Equipment- Part 1
No matter if you are starting to officiate high school or college football, almost everyone has questions about what equipment they need. I will try to give you the basics and point you in the right direction of where to get it. Like always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let me know here.
To start, you need a bag to put all of your equipment. Many officials I have worked with use suitcases but that isn’t a requirement. Some officials use over the shoulder gym bags as well that work just fine. Whatever the bag, try to find one that has separate compartments to keep clothes and then accessories such as whistles and bean bags. Here is an example of one possibility, but any suitcase would work.
Next, assuming you are not the referee, you will need a black hat with white stripes. Some of the white stripes are bigger than others. Most officials where hats that have thinner white lines, but for most high school and DIII college, it doesn’t make a huge difference.
Other small items you need are things such as a whistle, bean bags and flags. When it comes to the whistle, you have two choices, the finger whistle or regular around your neck lanyard whistle. Ultimately this comes down to the individual person’s preference, but I like the lanyard whistle. I also have always had that recommended to me because experienced officials say the lanyard whistle takes slightly longer, compared to the finger whistle, for you to grab it and be ready to blow it. This extra time allows you to have time to think about if you actually want to blow the whistle. And I can tell you, the extra time has saved me from having an inadvertent whistle multiple times. If I were you, I would go traditional lanyard whistle.
Next time I write to you, I will talk you through the bean bags, flags, game cards and clothing. If you would like to start looking at some equipment now though, Honig's is a great place to look and order. You can find their website here.
To start, you need a bag to put all of your equipment. Many officials I have worked with use suitcases but that isn’t a requirement. Some officials use over the shoulder gym bags as well that work just fine. Whatever the bag, try to find one that has separate compartments to keep clothes and then accessories such as whistles and bean bags. Here is an example of one possibility, but any suitcase would work.
Next, assuming you are not the referee, you will need a black hat with white stripes. Some of the white stripes are bigger than others. Most officials where hats that have thinner white lines, but for most high school and DIII college, it doesn’t make a huge difference.
Other small items you need are things such as a whistle, bean bags and flags. When it comes to the whistle, you have two choices, the finger whistle or regular around your neck lanyard whistle. Ultimately this comes down to the individual person’s preference, but I like the lanyard whistle. I also have always had that recommended to me because experienced officials say the lanyard whistle takes slightly longer, compared to the finger whistle, for you to grab it and be ready to blow it. This extra time allows you to have time to think about if you actually want to blow the whistle. And I can tell you, the extra time has saved me from having an inadvertent whistle multiple times. If I were you, I would go traditional lanyard whistle.
Next time I write to you, I will talk you through the bean bags, flags, game cards and clothing. If you would like to start looking at some equipment now though, Honig's is a great place to look and order. You can find their website here.
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