A Referee's pregame is a very important starting point for any crew; it gets their collective minds working together and focused on football. We all have seen poorly conducted pregame conferences turn into games that are officiating nightmares laden with communication and mechanical breakdowns.

The crew chief, generally the Referee, conducts most pregames. His first mission after everyone has arrived is to provide a relaxed atmosphere full of camaraderie. After all, in a short time this group will need to work as a cohesive unit. The more comfortable and relaxed the group is, the better they will be on the field. You certainly don't want to take the field with a bunch of nervous people who will probably be indecisive because of their jitters. Some of the ways to do that are to make sure everyone knows everyone else, talk small talk to get the communication lines open, and make sure everyone has elbowroom in the locker room and a place to sit down.

Once the calmness is developed, the group needs to know that this pregame meeting, as well as the game, will be organized: Someone (the R) is going to be in control. When people see that they have a leader who is on top of things, they can relax a bit more. The appearance and the organization of the Ref's gear is the first key to relaying that sense of order. Recall how impressed you are when an official comes into the locker room and opens up his duffle bag, where you see neatly folded uniforms and equipment very meticulously placed in segregated areas of the bag rather than one messy glob of stripes, whites, whistle lanyards, and yellow flags being dumped in a pile on the locker room floor.

Another great way to show organization is to have the pregame meeting laid out in an outline on paper or on note cards. I have even seen crew chiefs who have a copy of that outline for each crew member.

The following is the flow of a very successful pregame outline I have seen used by many a Ref. It goes through a game, step by step, and tries to anticipate every situation that could arise. The crew should be at the field at least 90 to 120 minutes before game time.

• First, it is good to make sure that all of the preliminary items have been covered.

  The game balls should be inspected by the Umpire as early as possible, too. He will check them for legality in size, color, and texture as well as proper inflation.

  The Referee will give the crew any pertinent information from his initial meeting with game management. There may be a longer halftime or the game may be televised, and that info needs to be  passed on to the rest of the crew.

Get a report from the officials on the crew who is assigned to walk the field to check markings, conditions, and any hazards that may prevent the game from starting. These should be reported to game management immediately so that they can be corrected before kickoff. The Line Judge and Back Judge normally perform that duty before they even enter the locker room.

•  Now the focus changes to duties that will be completed after the meeting of the crew but before kick-off.

The Line Judge along with the Referee should walk the field again to ensure all equipment and markings are correct, especially if something was reported to game management after the earlier inspection.

After that, the Referee and Umpire should conduct a private meeting with each head coach to see if there are any play situations that they want to discuss before game time, any players having special equipment such as braces, splints, or casts that need to be inspected for safety, and any other general questions or concerns they may want to express.

• \Generally while those private coach meetings are being held, the rest of the crew is busy with meetings of their own.

  The Head Linesman will meet with the chain gang to go over their responsibilities and assignments.

  The wing officials will meet with ball personnel and go over their responsibilities.

Back Judges are meeting with the scoreboard timer operator to discuss when to start and stop the clock and who signals the occurrences.

Next, the crew will go over the coin toss procedure, including where each crew member will stand during the toss. The crew will cover how and where they will meet just after the toss to verify its result. 

• Another important discussion should be to inform the crew where they should stand during the National Anthem.

 All of your pre-kick items should have been covered by now. The next thing to do is cover the game events themselves. For that information, return next week for Part II.

The outline

Setting the tone early

Darin Hayes calls Erie, PA, home, but judging from his work, we'd say his home is the 100 yards between the goal lines on any local football field. Darin has been officiating football since 1988; he lists as a highlight being part of the crew for the 2001 Pennsylvania State High School Championship. You may reach Darin at darinhayes@officiating.com.