As I work these higher level games, 2 conclusions come to mind. One of them is that you get to work with many incredible, driven, determined and confident individuals and some of them are almost half my age. Quite incredible if you ask me. The other is that you don't really get paid any more than you did for the previous level of matches. These past two weekends, I worked a couple of WPSL matches that were quite interesting, especially in light of the little things you hear that are useful in my future matches.
In the level of talking, there is more than I normally do. The typical, "straight up", "don't be silly", etc. Then the other one that I heard as an AR for the first time was, "don't keep it a secret". Basically the center asked us to vocalize something that both teams could benefit from. His particular example was a ball that was on the touch line but not fully out, spinning close to the line or questionable. Everybody knows when it goes out because the AR will signal, but he had a ball that was not fully out and it looked out but was spinning in place and a player grabbed the ball thinking it was out with her hands. That lead to the only game of the match. He was being assessed and was told to not keep it a secret in an instance like that, where both teams can benefit from the information and no do something silly. While I believe that most of us do that as a center, we rarely do it as an AR. I liked the fact that the scenario presented clearly indicates when it is beneficial. This applies more at the higher levels rather than at the lower levels where interaction between referee and player is more ceremonial to verbalize it in a way. I know I don't verbalize nearly enough especially when I am an AR to players. What do you all think about the more verbalization?
2 comments:
I've noticed the requirement for more communication at the higher levels as well. I appreciated this thought about not keeping it a secret. I was recently burned as AR when ball played near but not out and one of the players assumed it was out and picked up the ball. Now we have a DK and instant emotion instead of ongoing play had I opened my mouth and said keep playing (instead of my usual pointing to the touch line with palm up, as if anyone sees me pointing anyway). Oh and I'm with you on the pay. I assumed I would get higher game fees commensurate with the work I've put it to make state and the amount of work I'm taking on to officiate more competitive matches. It was never about the money, but it would make it more fulfilling particularly in light of the expectation to show up 90 minutes before kick.
Yes, the concept of talking more is something that I think we don't do enough. I was reprimanded by an older referee that I spoke too much about two years ago (there is a post about it in this blog) but I really think we need to speak more, as centers, ARs or 4th officials, so that things are transparent and we have less gotcha moments.
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