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Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 NASO Summit scheduled for Grand Rapids, Mich., is going virtual. This year’s event, which is now scheduled for Aug. 3-5, promises to build on last year’s Summit@Home success and give attendees a Summit experience in a virtual world.
“While we wish we could be in-person for this year’s Summit, we feel this year’s edition of the Summit@Home will be something the industry can be proud of,” said Bill Topp, chief operating officer and executive editor at Referee.

This year’s Summit will feature dozens of sessions and speakers and is being presented by more than 50 Summit Support Organizations. One new element to this year’s Summit will feature mini clinics for the six sports featured in Referee magazine. Each mini clinic will feature roughly two hours of content and explore hot topics in each sport, video breakdowns, motivational speakers and panels discussing a variety of topics. Each mini clinic will feature some of the brightest minds in their particular sport and across all levels to give wide appeal to Summit attendees.

Some other highlights to this year’s Summit will be the always popular Law and Liability session, discussing the hot topic items in that realm. There will also be sessions dealing with the impact of the pandemic on the industry and where we go from here. It will also feature a look at the 2022 Summit that will take place in Denver.

The sessions themselves will feature a blend of single speakers and panels, and this year’s Summit will expand on last year’s “Summit@Home.” This year’s edition will feature more interaction with attendees and allow for more networking. It will also give more opportunities for vendors to showcase their businesses, giving it more of an in-person feel, even though it will all be done virtually. No matter your sport or level, whether you’re an official or an administrator, this year’s Summit will have something for you.

“The Summit will bring together some of the biggest names in our industry and we are proud of the program we have put together,” Topp said.

The event is free to everyone who registers and will be held at sportsofficiatingsummit.com. Attendees can go to that website to see updated speakers, sessions and virtual exhibitor booths.

Are you an association leader looking for valuable instructional content for an upcoming meeting?

Have you considered checking out NASO’s 2021 Summit@Home? If you haven’t, you certainly should, as the annual event offers a one-stop shop for material that can educate your association membership in a variety of ways.
This year’s Summit, held virtually over a three-day span in the first week of August, included dozens of sessions on topics such as diversity in the officiating workplace, law and legal issues, peak mental performance, recruiting and retention, and more. However, the meat-and-potatoes core of every Summit is the sports-specific content offered in the six sports — baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball and volleyball — featured each month in Referee magazine.

This year’s Summit featured a “mini-clinic” devoted to each of those six sports. Each mini-clinic included roundtable discussions about hot topics featuring experts in their respective sports, video breakdowns, quick tips and “You Make the Call” playcalling opportunities — all of which might serve as great sources of content for a local association meeting.

Let’s take the video breakdowns, for instance. Every association is looking for ways to better utilize video in the training of officials. As an instructor, you can now log into sportsofficiatingsummit.com/athome, click on your respective sport mini-clinic, open up the video breakdown, and you have an instant lesson plan at your disposal.

Watch a clip and hear what the on-screen experts have to say. Then, open the play up for discussion among those in attendance. Do you agree with the ruling? Does the ruling apply under your particular rule code (i.e., NFHS vs. NCAA), or are there additional considerations that need to come into play?

Let’s say it’s a basketball play and it features three officials, and your association primarily uses two-person officiating mechanics. How do you officiate this same play given those differences? Is the same official responsible for making the ruling, or does the primary coverage area change on the play with two officials instead of three?

The roundtable discussions are also goldmines for good information. Let’s face it, over the course of a season and a series of association meetings, some officials are going to tune out what’s coming from the podium or lectern, convinced they have heard it all before. However, introducing new voices that come with an added sense of stature and credibility can help keep your audience attentive and engaged.

And if you want to generate lively discussion and some good-natured banter, pop up the “You Make the Call” plays for everyone in your association to vote on. Perhaps make it a contest — if someone gets every ruling correct, he or she gets an extra raffle ticket for the association prize table at the year-end banquet.

Officials and assigners throughout the country working at the highest levels have teamed with NASO to create hours and hours of helpful, instructional content in the name of helping officials be the best they can be. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of it. Commit to using the Summit@Home as an ongoing source of education and training.

Association Questions Answered by Summit Experts

Officiating-related legal minefields abound as the pandemic continues to impact officials and associations. Alan Goldberger, attorney and recognized legal authority for game officials; Drew Smith, American Specialty Insurance & Risk Services Inc. president; and Don Collins, California Interscholastic Federation, San Francisco Section commissioner, tackled some tough issues for officials and officiating leaders in the Summit@Home sessions Law & Liability and Ask Us Live: Law & Liability.

Following are select questions and answers from the experts on association-related topics about vaccines, contracts and bylaws. Some of the expert responses were combined or edited for clarity. To view the full sessions, go to sportsofficiatingsummit.com/athome.

Q: How can assigners and associations manage the vaccination requirement process? If there are 10 schools in a conference and five are requiring proof of vaccine and five aren’t, how are assigners supposed to know who is, who isn’t and assign people to the appropriate game sites?

A: The assigner is going to have to — in fact, the association is going to have to — maintain communication with a great number of schools, whether it’s a college conference in multiple states or a high school league where different schools might have different requirements. Also, the assigner is going to need to know some basics about what various departments of health are doing in different states — whether there are any states that impose their own mandates either saying you can do this or saying no one can require certain things. You must know what’s going on in your state. The assigner is going to have to be in contact with people. And he or she will have to be in contact with them regularly because the policies, rules and regulations can change very quickly.

Q: One of the things that emerged from the pandemic was an incredible amount of focus on the change of contracts and language that was being inserted in those contracts related to COVID but mostly related to waiving of liability or officials accepting increased liabilities in these new robust contracts. They are almost always one-sided from an entity standpoint. What should officials and associations be concerned about in the contract area?

A: In terms of contracts, officials associations need to get the terms of the contract such that the working conditions are well established for things like: Did you have a vaccine? Are you willing to have a test? What accommodations are there? What special rules are there? Whether COVID-19-related, religious-related or medical-related, we have to be sensitive to all these things.

The days of officials being an afterthought should be over. But of course, they are not. And officials are often the last thing anybody thinks of unless they don’t show up, and then everybody starts scrambling. So, we must be sensitive to not only the waiver situation but any expanded responsibilities we may have and any responsibilities that are different because of communicable diseases or anything else. So, in the contract is where it starts. Everything related to an athletic event is tied up with a contract. We have to make sure the contracts are good.

As far as waivers, this is a case of don’t try it at home. A waiver agreement is a legal document. It’s not something that should be handed to you on a clipboard with a ballpoint pen 35 minutes before tipoff. And if we accept being an afterthought as officials, that’s what’s going to keep on happening. And unfortunately to many of us, they’re going to sign on the dotted line, and then they could find out two, three or four years later that it’s not what they thought it was.

Q: What are the types of things an association today should have buttoned up to make sure it’s doing things the right way?

A: Associations, almost universally, are somewhat lax in being sure the way they operate is consistent with what is written in the bylaws or constitution. And as a corollary to that you need to make sure the bylaws match what the association actually does and the association does what it says to do in the bylaws. And the chief offender among officials associations is the failure to provide for appropriate due process and hearing procedures for officials who are charged with a violation of the bylaws. You have to put the emotions aside as best you can and go back to the bylaws. Things can get heated in a board meeting or other type of meeting. But it’s the easiest way for a plaintiff’s attorney to not just bring a case but to win a case against an association because somebody’s emotions got the better of them and they didn’t follow the guidelines. They didn’t follow the bylaws set to govern the group.

NASO’s 2021 Summit@Home law and liability sessions delved into the hot topic of COVID-19 vaccine requirements. For more on that topic, NASO put together the digital guide “Vaccines & Officiating: Key Questions Answered.” The guide is available for free download at naso.org.

Kristen Taylor

When Kristen Taylor received word she had won a free trip to the 2022 NASO Summit in Denver, her first reaction was, “Is this a scam?”

But upon being reassured she was the winner, the Hooksett, N.H., resident was overjoyed. Her mind shifted to what will be her first trip to the Mile High City. “I might’ve had a layover in the airport once,” she said.

“But I haven’t spent any time there.”

Taylor entered a drawing while watching the 2021 Summit@Home. A first-year NASO member, Taylor said she became interested in the association after purchasing training materials through Referee.

She got a lot of good information out of the online Summit since she is a three-sport official. She officiates high school soccer, high school and youth level basketball and high school and NCAA D-III softball. She has been officiating nine years.

Her favorite sessions featured NCAA National Coordinator of Softball Umpires Craig Hyde and USA Softball Director of Umpiring Kevin Ryan.

Leadership sessions were also of interest since she is starting a term as chair for New Hampshire’s softball umpiring program.

“I liked the wide variety because I do multiple sports,” she said. “If a speaker I was interested in was speaking at the same time as another, I could go back and see them later. I thought all of the speakers were very professional.”

The 2022 Summit will take place July 31-Aug. 2 at the Westin Westminster Hotel in Denver. 

Due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, NASO’s annual Sports Officiating Summit was held virtually for the second straight year. More than 12,500 people registered to take advantage of the free Summit.
This year’s event featured more than 175 speakers and more than 80 sessions over the three days and was hosted on Hopin, an event management platform that allowed attendees the opportunity to network with each other and with exhibitors. It also allowed NASO staff members the opportunity to answer questions in real time and interact with attendees over the three days.

The Summit also featured live sessions, including one session each for the six sports covered in Referee magazine, a Law and Liability live panel and a discussion with Offside founder Brian Barlow. Those live sessions allowed attendees the opportunity to ask questions of some of the biggest leaders in the sports officiating industry and have a chance to hear those leaders talk about some of the most pressing issues in officiating.

Another new twist to this year’s sessions was the addition of mini clinics in each of the six sports Referee magazine covers. Those clinics were released on Wednesday, Aug. 6, and were dubbed “Training Night in America.” Those sport clinics featured video breakdown by officials and coordinators. Some sports featured championship game crews and Final Four officials breaking down plays from their games. The sport clinics also featured “You Make the Call” segments that allowed attendees the opportunity to watch plays and then select the outcome they deemed correct. Attendeees also had the opportunity to see segments on quick tips and techniques from some of the top officiating minds in the country. A final segment of each of the sport clinics were candid conversations about hot topics in high school officiating that featured the rules editors in those sports from the NFHS.

This year’s Summit would not have been possible without the 78 Summit Support Organizations that graciously donated their time and money to provide this opportunity for the industry. Due to their contributions, the Summit was able to be presented free of charge to attendees and will remain available to anyone who wants to access it on demand at sportsofficiatingsummit.com/athome.

The Summit closed with a message from Colorado High School Activities Association Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green who welcomed everyone to next year’s 2022 NASO Summit in Westminster, Colo., a suburb of Denver. The 2022 Summit will be held July 31-Aug. 2 and will celebrate the return of in-person Summits.

The 2021 NASO Summit@Home featured some of the most sought-after speakers in the officiating industry. While the online officiating event of the year was first available Aug. 3-5, it’s not over for those who still want to take advantage of the amazing online education it offers. It continues to be accessible free of charge at sportsofficiatingsummit.com. You won’t want to miss this extended educational opportunity.

With stories of overcoming odds to reach the highest levels, giving back to the game, recruiting and retaining under-represented groups, what the future holds in officiating and the power of positive thinking, Summit@Home can help to uplift you. The virtual event features not only officials, but also commissioners, assigners, local, state and national association leaders, and sports psychologists.

Not only were attendees inspired by general session topics, they also had an opportunity to attend sport “mini-clinics” to learn new techniques and gain an understanding of philosophies and mechanics within their fields. The clinics focused on video review from some of those sports’ top moments from the past year, including the NCAA Final Four, the Women’s and Men’s College World Series and top-level soccer games. They also featured quick tips from officials of all levels. Officials in the sports of baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball and volleyball had a chance to immerse themselves for two hours in some of the best training materials available.

Why should you still view Summit@Home? If you are an official, there are plenty of educational sessions to watch to hone your skills or inspire you. If you are an association leader, there are plenty of materials in the mini-clinics and the general sessions to help lead discussions at your next meeting. While the sessions may no longer be live, they certainly hold a lot of value for individuals involved in all areas of officiating.

Take a look at the Summit website and check out all of the sessions available. Treat it as a professional development conference. Improve your skills and share the information with others to help inspire more people to join this industry.

NASO thanks its Support Organizations for making the second Summit@Home possible. Content will remain available on the website for the foreseeable future and will offer insight into what attendees can expect when the in-person Summit resumes in Denver in 2022.