That is not something you see everyday

This past weekend, my son and I did a tournament for the first time. It was a lot of work with 8 games over the weekend, but he got to see a little more of what makes up the life of a referee. While the weekend was cold and dreary, it was fun for the most part.

On Saturday, we had only U13 and it was an all-star tournament, so basically good rec players for the most part. Then on Sunday we had U19 Girls and therefore, it was a lot more intense for him. He had never done that level and had to run quite a bit and make sure that he got into position a lot more.

The important thing was that he had exposure to KFTM (PKs to determine a winner). 3 of the 4 Sunday matches went to PKs, so he had a chance to do both, the AR that manages the takers and the AR that observes the keeper encroachment.

On one of the games with the 5th kick coming up for the second team (a goal sending the PKs to the 6th kicker and a miss finishing the game), the kicker takes the kick and the keeper makes a good stop. I blow the whistle to end the game and my son later tells me that he had seen keeper encroachment and that he had given me the skirt (I did not see it of course, but then again, my fault for not checking). I made it a teachable moment for both of us (me to check the AR to ensure that there was encroachment and for him to make sure that if I don't see the "silent" signal, to get my attention any way possible before blowing the end of the match.

On another note, we saw a funny thing as well with the equipment of one player. He was wearing knee pads. Like the ones you see in volleyball. I had never seen it on a soccer player. Had it been higher level I might have said something but at the level these kids were playing at, it made no sense to say anything. Also, another boy had the famous snoods (like a neck warmer) that would have caused a problem had anyone pulled on it, so I had him remove it.

Fitness Physical

As a 7, I have to take part in being assessed as well as proving you are somewhat in shape. Today was the day to prove the latter. I never thought it would get easier but this year's Cooper test  (12 minute run) was simpler for me. For one, I did not have to run as far, since I hit the milestone of 38 years of age, I now was told that I had to run 2,000 meters instead of 2,200 meters.

Second, I ran farther than I had ever run before on the Cooper test, 2,350 meters, and I did not seem to really get tired, so I must be doing something right, as it should get harder, not easier to do the test.

The other two portions of the exam really are hard to fail, 40 seconds to run 200 meters is not too difficult (I did 30.5 this morning) and 50 meters in 9 seconds (6.5 for me) are really not anything I ever thought would be something one could fail at. The only one is that Cooper test.

Not that I enjoyed getting up at 6:30 to be there at 8am for my test, but it is something that I have to do anyway, and it worked out well that I seem to be doing better now than in years past.