Friday, June 17, 2011

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.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

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.

Friday, June 3, 2011

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.