensed MHSAA officials apparel.
"They were displaying purple t-shirts that the teams would be wearing that night, and I thought, 'Why not have the officials join in that night?'" Conlin said. "Because of the situation with Bart and his positive influence and the respect given him by players, coaches and officials alike, we had patches created in his memory. So it seemed fitting to outfit the officials for this night with special shirts bearing Bart’s name."
Conlin and partner Joe DeRosa at Smitty Apparel had designed the commemorative patches for collegiate-style shirts that were worn in the Big Ten during a weekend shortly after Wegenke's passing. The shirts differ in style from MHSAA shirts; the area on the shoulder of the collegiate shirt provides greater visibility for the patch.
"I am not an advocate for high school officials wearing college shirts; that's not me," Conlin said. "But, in this case, we got to talking and thought the ragland sleeve would allow for a more prominent display. And, we wanted the shirts to be purple and white so that our crews that night could join in the cause."
Conlin contacted the MHSAA, and permission for the alternate gear – which also would include purple whistles – was granted. Following the games that night, Conlin collected the commemorative shirts to have them dry-cleaned. They were to be given to Bart's brother Brett, who will distribute them to family members.
There was another twist. When Conlin noticed who had been assigned – months before – to officiate the games that night, he decided that one more design would be needed.
Working the girls game that night were Deb Traxinger, Rob Stanaway and Dennis Bickerstaff. The boys crew was Scott Barnes, Mike Maisner and Justin Terry. It was Terry's name that triggered additional response.
Terry lost his wife, Diana, last May 25 after a courageous fight with cancer.
"When I saw Justin as one of the officials for that night, it just made all the sense in the world to craft a special shirt for him with Diana's name on it since this hits so close to home," Conlin said. "We wanted something for him to take with him."
And Terry did just that, not only following the game, but for the game.
"I'm wearing that shirt for the game," Terry said the morning of the event. "Here it is, Valentine's Day, people exchanging cards, flowers, candy, and for the first time, I don't have that. But I'll be thinking about my honey when I take the floor, and she’ll be with me. My whole family will be there."
And he said he would be thinking of countless others enduring the same struggles his family experienced.
"My heart goes out to the Wegenke family. I know first-hand what it's like to lose the love of your life," Terry said. "I hope for this night to serve as a reminder that people need to be educated about cancer; about regular checkups and warning signs. Whether it's a spouse, child, uncle, aunt, these things creep into our lives and cause us to pause. Every one of us will be subjected to something similar someday. It's important to love hard and live life."
On a date signifying heart, there was plenty of adoration to go around.
PHOTOS: (Top) Mid-Michigan officials wear purple shirts for cancer awareness during Friday’s basketball games at Haslett. From left: Justin Terry, Scott Barnes, Mike Maisner, assigner Mike Conlin, Rob Stanaway, Dennis Bickerstaff and Deb Traxinger. (Middle) Terry wore this shirt honoring his late wife Diana, who died last May after a fight with cancer. (Photos courtesy of Mike Conlin.)