Alabama Showcase Part 2

The next day was one where I was kind of nervous. We were now going to center matches and so the stakes were a little higher. As I was observing a couple of previous matches, I saw that some of the centers were letting play go on more than what I normally do. At that moment I decided that I was going to let them play when I was in the center since that was what most of these others were doing. It turned out to be a mistake. The reason it was a mistake was because I was then not able to call my game and was taking longer to determine if it was a foul that I was not going to call that I would normally call. Then they started flopping and trying to buy fouls because I must have been all over the place with fouls. Let's just say it was unfortunate. Lesson learned for sure. And it was really hard to reign them in after because they did not know what type of game I was going to officiate.

In the second match, where I was an AR, the center decided to do the opposite. Call a tight game and ease up if needed. Turned out to be a better thing to do instead of the other way around. So if nothing else, ref your match as you see fit. Then make small adjustments accordingly, but at the end of the day, at least you can live with yourself after the match it over. The feeling I had that second night was terrible. I felt like I let the kids down and it was because I had.

At the same time, some kids were really letting me have it. Saying that I was the worst referee they had ever had, that I could not recognize what a foul was and what a flop was, etc. I was so out of my element that I should have started carding for such snide remarks but I felt like I couldn't. Things got better though for the other two days, so don't feel too bad for me.

Alabama Showcase Part 1

Don't know how long this series will be, but let me go day by day, so possibly 3-4 entries. We set off as a group of 4 down to Birmingham. 725 miles is a long way to go to ref some soccer matches but it was fun. We arrived late that evening and had to work 2 games on that Thursday through Sunday.

On Thursday I had the chance to work the National League games, U16 boys. Did an AR and got to do my first 4th official. I enjoyed that one. It was cold, but under the lights, it was fun. One coach did not know the rules and tried to have a kid reenter the field of play during the same half, which was a no-no for this event. He also tested the limits of what was acceptable the whole time but was a good handful, if you will.

In the second half of that match (center was a 5, AR1 was a 6 and AR2 was an 8), AR1 is deep in his own half and a ball goes out of play close to me on the sideline. I clearly see if go off of white for a blue throw (10 minutes left in a 1-1 game) but AR1 points the other way. I silently indicate to the center that it should go the other way as a way of suggestion. He comes over and verifies (I was 5 feet away, so it made sense) and goes with my call (against the chatty coach and so he goes ballistic). 3 minutes later, similar thing happens, but I point the other way, again silently, and the center does not see me, so the coach goes crazy one more time.

Being the 4th basically was summed up as letting them vent and then putting them back in their place (not stepping onto the field and sitting down after giving instructions, etc).

So that way day 1. More to come on the other days soon.

In Alabama

Really looking forward to this college showcase tournament we are participating in. We arrived last night and are heading to the fields shortly. I hope to have impressions of what I see while out here for these next 4 days.

What to do?

How do you go up to a referee and tell them they are terrible and should not referee a game ever again? Perhaps instead you can start out by saying something like, rough match. How did you feel doing that game? 

My daughter, playing in a U10 tournament this weekend had a referee that could not get one call right. Not one call. The referee was a younger rather than older, probably around 25. She did not make one offside call, and there were plenty. She did not call one single foul on any team, and there were at least 10 possible calls, 3 absolute calls. She missed 50% of the throw ins (she guess on all of them). She did not move much out of the center circle.

At the end of the match I wanted to walk over to her and tell her something. Either something positive or something like, please do not referee again at this level until you feel comfortable doing rec. I am all for putting people up to the challenge, but she was way out of her league. I really just wanted to ask the experts what you thought, and what can be said, if anything, to someone who has a terrible game.

To finish up the story, I did not go and say anything to her. My daughter was hurt towards the end of the match, and my responsibility was to her more than to the referee, so that was that. The following morning, we had the pleasure of an early game when I see her walking down from her car and I cringed. Fortunately, she went to the field right by ours. It was a U11 Boys match that was warming up. Needless to say it was an unmitigated disaster. She had both coaches on the field at one moment, yelling at her, at each other. The parents of both teams yelling at each other and the field marshal (a parent with a bright vest, normally) trying to control everything. 

The anger towards her had been bubbling up in the first half when she did not move much and proceeded to make the same mistakes she did previously, bad calls one way or another. The moment of truth, or the moment all heck broke loose was when she whistled for a foul where the attacking team had to take the kick. She was having the team take a free kick inside the box. Picture it, a free kick that is not indirect, about 2 feet away from the 6 yard box. Finally, one coach stepped onto the field and reminded her that a free kick of that nature is a PK or indirect. She changed it to a PK. The team scores but the other coach is now on the field, and though I am not sure what happened, but she suspends the match at halftime. She sits by the sideline for 15-20 minutes until another referee shows up and he does the second half. She leaves. I wonder what happened exactly but somehow it is a mounting of errors, from the assignor, to the parents, to the coaches and especially the referee herself. If I catch her again, I will try to offer some advice, but it is hard to approach someone to tell them how terrible they are and then offer some tips. Any suggestions?

Small Field, Big Bodies

Yesterday was fun, it is the reason I ref, it is why I like to do what I do. An end of season match in a lower division U15 boys match. The field was a smallish field on one of the side fields at a middle school close to home. Normally, big boys such as those in U15 or above tend to garner a lot of attention and given that the field was small and bumpy, the kids were big, I was expecting a lot of traffic and a whole lot of fouls and a bunch of plastic.

Surprisingly, I did whistle more fouls that I normally do on a bigger field, but no plastic at all. And it was a fun game, though nobody could really control the ball on such an iffy field. Still it was a fun end of season match instead of those end of season matches that sometimes get out of hand because of the kids who would rather fight than play soccer. Hats off to these kids who played a good game and did not decide that they were two close to each other. Maybe something a little positive to prepare me for a winter trip to Alabama and more reffing...more on that later.

End of Season

Well, we are coming to the end of the season. It has been a frustrating season. I hope to be able to reveal some of the aspects that made it a rough season. I will go over the basics for two ongoing things that will be flushed out once concluded.

1. Injury to player causes a problem to the referee. In a match where I was an AR, one player was hurt and some bystanders (observing another match) may have filed some sort of official complaint against the center referee. More to come on that.

2. Worst referee in America does a match where my son is playing and sends him off for getting hit in the head by another player's fist. Unbelievable.

Since both things are still up in the air, I will not comment, but man am I angry. Hopefully more info as I have it on both of these issues.

Answer to the trivia question

If you have been thinking about the scenario I presented about the PK shot hitting the sub and then going in, well, here is your answer. According to that scenario, the restart, is a goal kick. Not sure how they came to that conclusion but that is what I was told, so I pass that on to you.

More to come later. For now, stay warm.

Breaking News: Official Sports

There may be a problem with Official Sports and credit card processing. Right now they are not taking online orders and I have seen some emails going back and forth from others stating that everyone should check their credit cards for possible fraudulent charges and to look at their Facebook page for a message.

Anyway, take a look at your statements if you have bought from them recently. I know I have and will be checking mine to ensure that there are no charges that I do not recognize.

2 hurdles passed, a couple more to go

Don't have a ton of time to go into a lot of detail but I passed my written exam with a 91. Due to a confusion when I registered, I had to take the 5/6 exam instead of the 7/8 exam. The system thought I was a grade 7 going for my 6 instead of an 8 going for my 7. The exam was a lot harder than I expected with a lot of questions regarding USSF Position Papers instead of strict Laws of the Game. The one I remember was a sub runs onto the field while a PK is being taken (both the kicking team and the sub are on the same team). The PK hits the sub while taking the kick and goes into the goal. After cautioning the sub for entering the field of play, what is the restart? Yeah, cause I get that a lot in my matches.

Then I also did the physical a week later and it went better than I expected. I did a little over 6.5 laps in the 12 minutes (5.5 laps was what I needed), was able to run the 200m in 30.5 seconds (40 was the limit) and the 50m in 6 seconds (9 was the limit). The 12 minute run was the most difficult because you had to keep on running no matter what, regardless if you completed your 2,200 meters prior to the 12 minutes. If you walked at any moment, you immediately failed. At least that is what the instructor said.

Now I have to do my assessment match. I have worked with my assignor to secure three possible assessment level matches and then in October I have to attend a referee upgrade seminar. To tell you the truth, I think it is just easier to be an 8. From what I have seen up to now, not worth it to go to a 7 other than personal satisfaction. But perhaps once I complete it, I will get more games that are not of the U13 girls variety (if you have read my posts before, that age group is the one I detest the most, because it is like watching paint dry).

Shoot me a comment if you are interested in taking a guess at the scenario above. I will post the answer that I was told at the recert class.

Going for my 7

They don't make it easy, at least in Virginia, to become a grade 7. I just registered on the USSF website and tomorrow I can try and sign up on the VA website for a 7 upgrade exam and all that. Then it is a physical exam as well that you need to sign up for. I emailed our point of contact at the state level and still don't seem to have all the answers. I will post more but now it is time to start running, as the Cooper test as I think it is called, requires running 2,200 meters in 12 minutes. That is the one I am most worried about, but if I start running, that should be ok.

I downloaded a program called Nike + GPS for my phone that should help with this. We will see how it goes, but I am going to give it a shot. From my calculations, 2,200 meters is just short of 1.4 miles in 12 minutes, so that is my goal. Then there is a 200 meter dash in less than 40 seconds and a 50 meter dash in less than 9 seconds. For some reason, those don't scare me as much as the long run of 1.4 miles in 12 minutes. Anyone who has some experience in that, please post your tidbits of knowledge. More in that later.

End of Season numbers

Quite a few matches done this season. I have 3 more matches tomorrow for an all-star tournament and will be at 75 matches for this season, by far my most active season. I certainly have enjoyed it.

I am also trying to get the wife to approve a trip to Birmingham Alabama for a four day ref fest. More on that to come shortly as well as the final numbers once everything is said and done. Anyway, stay hydrated in the meantime.

Persona non grata

This post will deal little with reffing per se. Instead, as I mentioned in my last post, I am now a director of referees for the club my kids play for. This has led me to see some of the other aspects of working a tournament or dealing with issues that come up with assignors, etc.

As one of the things I have had to deal with are changes in the club, policy revision and dealing with complaints from referees and those that dislike referees or disagree with decisions.

Which leads me to a tangent rant today. I will go over some of the things that I have had to deal with as a director of referees shortly but today we will discuss something different because it needs to be said and it has to get off my chest somehow.

The club made some changes in terms of who is allowed to coach a couple of months ago. There is an emphasis on not going with parent coaches because of all the issues that brings. Well, the board voted on making sure that parent coaches were deemphasized and decremented substantially. It is done for the good of everyone, not a select few but because of that decision, people are suddenly cold (the ones that did not like that decision). It is hard, but I believe that the decisions taken were for the good of everyone and not just some kids. Parents sometimes take this way too seriously (and yes, I know it is their kids but still, at such a young age group like the ones we are working with, as long as the trainers are competent, there really should not be such a big deal, at least that is how I see it).

Because of that, many parents do not talk to me anymore. They just walk away. I know it will blow over eventually, but gosh darn it, people suck sometimes.

Ok rant complete, sorry to take you on a sidetrack here. More real ref stuff to come shortly but this is something that comes along with the director of referees bit, so you might be getting some of this as well thrown in. Hope you are all ok with that.

Yikes! It's been a while

Not much to say other than I am sorry. I have a ton of material from this season but not much time to go over it. I am at 65 matches for this season, I think a new personal high and at the same time, I have become the director of referees for our local club and as such have to deal with some of the more minute details of what goes on behind the scenes. Dealing with the assignor and getting to know the 100+ referees that ref for the club's rec program and the travel teams. Not much time to blog, to tell you the truth but I know you all deserve better, so I will do my best to try and give you some content for the summer.

Close the fridge, will ya!

Seriously, it is basically mid April and I am still wearing my long sleeve kits with a couple of colors underneath to keep warm (my go to color underneath is yellow because the club I most work for uses it for their uniforms, so I end up wearing black or red as the outer color).


Rant aside, I worked 6 matches this weekend and there are three storylines I wanted to share with you. The first is a funny one. The first match this weekend was because I was at the field observing our younger core of refs and helping out. One ref was hurt and so I did his match while waiting for my 1pm match. It was a U6 match of the rec league. Loved every minute of it.

I did have a trying time with a little boy named Frank. At U6, you normally get a couple of kids that have not played soccer before and this was the case Frank. He thought soccer was football and he ran off with the ball, tucked under his arm at least three times. Once all the way to restroom area 100 yards away before his father tackled him. He also believed in causing some damage to teammates and opponents alike. He took down players left and right. I was close to actually carding the kid (only half serious) but his coach and father made it tolerable. Hopefully Frank figures out how it all works.

The second one is related to goal safety. Please make sure that the goals are anchored and/or have some sort of weight on them. We had an incident where some of the mobile goals were not really anchored well because of the rain and one of our referees checking the goal was able to tip it over with one finger. Thankfully someone was checking. Please do the same.

Finally, I worked with some referees this weekend that were interesting characters. The first was one that stated he had worked over 4,000 matches and his preference was 12-16 matches a weekend plus high school. He expected at least double the centers than ARs (so 2 centers per AR match given to him) and a minimum of 6 matches per day. More power to him but goshdarnit what a beating he takes both mentally and physically.

The second interesting ref story was one of a father/son combo where the father took his AR responsibilities very lightly and then in the center was absolutely the opposite. It certainly appeared that he did not appreciate an AR role at all. He did not run at all as an AR and ran only marginally more as a center (while still handing out plastic for relatively low level stuff).

That is all I have for today. Thanks for the emails and look forward to hearing from you all with comments, etc.

PBB - Parents behaving badly

Where are the worst soccer parents from? In a more travelled tournament than those I have worked before, I think I found the team that has the worst parents. They yelled, screamed, threatended and did a whole slew of other things that make them take the cake as far as I am concerned.

I do have to admit that the first half of their match between their team and another from North Carolina had to have been one of the worst officiated halfs I had ever seen. The guy in the center made me feel ashamed that I was on his crew, but I did back him up. The second half got better but it was too late as the damage was done. So who were these people? They were from eastern PA, just outside of Philadelphia it appears. And they tied 4-4. I'd hate to see them when they lose.

Money for nothing

Literally the above title is true. The weekend before last I was offered to ref a couple of premier leagues matches. I checked with the wife to make sure things were kosher and emailed back saying I was in at around 3pm that Friday. By 4:30 I was told that one of the teams was probably not going to come because they had been told about the change in venue too late for them to alter their plans, so they were not coming. By 5:30, I had been removed by the two matches and thought nothing of it (originally there were 3 matches with 2 crews in total and when one of the matches was suspended, they changed it to one crew for the two matches and I was not on the working crew).

On Tuesday I get a check in the mail for having been part of this email exchange. Apparently since the team that did not show was declared to have forfeited, all the monies due to the referees had to be paid. This was the first time I was paid for just saying I was going to be part of a match. 

Cool product - Soccer Shaving Cream for wall management

I have been meaning to write this blog post for the last couple of months, but I did not have all the information to present to you, so I did not write it up. I had bought a set of four sprays that help with wall management. I decided to try and use it for the first time during one of my more competitive matches this season, a U19 D1 girls match (which ended 3-3, so it was indeed competitive).

Anyway, the product is very cool. It is a spray that looks like shaving cream and comes with a cell-phone like holster. When a foul occurs where you need to set up a wall, you spray the stuff and the goo sits there for about a minute before disappearing. I only had to do it twice in that match, but it was funny to see the players react to it. I did let them know that it was coming in my pregame chat with the team and that I expected them to stand behind the line.

How it works: It does not need to be shaken, it works when you hold down the can (upside down of course!) and press the nozzle with both your index and middle fingers (there is a ledge on each side of the nozzle, so it is very simple). I recommend from about 10 inches above the ground, point it at the ground and spray a line where the players are to stand. It works on artificial turf as well as grass and doesn't leave a mark.

I had originally seen it on TV, on GolTV, in a match for the Copa Sudamericana. The ref had what looked like a cell phone on his hip. I immediately wanted to know what it was. And the reason that I had not posted it until now was the fact that I could not for the life of me remember what that site was where I had ordered it from. Until now. So, if you want to get your hands on the latest and greatest for those rougher matches (not really needed for U10 girls to be truthful) then get it from here: http://www.soccersprays.com/

On the site it has how to apply it and it works well. It also lasts quite a while, I bought a pack of 4 with the holster for around $30 and I am still on my first can as I only use it for U15 and above matches and there are not that many of them.

This is the can, when you ref, take the cap off

If you do decide to get it, let me know as I have not heard anyone else mention this stuff, either in forums or with fellow referees but I am curious to hear what your personal experience is with this tool. It certainly should help. I wonder what else it can be used for out on the soccer pitch. It has my vote as product of the year for 2010 as I did not know it existed before then.

Tomorrow I have a soccer convention so hopefully I will see what MLS and FIFA are pushing for this coming year. Till then.

Recert for 2011

Just had my recert class this Saturday. I have to get all my notes together before my next post, but the one point of emphasis was to be more vigilant with concussions and above the shoulders contact. Especially elbow to neck or head contact.

I scored a 98% with 2 questions wrong out of 75 (which I know is not 2%, it is more like 3% but that is what the instructor put on the sheet, so I am going with that). The first one was more of a trick question regarding dangerous play and the second was something of the same where a team with 7 players has another player leave the field without permission (but did not indicate whether the player left for good, or just stepped off the field to receive medical attention or to put an onside player in an offside position) and asked if you suspend the match because he did so and the team was now down to 6 (but without the knowledge of whether that player was returning shortly or not).

I think I would have still gotten the 7 to 6 player question incorrect, because I thought that if a team with 7 players had to go to 6 for any reason, the match ended right there, but if it is for a short while, like medical attention, the match can continue (fortunately it has not happened to me just yet!).

Once I have the time to gather all the minute things from the exam and handouts, I will post them here. Next week there is a youth conference I will be attending that should have more info on what they want us to focus on.

Watch Update

We are in the dearth of games due to winter so there is little to comment on. I can say one thing though as an update from the previous post. I found my old watch! More accurately, my daughter found it. Needless to say, now I don't like it as much as the new ones.

Not much else to report except for the upcoming conference I go to every year as well as my certification class and the high school ref gathering. Lots of stuff to talk about in the coming weeks. Hope everyone had a good holiday.