Becoming a Prepared Football Official

For all of the football officials out there, I think there are 2 books that you must have. If you are officiating high school football, you need to get the NFHS “High School Football Rules Simplified and Illustrated.” This book is a wealth of knowledge! If you have read through the regular rule book before, it is very likely that sometime while reading it you dozed off. It just has that affect. Everything is so technical with all the exceptions and to follow you have to jump back and forth pages. Well this simplified and illustrated rule book is what the title says! And who doesn’t love a good picture book! This book breaks down the different rules and puts them in a way that actually makes sense. Plus, almost all of the rules come with a picture to help you visualize the rule. If you would like to look at this book or order it, it can be found here . The next book is the “Football Officiating Mechanics Illustrated” by Jeff Stern. For high school you will usually get the book for 4 a...

The CFO website , which stands for college football officiating, is a tremendous site for every official no matter if you are just starting college football, or a seasoned pro. The CFO website can also be good for high school officials if you are actively thinking about rule changes between the college and high school games. If you want a great book on the differences between college (NCAA) and high school (NFHS) I highly recommend the newest edition of “Football Rule Differences” by Paul Whiteside, George Demetriou and Jeffrey Stern. The book does a great job of breaking down all the differences in a way that makes sense. Find the most recent book here .  Anyways, back to the CFO website. They post weekly quizzes during the football season to help test your rules knowledge. They will usually post between five and ten quizzes during the offseason to keep officials fresh on the rules. But beyond the rules, they offer some of the best, or most helpful, videos out there. The vide...