Passed my indoor/Futsal clinic with a 93 (would have been a 96 but mis-bubbled 3 of the ones I knew). Now to get ready for my 19 high school games this week.
I've played in games where the shooting we heard in the neighborhood wasn't quite so innocuous. And don't ask about the time we arrived to see a chalk outline on our field...
Same thing happened to me at Surf Cup a number of years ago. Broke the tension very nicely on what was turning into a testy mess.
Had a B-2 fly over during a JV match. The CR held up a throw and directed everyone's attention upward, and thanked the home team for arranging it. It was a tame game that did not really need the break, still fun to see. Probably flew over nearby Livestrong Park in KC for the USMNT vs Guatemala game. A soccer game (!) just not ours.
When I was in Hawaii for Veterans Cup, we had the Blue Angels roaring around Pearl Harbor at very low altitudes in formation. The game would always stop while the players watched, at least until they cleared the soccer complex. Then it was game on.
I'm mesmerized by even a Cessna flying near the field. If a blimp was flying by, I'd probably have to abandon the match.
Did a PDL game in a sketchy part of town, on a high school field. When gun fire was heard in the neighborhood, everybody dropped. After what seemed like a long enough time without more shots, the referee started to get up and said "Play on?"
I attended the Region IV SRAs meeting this weekend, in San Diego. (Don't envy me. It was cold.) We heard from Ryan Mooney of USSF's Referee Department at length. Some items of note: absolutely zero chance of a change in referee uniforms in the foreseeable future. referee fitness section coming to the USSF website, probably later this year USSF publications will be available in print format soon, through a 'print on demand' capability, although the cost will probably be more than in the past the 'position papers' section of the website will be going away this year, since much of that material is outdated or was only published in the first place in response to something that happened in a particular game. major re-writes coming in March for the grade 9, 8 and 7 instructional classes. Grade 6 class materials re-write in process, maybe coming later this year.
Thanks for sharing -- did he mentione whether the publications to be made available in print format would include the ATR?
Oh, yes! He was specifically asked about the ATR! He did say that Laws of the Game Made Easy will probably still be in print and there may be a 'pocket guide' published, essentially for those doing small sided youth games.
No planes, UFOs, or blimps this past Weekend, just a really big Dome. I had a series of 6 indoor games, my first of the new year. First three games and the last one were pretty uneventful, but numbers 4 and 5 were memorable for different reasons. Game 4 was the 16 boys. Two Hispanic teams who it seemed like brought all their extended families because there had to be close to 150 people at the game. Not a huge amount but still a nice atmosphere and I knocked the game out of the park. I was on top of the play but was able to let the game breathe and was able to set the limit which the players were perfectly happy to play within. Game got heated as both teams went for a winner but time expired with a 0-0 scoreline and everyone in a good (relatively) mood. Then their was Game 5. This one was U18 girls. One team, lets say Purple, wanted to be allowed to play rough but did not like it when White played rough back. It was easy to see why as Purple's coach would have his arms in the air at the slightest contact but then would be up in arms if one of his girl's was called for a foul (I had had the same coach in game 3, and personally thought his team was a touch dirty). He also did not understand the point of "deliberate" handling. He had a couple choice words when one of his girls blasted the ball from about 6 yards straight into a girls arm (at her side). Either way, game tied 0-0 with about 30 seconds left on the clock. Purple attacking and takes a shot in the box. The keeper goes down but the ball bounces of her arms and off a defender towards goal. Purple attacker and white defender both pursue with purple a half step ahead. Ball bounces a touch funny such that it is almost in line with purples arm. As the purple attacker reaches the ball, she turns her body in towards the defender and brings her left arm up and proceeds to hit the ball into the goal. I whistle and wave off the goal and hear a booming "You are terrible!" come from the Purple coach. Game ends 10 seconds later and as I am walking off I get: Coach: "I don't even know what you called!" Me: "Handling" C: "That is just bad, just bad!" M: "Thank you for your opinion coach." C: "You missed the push before. You are just bad." M: "Thank you for your opinion coach." C: "Just bad... just so bad" At that point I just let it be, he had to get the last word in. I was thinking about the play because I didn't have the best view of the handling because of my angle; but the supervisor came up and praised the call after the game, which made me feel infinitely better about the situation. I knew coaches couldn't see better from 80 yards away .
Caution? (I ask b/c, beyond the fact I think that really needs to be, the caution may have made it more clear what had actually happened -- and made it more embarassing to whine about . . .)
A few years ago I did the AYSO National Games in Lancaster, CA. We're right next to Edwards AFB and the head B-2 trainer was also the local AYSO assignor. All week the training flights went right over the fields.
Yes. It should have been, that was my mistake. More along lines I didn't feel like booking the girl with 15 seconds left.
A large soccer complex is right near Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado. I was coaching, not reffing, one weekend at a tournament when they were doing F-15 training. They were pulling high-G turns over the fields all afternoon. Just like being at an air show! But what you don't always consider is how LOUD they are. A few times the whistles even got drowned out!
Call it a benefit to B-2s. They really are stealth. Its a massive plane that you don't hear until it's a quarter mile past you and even then it's muffled. I lived next to the Dayton airport where they held the airshow. Every year the Blue Angels were the same, but every year you went out and watched because they were so loud that the apartment was rattling.
The airport isn't too far from our complex. Every year they have an air show. Fighter jets making high speed turns 500 feet above the pitch tend to be a bit distracting. One time we had a C5A Cargo Jet coming in for a landing go directly over the field. I felt for a moment like I was in the movie Independence Day. Those things are monstrous. It felt like it was going to touch down just outside the goal line.
Reffing there one day this past fall, Air Force One (assuming the President was on board) got everyone's attention.....
I'll raise you a F-35! My (other) daughter was on-site the first day the DOD test pilot took one out for a spin. "It was VERY fast, VERY low and VERY loud!"
I have not had these happen on the pitch but I can tell you, when they have the Airshows at Mather AFB, they bring all of the above mentioned jets and a few hundred others. The days before the show they fly in and practice all of their take-offs, landings and show moves during the business day. My office is about one mile from the end of the runway. The day is filled with roars and booms from the jets. Sometime you need to stop talking on the phone as it will do you no use, it's too lound. I just looked at Google and there is a soccer field capable park in the point closest to the end of the runway. My office is in the top right corner of this image.
Completed final requirement for upgrade to 7, and sent in all the paperwork! Now just have to wait to get the badge back in the mail. (On the planes issue - there's a great new park with turf fields I ref at a lot that's right by the runway at Reagan National - when that's the flight path, jets coming in to land are only a couple hundred feet up. Always make sure the Sonik is one of the whistles in hand in case I need to call something as a plane is overhead.)