Top 10 (maybe more) Rules for new officials

[FrankNFHS]

Our local youth football league uses NFHS rules for its games.  In addition, many high school officials (and even some college and a potential NFL official) have come out of the league.  So it is a nice opportunity for folks to get into officiating.

I've taken on the task (you know the drill, more volun"told" than volunteered...but that's OK) to help start developing some of our junior officials that will be calling 12u and under games.  I'd like to develop a pocket reference with the top 10 common calls they would be expected to make during a game.  These junior officials are always with an established official but we really try to get them to use their available resources quickly and in game situations. 

Here's some of the top calls that some of us brainstormed onto an initial list but we are more than happy to receive feedback and even share a copy of the pocket tool with those that contribute feedback.  Here is our list, so far...

1. Holding
2. False start
3. Block in the Back
4. Defensive pass interference
5. Offensive pass interference
6. Kick off out of bounds
7. Illegal motion
8. Illegal shift
9. Delay of game
10. Sideline interference (we have very exuberant coaches and team attendants)

Any and all feedback is appreciated and please remember we are speaking of games involving many first time players again at 12u and younger.  Many thanks from an appreciative learning official as well!

[Rulesman]

DEFINITIONS - Rule 2. A wise old veteran once told me (before I became old and a veteran... not sure about wise) to learn the definitions of playing terms before I tried to learn anything else. You can't apply a rule, by common sense or otherwise, if you don't know the foundation of the rules. Otherwise, it's sort of like pouring footings after you start to build the outhouse.

[Mike L]

Any of the safety & sportsmanship fouls you can find under Rule 9 are much more important than these.

[Rulesman]

Any of the safety & sportsmanship fouls you can find under Rule 9 are much more important than these.

More important than definitions?

[James]

I would question if the technical fouls for shift and formation are that important in youth ball.
We are much more lenient with younger kids who have enough to think about and remember with their plays and the basics of the game.

For new officials I would say the most important are:
Definitions
When is a ball dead
Keys and zones (what they watch when)
All safety fouls (rule 9)
Holding (and when not to call it)

[Rulesman]

He didn't ask which rule is most important, now did he? Even though the topic line seems to indicate so, you gotta read the text.

"He" being whom?

My question was to the response "Any of the safety & sportsmanship fouls you can find under Rule 9 are much more important than these." That's the text I read.

[Kirby]

Frank- to add to your brainstorming. How about 'hits on players obviously out of the play' as one that, while maybe not one of the most frequent, would help to stress the importance of off-ball and dead-ball officiating for new officials. Good luck!

[FrankNFHS]

Thanks to all, good stuff. 

To close this out we also have all of our junior officials (and our not so junior officials) at least know all of the signals in the NFHS manual.  Even though they may not know the rule or foul associated with each, they can at least start to recognize the signal as they develop their understanding of the rules.

We also have them watch the football videos put out by the Hawaii Football Officials Association (we make a relatively nice contribution each year because we find these valuable) and discuss each of the plays.

To be sure, sometimes our "senior" officials get a bit intimidated by our junior officials because often the junior officials may have learned something that the seniors may have not previously understood, knew etc.

The good thing is last year we initiated a practice that all officials should be comfortable sharing no matter if you have been calling football games for 20 years or for 20 minutes, the more we share the better we can become as a group, and the better we can promote effective officiating within our ranks.

Many thanks again to all!