It has been a while again. I do apologize. What has kept me busy these past 5-6 weeks is what I want to talk about today. Since my last post, I have gone ahead and started working a lot more at the higher level leagues (yes, being a 6 has its advantages, and disadvantages). One of the advantages is being able to work PDL matches and CCL 23 matches, etc.
These matches are at a whole other level than the typical U15 match. There is a lot more thought and purposefulness to everything that goes on. In one PDL match, we had to arrive 90 minutes prior to kick off, had a minute by minute time table set out in our locker room and had actual paying public at the door. Not stuff I am used to.
One of the main things that really got me was the use of the communication systems. In the PDL match where I was a fourth official and then a State Cup final where I was AR2, I had the benefit of using an open mic system akin to what the professionals use. And it was mind blowing in terms of the different tactics that the centers used to convey their thoughts, what they were seeing and the level of chatter compared to what I am used to.
I was not aware at how little I talked until I started doing these open mic matches where I can hear all the little things that are said as part of drive bys and during dead time. In the PDL match, I worked with a center who kept the peace with players by saying "I'm right here" when action was happening. He did that to convey that he was close by and seeing what was going on and was either allowing it or to dissuade a defender from doing something silly. And it worked quite well. One thing that I will put in my back pocket.
The other one was during a State Cup final where the center referee kept telling the players what exactly happened (and again, position had a lot to do with that, since he was where he needed to be to sell the call he was making or not making). And he told them things like "I saw that, it went off your shoulder, I know you think it went off him, but you were too busy trying to head the ball that you didn't see it go off you, don't worry I got it." Things like that, it relaxed the players, especially at that level, the higher level players where things work differently than our garden variety U14 match, where players are scared to talk to the referee.
I am finding it so hard to work back down to the U12 levels now that I haven't done a low level match in 2-3 months. But this weekend, I go back to that, so hopefully I can still ref that level after working higher level matches almost exclusively for the past 2 months.
