Brett Nehrt used officiating to help pay for his college education at Southern Illinois University. But after 11 years of serving as a line judge for high school games in Illinois and Florida, Nehrt said he's had few opportunities to have his work critiqued.
That's why the USA Football/NFL Referees Association Officiating Clinic held this weekend in Tampa, Fla., appealed to Nehrt, a member of the West Coast (Florida) Officials Association. During the two-day clinic hosted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Nehrt and other officials from across the south interacted with NFL officials, participated in Q&A sessions and officiated a scrimmage that was taped and critiqued by NFL officials.
The taped scrimmage and critique was of particular interest to Nehrt, who estimates he has two of his games on DVD, thanks only to local cable broadcasts.
He said it was well worth the $125 entry fee.
"The tape doesn't lie," Nehrt said. "You can't beat the tape. Even though you might think you're doing this right, when you see yourself on video it's a heck of a lot different than what it is mentally."
Nehrt said there are so many games and only so many officials to work games in the Tampa area that there isn't the manpower to tape games for officials. He estimated that anywhere from 12 to 18 games are played on a weekly basis each fall, requiring more than 130 officials.
"They wouldn't be watching film at this level (NFL) if it wasn't valuable," Nehrt said.
Tony Michalek, a NFL umpire who just worked Super Bowl XLII in Arizona, is also USA Football's director of officiating. He said there's an easy way around that problem for high school officials that want a video record of their work.
"If a high school official were to bring a blank DVD and a self-addressed stamped envelope (to a game), give it to the athletic director, the coach or the audio-visual person and ask them to burn a copy and send it to them, you can have probably in the course or a season eight or nine DVDs of your work," Michalek said. "It's possible. They just need to take the initiative to do that and bring it (the DVD). If you're honest and you have open critique of your work and sit down with a veteran (official) to look at it, you'll get better."
More than a dozen NFL officials served as lecturers during the clinic. Carl Johnson, a NFL official since 2001, critiqued Nehrt's group during Friday's scrimmage. Nehrt said that he got the same message from every official during every classroom and scrimmage session.
"They really stress being in the right position," Nehrt said. "As long as you're in the right position you're going to make the right call most of the time."
Michalek knows clinics like this one in Tampa will not only make high school officials better, but also serve as a catalyst for a young official's career.
Michalek started officiating games in youth football leagues in the Chicago area 27 years ago. From there, Michalek worked his way through high school, NCAA Division III, the Canadian Football League, the Big 10 and NFL Europe before being selected out of 3,000 applicants to join the 120-person NFL crew in 2002.
Derek Patterson of Atlanta isn't quite that ambitious, but the high school line judge does want to work his way up the officiating ladder. Patterson has only officiated for three years, but he gained plenty of game experience playing at Albany (Ga.) State. He started officiating as a way to stay closer to the game.
Patterson hopes that in the next couple of years he can begin working games at the NAIA or the NCAA Division III level, with the goal of eventually joining a Division I college crew.
He was in the line of scrimmage session on Saturday, which Johnson and two other NFL officials ran. Patterson said he got some good advice out of the session.
"They understand the oxymorons of the game, and to me the biggest thing I picked up was to exercise common sense and try to remain calm (during the game)," Patterson said.
Upon hearing that Patterson came from Atlanta to attend the clinic, Michalek seemed impressed.
"That tells me that he wants to get better, he wants to learn and he wants to make the commitment to the profession," Michalek said.
The clinic was full within two weeks of its scheduling, which told Michalek that many officials felt the same way as Patterson. He hoped they all got something productive out of the two days.
"They should come away from here with a few more tips to prepare to become a good official and pick up some field experience on how to work a football game," Michalek said. "They should also get some philosophy on what to call and what not to call."
In fact, they came away with all of that, and much more.
Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc.