The best way to know the rules is to study them throughout the year, and not just read them. A mistake people make is thinking they’re studying something when they read it. In my college days, a professor taught me the two words are not synonymous, and he suggested an approach that resulted in high grades and that I applied to rules study with positive results.

Take the book one section at a time. Read it straight through, without stopping, to get a feel for the landscape. Then, go back and carefully work through the words. Don’t highlight anything until the second run-through, for then you’ll highlight much less. I see books that are 90 percent highlighted, maybe in various colors, but if you do this you essentially highlight nothing. Be more sparing; for example, if a rule says action is illegal only if it’s intentional, highlight that word because it’s the key part of the rule. In the end, maybe 10 percent of the book should end up highlighted, if that.

Don’t consider the words in abstract; visualize them in action. Take the balk rule in baseball. Instead of just reading the list of can’t-dos, I would see, in my mind’s eye, pitchers making various moves and think about what should be called and ignored under advantage-disadvantage and given the intent of the rule. Then I’d put the book down and say, “OK, a pitcher can do so-and-so but not thus-and-such.” Runners trying to score with a catcher taking a throw and a collision. Who’s at fault? What if he’s up the line? This visualization process makes the material come alive and stick with me. When I face that play on the field I can rule properly because I have, in effect, already seen and thought about it.

Next, try to articulate the rule to a friend, or to thin air if no one is around, without looking at the book. You’ll probably miss a few things, but you should be able to grasp its essence; if you can’t, you didn’t absorb it, so start over. The best way to learn something is to teach it, and that’s what you’re basically doing.

Once you’ve finished this process with a section, go to the next one and start over again. Time-consuming? You bet. Productive? Yes.

Watch video, games and plays on YouTube and ask yourself how you’d rule on situations that happen. Maybe you can’t quote the applicable rule verbatim, but do you know it well enough to apply it properly? If you were the referee, could you explain your ruling to a coach?

Finally, you can’t stay sharp if you only study rules before the season starts. I suggest focusing on at least a couple of the more complex ones each week during the season. You can do this when you’re in the bathroom or on an elliptical machine at the gym. In sum, reading rules only gets us so far. We’ll understand them and how to apply them only by dissecting a few at a time; visualizing plays; seeing, via video, interpretations, and exams, how they should apply in specific situations; and batting them back and forth with other folks. Digging deep below the surface, in other words, instead of skimming it. That’s what rules study means. 

WE MUST,

The coaches CANNOT: be insulting, make derogatory remarks, acts or gestures, show disgust or try to influence our decisions.

NFHS SWIMMING & DIVING RULES BOOK 

ART. 1 . . . No team personnel/competitor shall display unsporting conduct. This includes any act the referee deems unsporting, including but not limited to, the following:

a. making insulting or derogatory remarks, gestures or acts including taunting;

b. trying to influence or showing disgust with officials’ decisions;

c. interfering with meet officials in the performance of their duties.

NOTE: The NFHS disapproves of any form of taunting which is intended to embarrass, ridicule or demean others under any circumstances including on the basis of relative ability, race, religion, gender or national origin.

PENALTIES:

1. Team personnel shall be disqualified from further participation for unsporting conduct. For excessive unsporting conduct, team personnel (as defined in 1-4-2) may be ejected from the competition area.

The much-anticipated changes to the fundamental structure of college sports occurred last week when the NCAA suspended its longstanding amateur rules to allow college athletes to monetize their success and profit from their own Name, Image and Likeness (NIL).

While it is not our position to debate the merits of current college athletes earning money from their NIL, it should be understood that these changes do not affect current high school student-athletes. Current high school student-athletes CANNOT earn money as a result of their connection to their high school team.

The NFHS and its member state associations will continue to protect the high school environment. While amateurism may be a thing of the past at the college level, it must be maintained to preserve the greatest programs in this country – education-based interscholastic sports in our nation’s high schools. 

FOR THE COMPLETE ARTICLE: CLICK HERE

That's me in attire from my favorite MLB team - "Our Beloved". Nos Amours