Weekly Bull 7/13/20

THE WEEKLY BULL - JULY 13, 2020 

Weekly Bull – The Weekly “Bull” is one of our most important means of communication and instruction. Each week you are expected to read the Weekly Bull and incorporate the on-field elements into your weekly preparation and pre-game.

Attendance Was Superior Last Week! – Last week’s attendance at our Zoom General Session Meeting was unbelievable.  Thank you for your commitment to the SDCFOA and the game of football!  

1^st Year Zoom Class This Week  – You should have received an invitation to this Wednesday’s Zoom meeting.  If not, contact Earl Totty or Gary Gittelson.  Remember, you do not attend the Position Clinic for Line of Scrimmage Officials…meet with your regular class – always.

2^nd Year / Transfer Zoom Class This Week – You too should have received an invitation to this Wednesday’s Zoom meeting for 2^nd year and transfer officials.  If not, contact Ed Blick.  Remember, you do not attend the Position Clinic for Line of Scrimmage Officials…meet with your regular class – unless your instructor sends you to the clinics. 

Line of Scrimmage Clinic - For all LOS officials - plus any Certified Official who is interested (Not 1st year or 2nd year officials) - Wednesday, July 15th at 7:00 pm.  An invitation was emailed to the whole Association, but the 1^st and 2^nd year officials should ignore the invitation.  All certified are invited to attend!  Jon Stabile, PAC12 line of scrimmage official, will be presenting: Pre-Game Meetings; Pre-Game Warm-Up; Pre-Snap Routines; Run Zone Coverage; Pass Coverage; and Dead Ball Officiating.  A handout was sent with the invitation so please review the handout prior to the clinic.  Please contact me if you need either another invitation or the handout.

SDCFOA Members Earn New Spots – Congratulations to Clay Reynard Jr. for his acceptance into the NFL, Bill Bishop for moving into the Big12, and Tony Sands now on a crew in Conference USA!  Parker Anderson was going to have a half-schedule in Conference USA but the virus may shorten that a bit.  Same with Zack Marble in the Big Sky.  In addition, we also have former members who are doing great things:  Danny Short started here in San Diego and is now in North Carolina and in the NFL.  John McDade (the Real John McDade haha) is now the Supervisor of Officials in the SEC!  You may have met John when he attended our banquet in 2018.  And some of you may remember Justin Elliott, who was with us for his first 4 years, went on the be a referee in Conference USA and is now the center judge with Michael Mothershed and Mike Weseloh in the PAC12.

CIF Commissioners to Meet July 20^th – Immediately following that meeting we are expecting an update on the status of high school football and all Fall sports.  The current start date is July 31 for teams to practice, but with the current increase in positive cases I expect that start date to be pushed back.  How far?  We’ll find out July 20^th. 

Garth DeFelice and Tim Podraza – Thank You! – These two, and all of our NFL and D1 officials, are always willing to “give back” to our Association.  It is a great example for all of us to want to contribute and to be generous with our time.  One way you can “give back” is to spend a little extra time with a new or newer official to answer questions or offer ideas or suggestions on Saturdays.  As Garth and Tim stated, being positive, constructive and supportive with a newer official will go a long way to encourage and facilitate their development.  We can all take pride as our newer officials make progress and improve.  We achieve as a crew!

Keep Recruiting! – We currently have fifteen 1^st year officials and twenty 2^nd year officials.  This is a good start, but we need more.  You are our best resource for finding new officials.  Thank you for your efforts.

Supplemental Draft – We will hold the supplemental draft this coming Saturday 7/18 via Zoom at 10:00 am.  If you are selected, you will be contacted by your crew chief that day.  I will then create the final study groups for the season and send the class assignments out to the Association.  The board was clear that the idea of keeping crews together for another year is for this year only.  The plan is to go back to the full draft next year. 

Reminders from Mike Carey – Here are a few of Mike’s words from his 2016 presentation to our association.  I’m sure you’ll find them still relevant for your goal setting this year!

• Improvement comes with hard work. There are no short cuts.

• You must have a passion for the game – otherwise the hard work is too hard.

• We must support each other and work hard on behalf of our fellow officials and our crew.

• It’s all about the 2 hours on the field. Be prepared…then enjoy it! 

HUDL Video – New officials, we are extensive users of video and have chosen the HUDL software for this purpose.  The HUDL video can be found at www.hudl.com.  If you are new to HUDL, you will be sent an email message from HUDL which will allow you to log in and then will direct you to change the temporary password.  You will be receiving a weekly instructional video with 12-20 plays.  It is expected that you watch and study each weekly instructional video.

Crew Chief Meeting – We will still have our Crew Chief Meetings via Zoom.  Our first meeting for Crew Chiefs and NCAA Officials who are interested, will be Tuesday July 21^st at 6:00 pm.  I will send out the invitation prior to the meeting.  I’m hoping to have news from the CIF Commissioners and a discussion of possible adjustments to our meeting schedule.  I will also “pilot” a new system for calibration that can be done on-line (but not on Zoom).  The college officials are doing a trial of this new system this week.