Oct 3 Message from TASO FB President

Guys,

We are now  entering into the most important part of the season.  Teams will be playing very
important district games that will determine whether they go to the play-offs or
not and where they will be seated in the play-offs.  Here are some things for
you to remember…

Tempers and emotions will be running high, so just  expect it and accept it.  Do not let it change the way you work the game.  Call every game the same and do not give the perception that you are being partial.  Yeah, I know, the coaches and fans always think we’re partial, but be as fair as you can.  We can’t control what they think.  We can only control how we prepare and how we work.  Give the players, coaches, fans and your crewmates 100% plus some.  They deserve it.

Make your calls big.  No, MAKE THEM HUGE!!!  The bigger you make the calls, the more consistent you will be.  Calling
“ticky-tacky” things only disrupts the game.  Worse than that, you will call some and miss some.  When you make the calls big, you will be much more accurate.

Don’t be over-officious on Unsportsmanlike Conduct (UNS).  Let the kids show honest emotion when the score or make a big
play.  If the act isn’t prolonged and/or directed at an opponent, it is probably legal.  However, choreographed acts and prolonged acts that draw attention to oneself, are illegal.  Just don’t alter the game with “C’mon Man” calls.  That’s a call that they put on ESPN and say, “C’mon man!”

Be professional!  No matter how bad things get, stay in control of your emotions.  Do not yell at coaches or players.

Communicate with your crewmates, the coaches and the players.  Give an explanation to every reasonable question.  For the unreasonable questions, don’t be a jerk.  Just handle it in a businesslike manner.  When you think somebody on the crew is
making a mistake, talk it out.  Don’t figure out you screwed something up when you’re sitting in the dressing room.  All of us make mistakes, so just fix them as they occur.

If you boot one, don’t dwell on it.  Not letting it go will only cause you to lose focus.  It’s done and it can’t be undone, so
concentrate that much harder and move on.

It seems we are  doing a great job all across Texas, so keep it up.

Cooper

The Passing of Justin Springer, VP, Houston Chapter

We have lost another of our great officials, Justin Springer, VP, Houston Chapter, who went to his reward on Monday Sept 26. We pray for the easing of the pain in the hearts of all who knew Justin and those who had the special honor of sharing the field with him over the years.

As per the Houston Chronicle, arrangements have been made for Justin Springer’s funeral under the direction of South Park Funeral Home, 1310 North Main Street, Pearland, Texas 77581. For directions and a map, please visit http://www.southparkfunerals.com.

Visitation with family and friends will be on Thursday evening, September 29th from 5-8PM at the funeral home. Funeral Services will be held on Friday afternoon, September 30th at 3PM. Graveside Service will follow at the South Park Cemetery adjoining the funeral home.

Donations may be made to: Westside Church of Christ, 6203 West Broadway, Pearland Texas 77581, or Church of Christ Nigeria, P. O. Box 8792, The Woodlands, Texas 77387.

Tommy Moore, Executive Secretary of the Houston Football Chapter of TASO has suggested that all Varsity crews working this weekend, duly observe a moment of silence prior to breaking to their respective positions on the field for the kickoff.

In addition, when arriving at the game sites this weekend, Houston-area crew chiefs are requested, if at all possible, to have the PA Announcer read the following statement prior to the kickoff:

” On Monday, the Houston Football Chapter of the Texas Association of Sports Officials, lost one their own, Justin Springer: Houston Chapter Vice President, Educator, Missionary, and Family Man, succumbed to cancer after a short illness. The Greater Houston Football Coaches Association honored Justin this past year with it’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions and service to the game of football and to the community. During his tenure on the Board of Directors, Justin trained over 600 new high school football officials. He dedicated his life to his wife Karen and to their children, not to even mention the thousands of students that he instructed as a teacher at Pearland High School as he was an avid inspirational leader to all that he encountered. Tonight, all of the members of the Houston Football Officials Chapter of TASO work with a heavy heart and humbly ask that you join them in a moment of silence for their fallen friend and mentor, Justin Springer.”

Video Clips for Training

Rom Gilbert has started his weekly posting of video clips and narratives.  If you have not checked them out, you can get the Week 1 clips here,  the Week 2 clips here,  and the Week 3 clips here.

Apologies for the Spam on Sep 2, 2011

Many of you may have received a bogus message yesterday claiming to be a post on this blog.  As you likely realized from the text and content, it was NOT from us.  We have changed passwords and permissions to hopefully prevent this from taking place in the future.  Tank you for your understanding and patience.

TASO Message Re Equipment at Scrimmages

TO ALL CHAPTER  PRESIDENTS and SECRETARIES

As we conclude  the scrimmage season, let’s be mindful of the TASO Policy concerning Mandatory  Equipment at scrimmages:

“As officials, it is not our position or place to tell a school what they may or may  not wear during a scrimmage.  That decision is made by the head  coach. 

However, if a team’s players are not equipped according to rule, the officials should  respectively notify the coach that it is TASO policy for our members not to participate in a scrimmage where players are not wearing mandatory equipment as outlined in the rules.”

Michael  Fitch
Executive  Director

Texas  Association of Sports Officials
1221 West
Campbell Road, Suite 191
Richardson,  Texas  75080

Defense Blocking Below The Waist

As most everyone knows, there were significant changes this year to the wording of the blocking below the waist rule.  However, since the publication of the rulebook there were some tweaks and even some significant wording changes made.   The message below from TASO Football President Cooper Castleberry highlights a significant change made with regard to defenders blocking low.  This change was made AFTER your rulebooks were published so you will have to make manual changes to your rule book to have the correct language.  Please see Coop’s message below:

Several of you have  contacted me regarding my Blocking Below The Waist post of last week.  What I stated about the restrictions on Team B clearly doesn’t comply with the  rulebook.  It seems many of you are not aware that Rogers Redding edited  9-1-6-Exception 2-(c).  Please correct your rulebook so that rule  9-1-6-Exception 2-(c) at the top of page FR-85 reads as follows:

Players of the defensive team may block below the waist until the ball has gone more than 5 yards beyond the neutral zone (Rule 2-3-6-b) except against a Team A player in position to receive a backward pass or an eligible Team A receiver beyond the neutral zone unless attempting to get to the ball or ball
carrier.

Rule 7-3-8-c-1 allows contact by a defender on an eligible receiver within one yard of the neutral zone, but that contact cannot be below the waist, so do not get those two rules confused or think there is a conflict.

Cooper

2011 TASO Clinic Powerpoints Available

Please contact your Chapter’s principal trainer and ask that he request the powerpoints.  They will be provided to him so he can share with the Chapter members.

A Few Notes from State Meeting-2011

Thanks to those 800 + members who attended the State Meeting in San Antonio.  Your football Board of Directors continues to look for ways to increase attendance at the State Meeting, especially by the less experienced members of the organization who probably stand to gain the most from attending.  If you have any ides as to how to increase attendance, please get them to your District Director or post here.

Special recognition is due to Beau Hicks who was at his 56th State Meeting, an incredible accomplishment!

There were some rules issues discussed at different points during the meeting which indicated possible confusion regarding proper rulings so we will attempt to clear those up here.  If you are aware of any others which popped up in any of the breakouts, please share them with us.

1 – Enforcement of penalties  for Team A fouls during kicks when there is also an illegal touch by Team A.  As many members correctly noted, when Team B chooses to enforce the penalty for Team A’s foul, they give up the right to take the ball at the spot of illegal touching (6-1-3-c and 6-3-6-a).   However, sometimes a kick will become dead in the possession of the kicking team but it actually will BELONG to the receiving team, i.e a free kick, untouched by receivers which is caught/recovered by kickers before ball went 10 yards (6-1-6-a) or a scrimmage kick that has crossed the neutral zone and is untouched by the receivers beyond the neutral zone (6-3-6-a).  In these cases, since the dead ball actually BELONGS to Team B, penalties can be enforced from that spot.  While accepting a penalty negates the right for receivers to take the ball at the spot of illegal touching it does not negate the right to take the ball at the spot of “illegal recovery” (10-2-4).  Rom Gilbert has done a great 1-page summary of play situations covering these types of plays.  You can see it at   Rom Gilbert’s Page.   Some other rule references which might help explain the ruling are 5-1-1-b, 5-1-1-c, 5-1-4-b, 5-1-4-f.

2- During discussion of the new rule regardng intentional grounding (i.e. the passer can simply throw the ball to “the area” of an eligible receiver and avoid an intentional grounding foul),  the question arose as to how far from the eligible receiver is still considered to be in “the area” .  Thanks to Dotson Lewis for pointing out a recent CFO Bulletin which may incorrectly cause some to judge that “magic distance” to be 7 yards.   The following is the section of the Bulletin he refers to:

“There is not, nor will there ever be, an exact yardage distance between the receiver and where the pass lands that will absolutely determine whether a foul has been committed. That distance can vary significantly based on the circumstances of the play and the direction of the pass. This phrase “direction of the pass” is emphasized as it provides the crucial piece of evidence that allows us to determine the “intentional” aspect of the play. For example, the quarterback in the pocket throws the ball toward eligible receiver A88 who is five yards downfield, but the pass lands seven yards short directly in front of A88. This would not be a foul. However, if the pass is thrown away from A88 and lands seven yards to his left as A88 crosses to the right, this would indeed be a foul. Note: seven yards is used simply as an example—it is not intended to be “the yardage guideline.” In making this determination, officials are to use “direction of the pass” to judge how far away from an eligible receiver the ball must be before calling a foul. We should stretch this distance as much as reasonably possible based on the direction of the pass. For a foul to be called it should be clear to everyone that the passer throws the ball into an area not occupied by an eligible receiver. Do not be overly technical.”

As the Bulletin notes, we should NOT use 7 yards as the distance at all times which will be used to judge “in the area.”  In some plays, that might be the proper distance to use.  But not in others.

The Bulletin correctly notes the intentional grounding call will now require even more crew communication than previously as the R will rarely be able to assess the distance the ball is from an eligible receiver since he must maintain coverage of the QB who was under pressure when he threw so is at risk for being fouled after the pass.

Thanks again to those who joined us in San Antonio.  Plan now to attend next year’s meeting which will be in McAllen and the 2013 meeting, planned for Dallas.

Update from S.A. Chapter re State Mtg

We are excited about the events we have scheduled for you at this year’s State  Meeting. There are still slots available for the Zebra Golf tournament. If you  are interested in golfing and have questions contact Rockey Crews at 210-854-4755 or rockeycrews@yahoo.com . There are  still plenty of slots available for the Zebra Lope, if you are interested and  have any questions regarding the course please contact Mike Graham at 210-412-1192 or mike_d_graham@yahoo.com. This event  is growing and growing with participants as they are looking forward towards a  challenging course.  The rooms in the dorm are steadily filling up.
People are figuring out that we have a pretty good offer staying on campus. Keep  in mind that the rooms are fitted with linen and towels. If you stay on campus  meals are included and you do not have to pay for parking. We have all of the  Clinicians assigned and we have a pretty nice line up. Speaking of Clinicians,  there are still plenty of slots available for the 7-on-7 man mechanics, 5 man  mechanics and the 6 Man Football mechanics. If you have not made any of the  On-the-Field clinics in your area this is a must place to  participate. Points given and evaluation received as well. Don’t forget to bring  your sub-varsity uniform. We will have dressing rooms available for you to  change and shower, same goes for the Zebra Lope participants. The committee  toured the area for the Shoot the breeze position breakouts and let me tell you,  Trinity has it going on. A spacious meeting room overlooking the campus and San  Antonio has been reserved for this event. You have the opportunity to speak to  creditable officials in the college ranks that can give you the insights on the path to take to advance in your officiating careers. Adult beverages will be  available, provided by TASO, in a relaxing and spacious atmosphere. This event  is FREE, so is the Saturday Night Social, sponsored by the
host Chapter, San Antonio Football Chapter. This event will be in the courtyard,  centrally located in between the three auditoriums that we will be in during the  breakouts. If you have not registered do so soon, as the late fees will soon take effect. Don’t wait to sign up when you arrive. Please keep in mind that if you plan to eat lunch on campus Saturday, ONLY those who have prepaid can eat on campus. Walk-ups will NOT be allowed! The on campus catering company will only prepare meals for those who have prepaid and or are staying on campus. Other eating establishments are available in the immediate area but you will have to drive to get there. Another activity offered and filling up is the FCA Luncheon.  Priced reasonably and the guest speaker is ex-NFL football player Richard Garza, located in the Skyline dining facility overlooking the San Antonio skyline.  Save yourself the time and
effort in standing in line. We have not yet heard from some of you. We look forward in seeing you and meeting you. We have heard from a lot of you around the state already, to include officials from Japan as well. That’s right! Japan!
So don’t procrastinate visit us at www.tasozebras.com to register.   One last thing before I leave you. When you arrive, look for the volunteers in the white shirts. They will direct you first to the registration area and anywhere else you need to go. WE want to hear from you! See you soon!

San Antonio Chapter

7 on 7 Clinic at State Meeting

Message from Ken Roan:

The TASO 7 on 7 tournament at the state meeting has grown every year and will again have evaluators from the NFL, several College conferences as well as several Lonestar and ASC crew chiefs. In the past several officials have been able to move up into the  college ranks by participating in our 7 on 7 tournament. Crew Chiefs from the Lone Star and ASC will also be looking for alternates or perhaps even spots on crews to fill. There is also a good chance that an official who does well will have the opportunity to work an ASC game this year. So if you are an official looking for exposure to next level or just  want to get better and learn from some great veterans it would be a great idea to participate in the 7 on 7  tournament in San Antonio.