July/August 2019 - 18

Helping coaches develop positive relationships with referees
By Randy Hisner, contributing writer
In a perfect world, every coach would have
experience as an official, and every official would
have experience as a coach. By understanding both
points of view, they would avoid or mitigate many of
the confrontations that lead to technical fouls, ejections
and other penalties.
We don't live in a perfect world, so conflicts between
coaches and officials frequently arise. This problem is
regularly addressed in preseason officials' meetings,
where administrators and assigners teach officials how
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to improve their communication skills and conflictresolution
strategies. But what about the other side of the
divide? How can coaches more effectively communicate
and interact with officials?
Here are five suggestions.
1
Improve understanding of officials and officiating.
Though coaches may deal with an official who has a
chip on their shoulder, appears not to like their job, or
may be doing it primarily for the money, the vast majority
of officials love their sport and see themselves as stewards
July/August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July/August 2019
