Tips

So how can you add a sports officiating class to your list of course offerings if the budget is tight and options are limited? After working with more than 1,500 educational organizations across the country and beyond, we’ve learned a few places schools can look for support.

Former college athlete Kyla Dinkel has spent 15 years officiating Alaska basketball, recently making history as part of the state’s first-ever all-female referee crew for a state championship game. In this interview, she offers an unfiltered look at surviving mental burnout, the tight-knit community behind the whistle, and the technical love for the game that keeps her returning to the hardwood season after season.

We spoke with Donnie Souders, NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball National Coordinator of Officials, about his officiating journey, the evolution of the women’s game, and what it will take to strengthen the officiating pipeline.

One of the most effective ways to improve your officiating skills and advance your career is by attending an officiating camp or referee training camp. These camps provide hands-on experience, feedback from experienced clinicians, and opportunities to refine mechanics, rules knowledge, and communication skills. In this post, we’ll give you some tips about camp: what to look for, what to expect, and how to maximize your development.

Mark Baltz, RefReps’ CFO and co-founder, has spent a lifetime officiating baseball, basketball, and football, including 25 years in the NFL. In this blog series, he reflects on his journey through high school, college, and professional officiating, offering insights to help fellow officials develop their craft. Here is the first entry in the series of his story:

A checklist is used to ensure that steps in a process are completed accurately, consistently, and in the correct sequence. We use them all the time in our daily life, whether we’re completing tasks at work, fixing something at home, or compiling information for a report. It makes sense, then, that we would use checklists regularly as part of officiating, both on and off the field.