Reflecting on My First Season

Having completed my first season, I've started to think about many of the things I've observed and learned. After 39 games, I've learned quite a lot. My skills have improved significantly and I'm feeling more confident in my ability. I've started to observe various behaviors by others involved in the sport, and that has contributed to my successful season. This entry contains a summary of my thoughts and observations that didn't fit neatly into any other post.
Parents routinely embarrass themselves during games. It really is amazing to me that seemingly sane, educated people routinely make themselves look like fools during a youth sporting event. Most of the time, these parents really have no knowledge of the game and are merely venting emotion and frustration. Other times, I believe these people have some level of an abusive or controlling personality. I believe, for the most part, parents can be controlled by 2 techniques. Depending on the situation, a stern look/word toward the parent will often work to eliminate or at least control the situation. If that doesn't work, remember, it is the coaches responsibility to control their parents. If there is no cooperation in this matter, the match can be terminated.
I find myself wondering why coaches seem to think its a good idea to yell at, and otherwise abuse, soccer officials. Can they possibly think they have some influence over our decisions? My advice for dealing with unhappy coaches is to set the limits early in the match. The minute they cross your limits for irresponsible behavior, they need to receive a stern talking to and perhaps a caution. Do not let coaches abuse you. That behavior is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.
Some skills improve with your game count. Thinking back to my first few games, my biggest problem seemed to be signaling the correct direction for a restart! It was a struggle to remember which team was attacking in which direction. I remember being horrified at how slow my decision making ability felt. Now, I don't really worry about those things. They went away pretty quickly.
Evaluate each piece of advice you are offered by more experienced referees. Some of this advice is either not wise, or just plain wrong. There seems to be quite a few myths out there that are often propagated by officials. Realize that a more experienced referee is not correct by virtue of them having more experience. There are some very knowledgeable referees out there. Seek them out. Befriend them. Learn from them.
Think about and ensure your mechanics, especially as an assistant referee, are correct. Maybe I'm too conservative, but there was more than once this season that I noticed poor mechanics from an assistant and it bothered me. At first, I thought it was limited to younger referees, but I realized the problem comes from elsewhere. Assistant referee mechanics are not reinforced through the certification process. In fact, there is little in the US Soccer teaching materials that demonstrates assistant referee mechanics. Take a look at your "Guidelines and Procedures" manual and brush up on those skills. Good mechanics make selling your decisions easier and it makes the referee team look far more professional
On a positive note, it seems there is at least one positive interaction with a game participant for every negative one. We often emphasize the negative when we talk about being a youth soccer referee, but there are many opportunities to have good interactions as well. Try saying hello to a few of the players while they are warming up. Often, you'll find some very nice young men and women on the field!
There are some things I'd personally like to improve. Here they are, in no particular order:

• Get better at positioning so I'm not interfering with play - there were times this past season, especially with the older players, where I felt like I was getting in the way once in a while. I need to work on this.
  
• Be more careful about watching the Assistant Referees - There were a couple of times I missed offside flags. Concentrating on your assistants is a must.
  
• Work toward getting more center assignments so I can think about upgrading - In looking up the upgrade requirements to go to grade 7, one has to work 75 games as a referee and 25 games as an assistant referee. At the rate I'm going, it will take an awful long time to get to 75. I need to speak with my assignor about this and figure out how to best make that happen.
  

Total Exhaustion

I put my availability in for a large, local tournament some time ago. I was assigned to a 4-person crew for both days of the tournament. Our field was scheduled for 18 games in two days! This would be a big test for me.
For the most part, we used what apparently is a standard rotation of having the person coming off a break take the referee position. Once you are done in the center, you move one touch line, then the other and then to break again. When it was all over, I ended up in the center 5 times and did 8 games as an AR. I really enjoy officiating games, but I'm not sure I'll be putting availability in for more than 1 day of a tournament. 2 days is just brutal, particularly if it is hot. Day 1 of this tournament was 90 degrees. Day 2 was much better, but it rained for the 2nd half of the day.

This tournament offered a huge number of experiences and observations. I'm not sure where to begin and suspect I will edit this particular post many times.

Shoes Make the Man

I'll start with something very basic, and that would be footwear. If you've been reading my blog, you remember that I have some problems with shoes in the past. I recently changed to the Spot Bilt studded shoe. The shoe is actually made by Saucony and features a running shoe upper and a turf tread. It works much better (for me) than a turf shoe designed for players as it provides additional support and is generally a sturdier shoe. These shoes have worked really well for me on a typical weekend where I'm assigned 1 to 3 games. They worked pretty well for the tournament too, but I still ended up with a couple of very ugly blisters. I cannot tell if it is the shoes, the socks I'm wearing, or some other variable. If someone can suggest a possible remedy, I'd sure appreciate it.

Match Control

Of the 18 games we worked over the weekend, we had several that had parents or coaches that "cared too much." In fact, we had one coach go ballistic over a "ball out of play" call in the first minute of a game. The call was made about 60 yards from his position. That one was bizarre. We also terminated a game that had 4 minutes left. A parent was harassing one of the ARs. When the referee confronted the parent, they became abusive. Game over. I bring these things up because there seemed to be a correlation between the person in the center, and these match control issues. Do not misunderstand what I'm saying, these are good referees, but I did notice a couple of things that I think might contribute to the issues they were confronting.

One of the referees seemed to have a noticeably introverted personality. In fact, when I first met him, I walked up and offered my hand as a greeting. He almost seemed to not know how to react. I barely heard his "hello." He is a really nice guy, but quiet and perhaps lacks some social skills. I found myself wondering if this resulted in some issues for him as he didn't strike me as authoritative on the field. His decisions seemed weak. I think this was a personality issue, not necessarily a confidence or knowledge problem.

The other fellow seemed to have problems resulting from his habit of wearing a hat and dark sunglasses on the field. Personally, if it is really hot and sunny, I am not going to criticize you for wanting to get a little relief by wearing a cap and the glasses. I will not do it because it is not part of the uniform and that would bother me. It seemed the glasses came up several times when parents were complaining about calls. Clearly, the glasses did not have an effect on this persons ability to make a proper call, but it does invite the criticism, doesn't it? I say lose the glasses and hat and give everyone one less thing they can use to criticize.

More Experience

Through the luck of our rotation, I did get a few more challenging games. In particular, I had a fairly high-level U-15 boys game that went real well. One of the other referees on the crew even complimented my match control after the game. I felt good about the entire game. I had a 2 other games around the same age level, although they were girls games. They weren't quite as challenging as the skill and aggression levels were a little lower, but clearly they were great experience.

I did have one minor issue that bothered me. I missed an offside flag in a later game on day 2. The defense recovered the ball. As I turned to head up field, I noticed the trailing AR with his flag up and blew the whistle before he could get the flag down. We had to bring a ball back 40 yards, essentially removing the advantage from the attacking team. Fortunately, they were up by several goals and did not make a big deal about it. The coach asked me about it after the game and I admitted I missed a flag. In hindsight, I should have probably called it an inadvertent whistle and given a dropped ball. At least that would have kept the ball in the attacking end of the field. To be honest, I am pleased that, even after all those games, I did not make any terrible mistakes. I managed to keep my senses keen and do a good job, so I guess that's something.

Problematic Player

In one of our games, there was a player who was problematic from the start. He had a knack for dissent and was giving the referee some problems early on. Not surprisingly, he earned himself a card about half way through the first half. I did not think he would make it to end of the game. He had several more fouls called on him in the first half. At the break, the opposite AR mentioned to the referee that this player made a insulting comment, with racial overtones, as he was coming off the field during a substitution. The first thing I thought of was she really should have pointed that out when it happened. Once the restart happened, I think it would be tough to sell a send-off for this player.

I had met this player's coach back in March at a tournament with my son. After the game, I waked over and asked to have a word with him. I related the story as I wanted him to be aware of the problem, especially the racial part of the comment. His reaction bothered me. He didn't really seem bothered by the comment and he said his boys are "just starting to learn," whatever that means. Some people's priorities seemed to be out of order.

More Experience = More Confidence

I got myself scheduled for one day of a local tournament. This particular assignor that I work with has been a little more conservative with my assignments. I often get line assignments from him. In fact, I get very few center assignments.
He called me for the tournament. I was assigned 4 short sided games in the morning. He also told me that he would like me to come by referee headquarters to "pick up the slack" for officials that might be injured or sick.
The thing about tournaments that makes them tough is the super-tight scheduling. This particular tournament allowed for 5 minutes between games and 5 minute half times. Since I was scheduled for short sided games in the morning, by myself, I knew it would be a real struggle to get food and water as required. Also, its a little stressful because you only have those 5 minutes to deal with the administrative part of the job. Since there are so many games scheduled, it is critical games start on time. A few delayed games, and you could have a field that is 40 minutes behind by the end of the day. I think I've probably stated this before, but one must be persistent with coaches to have them get their teams on the field when the match is supposed to start. I had an experienced referee tell me to just start my watch at the appointed time, whether the teams are on the field or not.
As I worked through my first four games, something occurred to me. I'm getting better at this! I feel more confident! The experience I've been getting has been paying off. I actually had a coach tell me I called a really good game...and his team had lost!
On a side note, I actually had a parent say something kind of nasty to me during the game. I should clarify, it was a U-8 game. Unbelievable! There are all kinds. Interestingly enough, one of the coaches walked over to the parents side of the field and made it clear the parents were not to say anything to me! Way to go coach! Also, the club representative for the parent with the mouth apologized to me after the game on behalf of his club. Classy. I have additional respect for that club.
Something occurred to me while I was working the small side games. I love being a referee for the little ones. I've had some opportunities to do some older kids games. Most of them go well, but some games are tough. The players can be difficult and the coaches and parents can be worse. For the most part, the little ones just want to have fun. They want to learn the game. They count on the referee to teach, as well as officiate. If the older games get you down, schedule yourself for a few small sided games.
I reported to referee headquarters as requested. I had a couple of cold drinks and spoke with my assignor for 10 minutes or so. A call came in from one of the tournament locations that a referee needed a replacement (It was very hot today, over 90 degrees). Off I went to the new location. I subbed in immediately for the ill official and completed that game. I did one more game with this crew as an assistant, and then they asked me to be the referee for the last game. Apparently, the referee in the center when I arrived had been in the center almost all day! I ended up doing a U-13 girls game. It was a great game and I think I did a real good job. I effectively dealt with a few nasty parents and called a very good game. OK, it wasn't the most challenging game ever, but the experience is paying off and I'm getting better with every game.
Next week, I'm scheduled to do a large, 2-day tournament in the area. I'm looking forward to it!

Courage with the Important Call

I didn't get much in the way of assignments this weekend. I had two AR assignments. One is on Saturday while the other is on Sunday. Saturday's game was a real nail-biter. The game ended 0-0, and it was well played. There was lots of physical play, emotion and some dissent that drew a caution from the center. Both of the games I did were U-16 boys. These games were definitely faster than I'm use to and I had to pick it up to keep up with play.
In today's game, with only about 1 minute left. I made what I thought was going to be a controversial call. The ball was played through the defense, about 10 feet inside the touch line. The keeper came out and followed the ball toward the goal line. A striker chased the ball as well. As the ball approached the goal line, the keeper turned away from the ball and put his shoulder into the chest of the striker, rather than shield the ball and have it go out of bounds. I put up my flag immediately, much to the dismay of the keeper's team. The center came over and asked me what I saw. I explained it to him by merely presenting the facts. He confirmed the direct kick without question.
I think it's important to make the tough calls, regardless of the screaming and yelling that might result. You make the calls based on what you see. By the way, the strikers team failed to take advantage of the close-in free kick.
The 2nd game of the weekend, which was also a U-16 boys game, had some controversy in it. During our pre-game inspection, we noticed one of the goals had a net that was not tied down at the bottom along one side. That came back to bite us later. About 30 minutes into the 1st half, the center signaled for a penalty kick. I immediately moved to the prescribed position on the goal line. The center set up the kick, then positioned himself right in front of me on the goal line! The kick was taken. It was a low shot, very close to the post, opposite our positions. The center called for a goal kick, apparently ruling the ball went wide of the net. The shooting team screamed that it was clearly a goal and the ball had merely gone through the hole in the net. The center asked me what I saw. All I could tell him was it did not look like a goal to me, but I was screened from seeing the posts. I could only tell him that I did not see the net move at all. I think this is why following the contents of the "Guidelines and Procedures" manual is so critical. Proper positioning is so important and is specified in the document for a reason.
As I get more games, I've come to notice something important. Many referees make things up as they go. I'm not sure if this results from misinformation, ignorance of changes in the law, or some other reason. I hear more experienced referees say things that I absolutely know to not be true. Be wary of this if you are a new referee. It's very easy to be mislead.

Safety Checks are Critical

10 year old killed by goal post

All of you check the field for safety problems before every game, right? Don't let something like this happen at one of your games. At one time or another, we have all neglected to check for goal anchors. Perhaps there is a game going on before yours, so you assume the referee on the field checked the goals. Maybe your previous game ran late and you're arriving at the field just before game time. Always check the goals before a game, no matter the circumstances. We are taught this in our certification classes. It's drilled into us. Let's make sure we are going each and every game.

On the Hot Seat

This was a weekend for gaining experience, for sure. Through a different assignor, I was put on a field for 3 games with 2 other officials. This was the kind of weekend I wanted for some time. It is a chance to work with others AND to have several games in a row in order to hone my skills. We had a U-14 state cup match, and U-10 and U-12 league games. The night before, my thoughts were the two more experienced (my assumption) guys would want the U-14 and U-12 games and I would get the U-10s. Of course, I'm pretty new so I was OK with that idea and had prepared myself with this thought in mind.
As is my usual practice, I arrived at the field 30 minutes in advance of game time. The other officials arrived around the same time and we made our way to the field. We start discussing our games for the day. They both decide I should do the first game, which is the U-14 state cup game! I would later think they must have know what I was getting into.
The state cup match started and all went well through the 1st half. The game was physical so there were some fouls, including a few that approached being "reckless." I felt we called a decent 1st half by not allowing too much to go without a whistle, but still letting the game be played. There was one problematic player that I had a chat with. He would get a caution later in the game.
The 2nd half started out and was heated right off. The game was getting hot and I started to clamp down a little on the physical play. In hindsight, I probably could have clamped down even harder.
I've read that, in a post-game analysis, you can usually point to one incident in a game that caused things to get difficult. In this instance, it was an offside call wanted by the parents and coaches. The blue team played a ball from about 40 yards out up the right side of the field. I was just behind and to the left of the blue player with the ball and a white defender. When the blue player hit the ball forward, I kept my eyes on the 2 players for a second to make sure there were no fouls after the ball left. The pass went onto the foot of a blue forward and, simultaneously, I could hear the parental screams for an "offsides" call. I glanced at my AR and confirmed he had his flag down as blue put the ball into the net. Having had my eye on the players closer to mid field, I did not see any offside infraction and did not see any reason to disallow the goal. There was quite a bit of complaining coming from a particular group on the sidelines. Again, in my mind's analysis, I should have taken action right then to assert my authority.
A few minutes later, a white defender obviously pushed a blue striker in the penalty area. Great! My first penalty kick. When I pointed to the spot, that same troublesome group really got loud. At this point, before the kick, I walked to within about 20 yards of the sideline and told the parents I had enough and they were to be silent. I felt I need to do this in order to protect my AR, who was taken the brunt of the complaining. The penalty kick was taken and missed. Before the resulting goal kick, I walked to the white team's bench and asked the coach to get his parents under control. Unbelievably, he told me they were my problem and I should do whatever I needed to do!
We played the last 10 minutes or so of the 2nd half tied, 1-1. This match need a winner, so there was the possibility of extra time and kicks from the penalty mark. I found myself hoping for another goal as I really didn't want to get into any of the tie breaking procedures. Fortunately, white scored with about 4 minutes left and then game ended 2-1.
There are a few things I took away from this particular match. Deal with obnoxious parents early, and sternly. One needs to make it clear that things will escalate to an empty sideline quickly. It seems that if you don't deal with the one or two problem parents, you end up dealing with a mob mentality as others start to chime in with their opinion. It also seems to affect the players. The complaining on the field escalates along with the parental complaining. Also, for every game you officiate, know the responsibility of the coaching staff as it relates to their parents. Some leagues make the coaches responsible for the parents behavior and have specific actions the referee can take to deal with the problem.
The good news for the day was the next 2 matches, for which I was an AR, went rather well. We had the U-10 game after the U-14's. That was a little bit of stress relief. The U-12 game came off without a hitch as well. I worked with 2 good guys, and I learned valuable lessons in match control.

Small Breakthrough

This past weekend, I only had one game scheduled. That's a little frustrating, as my learning curve has been slower than expected. I guess I can't complain too much though. My game this weekend was a U-18 state cup match.
The breakthrough in the title refers to my confidence level for this game. I was an AR, but I somehow felt like I actually knew what I was doing. My signals to the center referee were confident. I learned to pause for a second before signaling. All in all, I felt I did really well. This could be a result of lessons learned from my other games, my study of refereeing through books and websites, or, most probably, a combination of those things.
Every time I have a game, there is a lesson to learn. This game was no different. In this case, the lesson related to flagging offside infractions. I had a situation where an attacker, on the far side of the field, was in an offside position by several yards. Her teammate played a ball through the defense, straight toward the goalkeeper. My reaction was to wait to see what happens before putting up the flag. The offside positioned player had not yet touched the ball, and the ball was playable by the goalkeeper. The striker did get to the ball and I immediately flagged the infraction. The center referee spoke to me later and asked that I flag offside earlier. His take was as soon as the striker made a play for the ball, the stroke became involved in active play and the flag should be raised. I asked my instructor and he agreed. He did say that, in the event another striker, coming from an onside position, was making a play for the ball, the correct action is to hold the flag to see who gets to the ball first.