Be the Referee: 7-Person Football Crews

November 12, 2015

This week, MHSAA assistant director Mark Uyl discusses why seven-person football crews are used for MHSAA Semifinals and Finals.

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment - 7-Person Football Mechanics - Listen



Last fall, the MHSAA used seven-person football officiating crews at the Semifinal and Final levels of our tournament for the very first time. These larger crews replaced the traditional five-person crews in the 24 most important games of the football season.

Seven-person crews, which for many years were the size of NCAA and NFL crews, provide for much better coverage in the passing and running games with all of the spread offenses and wide-open attacks that have become commonplace with football in the year 2015 and beyond. By adding the two extra officials on each deep sideline, coaches have now two officials to communicate with on each sideline to answer questions and address concerns.

Past editions:
Nov. 5: Make the Call: Personal Fouls - Listen
Oct. 29: Officials Demographics - Listen
Oct. 15: Make the Call: Intentional Grounding - Listen
Oct. 8: Playoff Selection - Listen
Oct. 1: Kick Returns - Listen
Sept. 24: Concussions - Listen
Sept. 17: Automatic First Downs - Listen
Sept. 10: Correcting a Down - Listen
Sept 3:
Spearing - Listen
Aug. 27: Missed Field Goal - Listen

Be the Referee: Volleyball Serve

By Paige Winne
MHSAA Marketing & Social Media Coordinator

October 22, 2024

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Volleyball Serve - Listen

We’ve got a volleyball question for you today.

At the moment of the serve, which statement is NOT true:

  • All players, including the libero, shall be in the correct serving order.
  • All players, including the libero, are not required to be in the correct serving order.
  • No player, other than the server, may have any part of the body touching the floor outside of the boundary lines.
  • All players, except the server, shall be within the team’s playing court and boundary lines.

If you said – all players, including the libero, are not required to be in the correct serving order – you are correct.

At the moment of serve – all players must in the correct serving order and only the server can be outside of the playing court and boundary lines.

Previous 2024-25 Editions

Oct. 15: "You Make the Call" - Soccer Offside - Listen
Oct. 8: Roughing the Passer - Listen
Oct. 1: Abnormal Course Condition - Listen
Sept. 25: Tennis Nets - Listen
Sept. 18:
 Libero - Listen
Sept. 10:
 Cross Country Uniforms - Listen
Sept. 3: Soccer Handling - Listen
Aug. 24: Football Holding - Listen

(Photo by Gary Shook.)