I enjoy being out there on the field. I enjoy running around, helping the kids, trying to call good games and let things be fair. I really like that. But this weekend I had the best experience ever. My son was playing in State Cup and then also his regular league so when we started getting all these last minute game requests I figured we could get one in. He stated in no uncertain terms that he just wanted to chill.
Side note, what is up with Northern VA? I received emails asking for referees and those lists were LONG. On Friday, there were 80 some games at the travel level that had incomplete referee crews (either no center or missing ARs). More referees are needed, that is for sure.
Anyway, getting back to my story, I finally convinced my son to come out and do a game. It was a U19 Travel game. Him being almost 15 was actually two fold. He got to see soccer at slightly a higher level and he got to see what it takes to ref when getting the fouls right is not the only task and man management is more the key factor to keeping the game in check. There were about 20+ fouls, a PK, an injury to a keeper, 5 yellows and a bunch of stuff that his level of soccer doesn't do yet (like trying to take someone out and playing through hard fouls). At the end he said that he had had a blast, had not looked at his watch in the 90 minutes and that he could get used to reffing at that level. What he has realized up to now is that he doesn't like reffing the little kids where boredom sets in.
All during the match I was just smiling, because I was doing something I loved, it was a beautiful afternoon, the kids were playing hard but fair for the most part and I was doing it with someone I loved. To have him tell me that he enjoyed it was the cherry on top.
He also learned something important in the game that he had not seen before. White clears the ball and the ball travels about 40 yards. Blue tries to head the ball but does a sloppy job of it and the ball goes to an attacker in the offside position. He raises his flag and I wave him down as it was a controlled header (just a bad one) instead of a deflection. He says that the moment I waved him down, it hit him and that it was good to finally see that play in action rather than just read about it. All in all, one of my best days as a referee.
