Here is the most current list of USA Football Camps and Seminars:

USA Football Officiating Schools

Our Officiating Schools are two-day clinics designed to improve your skills as a youth or high school football official. You will work scrimmages in crews of 5 and 7, and receive valuable feedback from NFL and Division I officials.

Registrants will participate in film review of those scrimmages. During classroom sessions, unique plays from the 2008 high school & college football season will be used to discuss mechanics, philosophy and rules applications for all levels of officiating.

Schools will be priced from $250-$300

USA Football Officiating Seminars

Our Officiating Seminars are one day classroom clinics which include breakout sessions by position and topic.  Unique plays from the 2008 high school and college season will be used to discuss mechanics, philosophy and rules applications for all levels of officiating.

Seminars will be priced from $75-$100

Meals and a USA Football gift are included for schools and seminars.

Officiating Schools; fieldwork with scrimmages

Date         City            Location

April 3-4      Phoenix, AZ         Moon Valley High School
May 8-9      Miami, FL                     university of Miami
May 15-16   Tampa, FL                   Tampa Bay Buccaneers
May 16-17   Jacksonville, FL                   Sandalwood High School
Aug. 26-28*   Blaine, MN         National Sports Center
(possible)

Officiating Seminars; classroom only

April 25      Los Angeles, CA        Santa Monica College
May 3      Green Bay, WI        Lambeau Field
May 16      Fairfax County, VA                  Oakton High School
May 30      San Ramon, CA        California High School
June 6      Pittsburgh, PA        Pittsburgh Technical Institute
June 13      Wayne, NJ        Passaic County Tech
TBD      Atlanta, GA        TBD
TBD      San Diego, CA        TBD
TBD      St. Louis, MO        St. Louis Rams Facility
TBD      Boston, MA        TBD
TBD      Baltimore, MD        North County High School
TBD      Charlotte, NC        Carolina Panthers Facility
TBD      Rochester, NY        St. John Fisher College
TBD      Seattle, WA        Seattle Seahawks Facility
TBD      Denver, CO        TBD

For more details you can visit www.usafootball.com

Here’s a part of my interview with Allen Baynes. Allen just completed his rookie season in the NFL on Tony Corriente’s crew. Allen was previously on crews in the Conference USA and Arena 1 Football before getting the call to move up to the NFL.

I asked Allen about what a typical week was for him as an NFL official. Here’s what Allen had to say:

TODD: Let’s just talk about Monday leading up to Sunday. What happens in a typical week of Allen Baynes?

My most recent interview has been with a great example of a guy that is passionate about football officiating and passionate about helping other officials excel. Tony Michalek has officiated in the NFL as an umpire since 2002. Prior to his professional career, Tony worked in teh Big 10 and spent 20 years on the high school fields in Chicago, Illinois.

Tony spoke in great length about video and using film to improve your officiating skills. As you probably know, I firmly believe film review is one of the most important and critical components of improvement at any level and preparing any official for moving up the ladder. Here is an excerpt from Tony’s interview. More of the details of Tony’s interview as well as the other veteran officials and supervisors are contained in my upcoming book “Ready For Play – A Comprehensive Guide to Football Officiating.” You can get more information on the book as well as get your name on the notification list by visiting www.profootballreferee.com/training

Here’s what Tony said about the importance of video review:

TONY: For the last three years as I’ve been going around the country for USA Football, and I’ve been going to clinics and speaking engagements, I tell high school football officials that it is easier than you think. And this is what I tell them to do: Each week, when you go to a high school game, when you go to the field, take a blank disk with you. It used to be the VHS tape. Take a blank disc with you with an envelope, with it addressed, with it stamped, and with a return address. And go a little bit early and ask to find whoever’s videotaping the game, ask the athletic director if you can get a copy of tonight’s game or today’s game. And give that to them and ask them if they would do that. Give it with a slip of paper with your email address or your phone number on there. So you have the paper, you have the blank disk in there and you have the envelope, and you give that to somebody you know that will be able to handle that. And it takes a little bit of work.

you want to bring all your friends and family there to eat. You brag about how good the food is, you make recommendation off the menu. You might even know the wait staff or the chef.

Well recently I shared a some of the early interview transcripts with a few fellow officials and asked for some feedback on the content. Was it relevant, useful, or inspiring? Did my idea make sense? Was I barking up the wrong tree (or cold-trailing as my grandpa used to call it when we rabbit hunted together)?

Here is what two of my pals said about it:

“This book is a great help ,whether you are just getting into officiating or have been in it for a while. I recieved great insight as far as advancing in levels as well as how to handle family, jobs and other priorites. Thanks for writing this book, it will be invaluable for future football officals.”

– Bill Green, Louisville, KY

and here is one more:

“With a Who’s Who of football officiating, this book is a must-read for every football official around the world. The information contained in this book will help everyone from the first year pee-wee official to the one at the top of the officiating world.”