Never forget: "Your mind is like a parachute, it functions best when open." That makes a pretty good bumper sticker, and it's not a bad philosophy of life. I think the most important tool for learning is an open mind, and I want to talk about how it can help improve your reffing. 

There are four steps to learn in using an open mind to learn: Solicit and See, and Study and Sort. 

This article will talk about the first two, which are input steps. Then the next article will be about following through with your data and putting it to good use.

Solicit

So first of all, Solicit. This means to go after input aggressively. When I was starting out, I asked questions of everyone I worked with, questioins about rules, uniform, shoes, coach management, or whatever else was on my mind. Perhaps I had heard about a particular situation that person had been in, or it might have been a call I'd seen someone make in a game I'd observed. At games, in the locker room with the varsity people, at association meetings, social events, in class: I asked questions of everyone.

Continued...