Team Training

This time of year before the first football game is played, it is important to scrimmage or if available get in a jamboree against other teams. Last Saturday at Jimmie Snider Field in Ritzville, the annual high school football jamboree was held on a beautiful, warm sunny afternoon.

Most football fans look forward to this day to see the progress made in the first two weeks of practice and because it’s football. One of the things most people did not notice was that there was also some training going on over on the visitor’s side of the field. Along with the two teams of officials were three rookies getting training. The only request was that these three could help with the chain gang. I gave up my spot and did a lot of listening and watching what the line judge was relating to the trainees.

There are things that are important and as a middle school football coach and one of the members of the chain gang the more I know the better job I’m able to do. There is a lot that this trainer was telling the three newbies and it was valuable information. It would be good if all chain crews and coaches for that matter would be able to watch and listen to a training session like this.

I really enjoyed the camaraderie and I have a better idea what these guys are looking for. As coaches and fans we can’t understand why a referee missed a call but when you look at the area one person has to cover you can see why it might not be that person’s call to make. The line judge did say that there are times like a pass play down field where the ref on one side of the field may have a bad angle to make a pass interference call and that if you are a trailing ref and see that the defensive back is holding onto the receiver and hindering the play then a flag needs to be thrown. Referees are also a team and need to communicate and help each other out. Fans for the flagged team may not be happy but the right call makes the officials a good team.

There are a lot of things these guys are looking for and in a jamboree situation a flag may not be thrown for lining up in the neutral zone for linemen but instead the official will tell the offending player where he needs to be. Next week that will be a five yard penalty no warning.

I had a couple of questions one was concerning the mouth piece rule. When I played if the mouth piece wasn’t in place it was a five yard penalty. In today’s game if it isn’t protecting the player’s teeth then he will be told to sit out a play and explain to the coach why they forgot their mouth guard. Same thing goes for knee pads or any piece of equipment that isn’t in place.

For those of us who were paying attention to this referee training session it was valuable and inexpensive. The referees were doing their best to help clean up any issues that may not have been emphasized in preseason practices. Referees can help the coaching staffs as well. Sometimes when the instruction comes from an official it may carry a bit more weight and that’s a good thing.

One of the officials noticed one of the coaches and he thought the guy had retired. He recalled a time when he ejected a fan from a game for cussing out one of the referees and it was at that coach’s school. One of the new guys asked how you would do that. He said that you go over to the coach and he goes to the athletic director and tells him that if that person isn’t removed from the field play will not continue. It usually doesn’t take long for matters to clear up. Fans sometimes believe that the price of admission allows for them to be able to say anything they want. But that’s not the case.

Football is a very exciting game that is fun to watch and we can appreciate the talent that is exhibited. We usually see two teams playing against each other but there is another team on the field dressed in striped shirts that are well trained and need to work together. I appreciate what took place last Saturday and I for one learned a lot and gained more respect for the officiating crews.

— Dale Anderson is a sports columnist from Ritzville. To contact him, email [email protected].