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falls is very beneficial.

Once the game begins, our communication is mainly handled through our O2O system (Official 2 Official). These are the earpieces that you see many officials, even in the high school ranks, using now. Use of the O2O system streamlines our communication practices during the game. As an umpire, it is very helpful for me in penalty enforcement, ball spotting, and time clock management. Granted, there are still situations where you will see officials “huddle” when discussing something, but with the use of the O2O systems, game flow is so much better from a communication aspect.

Lastly, successful crews utilize both the halftime intermission and their postgame locker room time to reflect on the actions of the half/game. As officials, we don’t have to make halftime adjustments; we just have to communicate with each other on what it is that went well, and what we need to improve on as a crew. Our crew has always felt comfortable with each other when things go askew. Yes, we are critical of each other when we need to be, because we want to be successful, but it is always done in a respectful