Score Sports Referee Wallet

For a while now, I've been looking for a data wallet that is a step up in quality from the wallets that most of us use. You know the one I'm talking about. They are made of very thin vinyl and last about a season before some of the little pockets separate from the wallet itself.
I stumbled onto a pretty nice referee data wallet on the Score Sports website. Score Sports is a maker of various sports equipment and has an extensive line of soccer uniforms, equipment and even referee uniforms if you don't want to use the recommended supplier.
The data wallet (product number 773) is made of black nylon and has gray trim. The wallet has internal stiffeners that make writing on it much easier than the typical vinyl variety. The wallet is designed with a pocket on front and back to hold your misconduct cards. When you open the wallet, you'll notice the clear vinyl sleeves used to hold your game card from moving around. A magnetic closure keeps the game card from coming out and keeps the wallet closed in your pocket. The magnet is strong enough to hold a flipping coin against the side of the wallet. The quality of the material suggests this wallet will last a very long time.
The product is designed a little bigger than your normal vinyl wallet. At first, I thought it would be annoying to have this in my pocket, but in all honesty, I didn't really notice it at all. It's a little heavier than the vinyl variety as well, but it was not a problem for me. The quality of the writing surface made up for any negatives.
Here's the best part: It can be had for under $3. Unfortunately, Score charges (for me) almost $12 for shipping. I think they are in CA, so my shipping cost is probably the worst case scenario. I ordered a couple of them for friends of mine since the shipping was the same. If you are looking for a quality wallet, this might be the end of your search.

Weekend of Soccer - Part 2

More Learning at the US Development Academy Games

On Sunday, I worked two more US Development Academy games. At the risk of repeating myself, this is some good soccer!
The crew for this weekend was an interesting contrast to other weekends. The highest rank official is a grade 6 (State Referee) and the other is a 7. Both are much younger than me. On past weekends, the officials were of the same grade, but typically around the same age or a little older. For the record, I'm in my early 40's.
Typically, development academy games consist of two games on the same day. The teams are from the same club. The first game is U-16 and the second is U-18. In my area, they are played on our finest local college fields, both of which happen to be artificial turf stadiums. So far, I've been the lowest graded official and assigned to the AR-2 spot every weekend.
I made an interesting observation. While the 7 was very put together, I noticed the highest grade referee had some, well, anomalies in his uniform. He was wearing unapproved socks and a short sleeve jersey with a long sleeve base layer that didn't quite match the color of the jersey. Even the shorts where a little questionable. I was quite shocked by this as I've heard the acceptable uniform list emphasized over and over again. It was a disappointing observation. It just goes to show you that referee grade is not always the best indicator of quality.
The games went OK, although there was some notable problems. In the first game (U-16), I would say the young guy did pretty well, with maybe 2 exceptions. Early in the game, there was a "one to beat" situation. The attacker got fouled from behind about 3 yards outside the penalty area. He had one defender still in front of him, but he was heading toward goal. Personally, I though it was denying a goal scoring opportunity. I think the middle thought so after the fact. We talked a little about it at the half. After the game, I heard him talking to a guy that had come out of the stands. This guy must have been another referee as I heard him ask "What did you see on that play..." Late in the game, there was some controversy over a defender handling the ball in the penalty area. The defender and attacker fell together just outside the goal area. Their backs were to me, so I saw nothing. The middle was on top of the play. He said there was contact with the ball, but he saw it as ball-to-hand, not the other way around. The attacking team's coach really ripped him over it and kept at him after the game. At one point, the coaches wandered away for awhile. They came back a few minutes later and started on him again. Foolishly, I stepped in the middle (it was obvious the young guy was getting tired of it) and just said words to the effect of "You've had your say. He's explained his opinion. Nothing else needs to be said so let it go." It didn't go over well, but I'm not going to stand there and watch a coach dig into a colleague.
I felt really good about my performance. Given my age and experience level, I feel like I put in a top notch AR performance. I'm always on my offside line. I stay with the players even at full speed. I never take my eyes off the field. At this level, you will often get outbursts from the players. You must have thick skin and avoid flaming any emotional fires by choosing your response, if any, carefully. The players will often challenge you with statements like "Who kept them onside ref?" You have to have an answer like "#5 and #3." Sometimes saying nothing at all is better.
The 2nd game was challenging in quite a few ways. First, the official that did the middle in the first game asked me to take the senior AR spot. He had had enough from the coaches from the first game and needed a break from the berating. I was glad for the opportunity to take a shot at the team side of the field. These games have limited substitutions so there is some work to do over there. You are truly doing both the AR job and the 4th official job.
Being a U-18 game, play is quite physical. This is were reading the players becomes important. For the most part, the players were not complaining in the 1st half of the game. However, the coach of the team right behind me...was. Every time two players came together on the field, this guy was bending my ear. I largely ignored his comments other than a few "I understand coach" type replies. As the half wore own however, the game became an example of why some of the trifling stuff matters. The game was getting increasing physical. Player frustration was starting to be demonstrated. The emotion of the game was rising.
In the 2nd half, things started tense right away. Contributing to the temperature rise, the referee had some hard tackles pretty close to him that perhaps could have been called fouls. Things were getting a little ugly. At one point, I made an offside call that was close, but definitely correct. I was in my correct position during fast moving play. The forward receiving the infraction had an outburst, directed at me, that involved some profanity. The middle said nothing. I found that quite disturbing because, even if you don't see this as dissent (I did), you must make a show of having a stern talking to the player starting with the phrase "My assistant is completely off limits..."
In hindsight, the middle should have started to notice the rising emotion and started to clamp down on physical contact and some dissent. I think that would have gone a long way to controlling things. Instead, his management of the game stayed on course. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't completely appropriate for this particular game.
As tense as this game was, there was some good news. The representative from the federation took me aside and commended me on a job well done in both games. Although he's not there specifically for the referees, he does make overall game comments, which can include performance of the officials. He made a point to tell me the federation would be made aware of my performance. That made me feel pretty good, especially as I enter my grade 7 upgrade effort.
Fortunately, the game ended without any serious incident, but you could feel the pressure on the field during play. I can see how games at this level and age can blow up in your face if you aren't paying attention to the overall player temperature.

Weekend of Soccer - Part 1

A Day at the Girls Tournament

I spent Saturday this weekend at a local tournament.  This was the weekend for the girls.  As some long time readers know, I tend to favor the girls game somewhat.   In my opinion, the female players focus on playing the game, not on going after each other or yelling at me.  Of course, there are exceptions to that rule...and I found 2 teams that define that exception.

The day started out well.  Our schedule started with the U-13's and 14's for the first half of the day, then we went to the 16's and 18's.  In total, we had 8 games and 4 referees, so I ended up doing 6 games with 2 in the middle.

As I get more experience, and move closer to upgrading, I find I'm far more confident in the middle, especially with the younger ages.  Much of that confidence comes from really knowing the Laws of the Game.  If you want to be a better referee, know the Laws backwards and forwards!  Anyway, my first game in the middle went very well.  I felt like I had total control and that we did a really good job.  The players got a completely fair, well officiated game, and that's what it's all about.

During one of the games I was an AR, we had an incident that really illustrates how important it is to constantly make eye contact with one another.  In the afternoon, we had the U-18's.  The game was a well played game with some rough contact being had by both teams.  Generally, there was nothing terrible, just aggresive challenges.  There was a challenge for a ball around halfway on my side of the field, right in front of the parents.  The attacker was facing her own goal, waiting for a ball to come down.  A defender came in from the side and slightly behind, challenging for the same header.  The defender jumped into the attack quite aggressively and knocked the attacker down.  My view was of the back of both players and I put the flag up right away.  The ball went out of touch on the play, but the middle did whistle the foul.  The parents went nuts!  The attacking players went nuts!  The challenge was pretty rough.  Unfortunately, at that moment he chose to engage the parents in debate, not seeing me pat my pocket like a wild man trying to get him to issue the caution.  We talked later and he admitted to being distracted by the parents.  Try to remember in your games that the parents really are inconsequential.  You are there for the players and the players only!

Later that day, I had my 2nd middle.  It started out as a really well played U-16 game.  It was physical but not overly so.  The white team went up pretty quickly, 2-0.  Frustration was brewing on the blue side.  I was getting some dissent, resulting in one caution in the first half.  

Because the game was physical, I made an extra effort to always be close to play and to make sure my view on the play was good.  I think the biggest problem that started to develop was the parents were getting into it.  I've noticed that parents of female players seem to be more sensitive to physical play, even though the players seem fine with it.  Toward the end of the 1st half, there is a challenge around halfway, just inside the touch line on the parents side.  A defender slid in on an attacker, getting the ball with one foot and the defender with the other.  The ball goes out of play, but I whistle for the foul from 10 feet away.  The parents go absolutely crazy.  One guy in particular is really giving it to me.  I'm not sure what was going on there.  Like I said, the game was tough, but not out of control.  He was ridiculous enough that I told him to leave and made it clear that we were not restarting until he did.  Now, I'm well aware that referees really don't have authority over spectators, but the parents don't really know that so off he went.  I think the parents got my none too subtle message.

At half time, both of my AR's stressed that I was doing a very good game.  Their thoughts were it was just two emotional teams, playing a tough game.

In the 2nd half, blue starting clawing there way back.  It was a constant struggle back and forth with every call resulting in moaning.  Again, I can't stress enough how you must be keeping up with play to sell your calls in games like this.  Eventually, blue goes up 3-2.  White ended up getting booked twice in the 2nd half.  Both times were reckless challenges, resulting in cautions for unsporting behavior.  I'm sure much of it was frustration with getting beat.  

Naturally, the game ended with controversy.  With about 1:30 left, blue put a through ball in on white's goalkeeper.  The blue attacker chased it in and I knew a collision was likely.  The keeper kneeled down and covered the ball with the attacker about 3 feet away.  She tried to pull up, but ended up falling over the balled-up keeper.  This was not a foul but merely two players challenging for the same ball.  The keeper got injured (slightly) so I called the coach out immediately.  Wow, did I get some emotional outbursts from the 'keeper's team mates. Time was running out while the coached tended to the player.  The tournament rules did not allow for added time.  Since they were down by 1, they were not happy.

On a positive note, one of the dissenters during the game apologized right afterward.  She came over and shook my hand and said she was sorry for giving me a hard time.  I told her to forget about it.  It's all good.  Interestingly enough, the coaches never got involved.  The emotional stuff came strictly from the players.

I guess if I can pass anything on from this experience, it would be a couple of things.  First, try to ignore parents as best you can.  If they become a problem, deal with them unemotionally and quickly.  Second, be on top of play.  It sells calls and helps with outbursts.  If you are having trouble with this, improve your fitness.  Finally, when you feel like you are getting stressed from the emotion going on around you, do whatever you have to do to calm yourself.  If you are calm and confident in your abilities, you will control the situation and have a better game.

Friendly Weekend

I was asked to work a local club's friendly tournament. It wasn't a tournament from the standpoint of the teams paying a lot of money and having a large number of teams at a big facility. No, this was a local club that asked 8 teams to come together, throw enough money together to have referees and play a bunch of full-time scrimmages to get ready for the upcoming season. Knowing that I'm looking to be assessed this season, my assignor was nice enough to ask me to work one of the two fields while he was on the other.
This turned out to be a great way to start the season. Before these games, I didn't have any recent opportunities to be in the middle for anything above U-12. I've been doing US Soccer Development Academy games, but I'm always the 2nd AR on those games. I did a youth tournament a week ago, but they were all U-11 and U-12 games. So these games allowed me to knock some of the rust off and get a great work out in the process as we worked without assistants. I haven't done that in a long time!
Give that these were "friendlies", the atmosphere was pleasant. I really didn't have any issues to speak of, except for one sarcastic coach, but she was easily ignored. It was a great chance to concentrate on positioning and tuning up the eyes to follow the action. I was pretty tired after 4 games, but I'm happy to have been out on the field. For being friendly games, the players really made an effort on the field. Much of the action was exciting!
As the day went on, my assignor offered some good tips for my anticipated assessment. He pointed out that I should make sure the referee crew is not wearing the same color as either team, or either goalkeeper. I have to admit, I would not have thought much about the goalkeepers. He suggested that I make sure my uniform is perfect and that I'm not wearing anything not deemed acceptable by US Soccer (which I never do anyway). Also, he suggested I wear two watches. I've never done this because I usually work with assistants and at least 1 is backing me up on time. This was told to him once and he felt it was important for an assessment game. These are great tips and they really got me thinking about things that might be imporant in an assessment. It's good to have someone in your corner that wants to help you out.

Referee Summit

I had an interesting experience a few nights ago. A few of the assignors for the youth league that I often work decided to have a referee meeting at a local meeting hall. Attendance was optional, but I'm always looking for opportunities to learn so I went. There were 3 assignors involved. One is the assignor I normally work through. Another is a guy that I previously worked for and know pretty well as I work a large youth tournament through him and my youngest son gets his games through him. I have also worked for the third assignor. Recently, I became aware that this third assignor is recognized by the league as a "regional assignor," which apparently means the first two guys loosely report to him.
I've never been to a meeting like this, so it was pretty interesting. The agenda was designed such that all three assignors spoke about a few topics. League representatives were also present to talk a little about the kinds of things that happen behind the scenes related to referees.
The first speaker talked generally about how to get assigned to games. I've described the league's assignment process in other posts, so I won't repeat it here. However, he made some really good points about some things that a referee should consider. First, make every effort to never turn an assignment back. Once you get an assignment, do all you can to make sure you honor it. I don't think anything annoys assignors more than having to assign a game more than once. The speaker also made the point that the assignors consider many things when making assignments. They look at your age, experience level, past performance and physical fitness when deciding what games you'll be doing. Since they look at those things, you should be too! He also pointed out something that I have often thought about: Realize that everything you do on the field is being watched and in some cases, recorded. If you do things that are outside of acceptable practices for your league and/or USSF, someone will report it. Examples might be running a 2-whistle, high school type, system in a USSF game or wearing an inappropriate uniform. This assignor also talked about the importance of doing a proper pre-game, including field inspection, player equipment and card checks etc. A point of emphasis was checking the anchoring of your goals, which cannot be emphasized enough. You must check the field, including the goals, before every game. He reminded us that we are required to be at the field at least 30 minutes before game time.
The second speaker talk about items that, perhaps, were targeted at newer officials. He reviewed all the points related to uniforms. I'm always surprised by this, but he pointed out that you really shouldn't be wearing things that are not part of the uniform. As an example, he said that he often sees the younger referees wearing a short-sleeve jersey with a "hoodie" sweatshirt underneath. This is really not acceptable. I would say most referees are making enough money to buy a long-sleeve uniform jersey and find some warm piece of clothing for underneath that will remain hidden. He showed the acceptable socks (there are 3 styles) as well as examples of appropriate shoes and not so appropriate shoes. Hopefully, this talk will have some effect on guys that show up to games looking unprofessional. If you are one of those officials, realize it just hurts the image of the entire crew and makes match control that much more difficult.
The third speaker was the assignor I typically use for league games. He spoke mostly about our administrative duties. Before the game, our league requires getting the game card from the home coach, collecting game fees and checking player passes. Note the emphasis on "Before the game." (You do collect your game fees before the games, right? You really don't want to ask for money after a controversial game.) He emphasized the need to hold the player passes for the duration of the game. In the event of a sending off, we retain the player pass and send it to the league. I wouldn't want to have to ask a coach for the pass after the game.
I was glad for the opportunity to get some face time with the various assignors in my league/area. As should be expected, these types of meetings often address issues with a small number of officials, but the issues cause problems for all of us. Many people might view the content of this meeting as somewhat of a waste of time, but I disagree. We all need to be reminded of the basics. After all, if we were all doing our job perfectly, there would be no need for these meetings in the first place.

More Great Games

Yesterday, I worked another set of US Soccer Development Academy games. It seems these games are always scheduled in pairs. The clubs have 2 teams; one U-16 and one U-18. From what I gather, they play games within a pretty large area. In my case, the drive time radius for the teams can be up to 6 hours! If you are doing that, you are playing some serious soccer.
The first time I worked these games, I was the last guy at the field, so I made a point to show up earlier this week. It turns out it still wasn't early enough. I met up with the referee for the U-16 game. I was honest about being new to these games. It turns out he's a grade 8 as well, but he's been doing games for much longer than me. So I guess it's all about experience, not necessarily about your grade. Anyway, he pointed out that I should plan on getting to any US Soccer game at least 1 hour before game time. To be honest, I'm a little surprised that my assignor didn't send me a list of things to do for these games, but that just goes to show you that you are ultimately responsible for yourself. Since this referee was empathetic to my position, I was sure to ask him some other things that I was trying to figure out regarding administration of these games. Always use a willing resource when you find one!
Our third crew member, and also the referee for the U-18 game, was really late. I thought perhaps he had some other games going on, but I didn't hear him mention an excuse. I was a little disappointed by that as this is a State Referee. I guess I hold those guys in pretty high regard, given there grade. It turns out he's a really good referee. I learned quite a bit from watching him work. Both encounters show that the badge doesn't necessarily tell you everything about the referee.
For those of you that live in warm climates, I'm jealous. Wow, the weather was brutal for these games. The temperature was fluctuating in the mid-30's and there was a howling wind coming through the stadium. Not only that, but we had periodic showers and snow showers. Yes, we were in shorts. You don't do these games in warm-ups. Actually, you shouldn't be doing any games in warm-ups. You know it's cold when your teeth are chattering incessantly while you are running the line.
It's interesting to note that I felt far more comfortable this week than last. It seems that your brain needs a game or two to adjust to a higher level. I experienced that when I first started (doing short-side U-little games) as well as when I did my first couple of games at U-15 and above. This week, I didn't feel like I was barely keeping up with the game. I think I did a pretty good job. I was a little early on an offside flag, but I was still correct. I got all my directions right without getting "direction stupid." I even started talking to the players a little bit when they were in my area. You do talk to the players, right? I've noticed the referees at this level will often admonish the players when they are doing wrong, but not wrong enough for a whistle. You'll frequently hear things like "knock it off over there" or "hands down gentlemen!" I mentioned this in my last post, and I'll mention it again because I think it's important. As an AR, you can help the middle with things like "Red #5, get off his jersey!" It warns the player and let's the referee know where he should be looking.
I'd like to, once again, make a few comments about being a good Assistant Referee. Too many referees do not take the role or AR seriously enough. I've seen that, at the upper levels, a good AR is invaluable. Being a good AR doesn't just mean getting offside or ball out-of-play right. It's the little things like taking initiative and getting the game balls squared away for the referee. Making sure the referee has everything he needs while doing check-in (put a spare pencil in your pocket). Do you make sure your uniform is neat, clean and up to par before going to the field? That makes the crew look professional and garners respect. During the game, you must be on your offside line at all times. Coaches, and players, at the higher levels will call you on it if you're not. You must watch everything at once. You must pay attention to the other AR when the ball is away from your half so you can mimic his or her signals as necessary. You must watch the players when the referee is otherwise occupied (ie, talking to a specific player, dealing with substitution) so if something happens, you can report facts. Next time you are an assistant, try to think about all the ways you can make yourself useful to the referee. It is appreciated and only helps to build your reputation as a quality official.

Moving up in the World

Upgrade Time

There has been lots of referee activity in the last couple of weeks. First, I got myself enrolled in the state's only grade 7 class for 2009. Every day, I would check the state committee website, waiting for the announcement of the class. As soon as I saw it, I contacted the youth referee administrator and reminded him that I really want to be in the class.

I had spoke with him directly at this year's re-certification, so he remembered me. He told me to send my game log to the committee and they would confirm my eligibility for the class. Some of you long time readers have probably noticed my tendency to document things. I have a nice, neat game log that I keep in a worksheet on my computer. It has columns for the date, time and location of the game. I record the teams, the score, any misconduct in the game, as well as the age level and gender of the players. Well, my record keeping paid off. I was able to send that game log right to the committee after the youth referee administrator asked me to do it. I received a reply the next day that I was indeed eligible and I could register. The registration opened up this weekend and I'm in. Even if you don't intend to upgrade, be sure you are keeping good track of your games. It could come in handy. Also, if you are interested in moving up, you need to be your own advocate and speak up. Tell any of the administrators in your state when you get the chance.

US Soccer Development Academy Games

In anticipation of upgrading, I contacted the local adult league assignor in hopes of getting a few games and maybe getting in the middle for a game to have my assessment. To upgrade from grade 8 to 7, you must be assessed. I didn't think I'd hear anything for some time, but much to my surprise, I was asked to work 2 US Soccer Development Academy games.

These are very high level games with U-17 and U-18 boys. Naturally, given my grade and experience, I'm the junior assistant on the games. The funny thing is, to accept the assignments, I had to get a login to the US Soccer game officials site! I didn't even know there was such a thing.

A few days after the first assignment email, I received 2 more. I now have 6 of these games scheduled. It seems these games are played on the finest fields available in the area. In my case, the games are on 2 college campus turf fields.

I worked the first two games today. Wow, these are big time. The first thing I noticed is one needs to arrive early to these games. I was there exactly 30 minutes before the game and both of the other referees were already there checking teams in. One of the guys on the crew is a State Referee (5).

There is a significant amount of paper work involved as these games are limited substitution and records must be kept in regard to what players came into the game and at what time.

I was very glad I had a bag full of new uniforms as it seemed important to the other guys that we match exactly. They took great care in looking and acting professionally. Many of you know how important I think those impressions are when working games. We even did the ceremonial procession to the middle of the field! It was pretty cool.

The games were tough. I've done quite a few U-17 games at tournaments, but these games were very fast and aggresive. You could not lose your concentration for a second. I suspect it will take a few games before my brain adjusts to the tempo. It felt like I was doing my first game all over again. Fitness is absolutely key. In order to stay on your offside line, you must really hustle. These guys can fly down the field, so game fitness is very important. Also, they are not afraid to open their mouths so you must be able to defend your calls with a quick explanation with details like "#12 kept the attacker onside" or "#4 touched the ball AFTER it crossed the goal line."

I got a really nice tip from the other guys on the crew. They suggested that I sternly talk to the players that were getting out of line, but not necessarily committing fouls. For example, they had me say things like "Blue #7, get your arms down!" That way, the middle could keep an eye on the situation and the players relized we are not push-overs and are paying attention. It worked pretty well.

It was truly a great day on the field. I learned some things. I worked with really high level guys and I took a significant step toward upgrading to grade 7.