Tips for doing lone center at U-littles

Discussion in 'Referee' started by Barciur, Oct 9, 2012.

  1. Bubba Atlanta

    Bubba Atlanta Member+

    Mar 2, 2012
    Yep, Atlanta
    Club:
    Atlanta United FC
    I just came back from a U11 match. This part is harder than it sounds ...
     
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  2. socal lurker

    socal lurker Member+

    May 30, 2009
    Gu12 match this morning. Apparently first-time GK catches the ball . . . and walks over and hands it to a defender. *sigh* (Remarkably, no one complained about the PK . . . )
     
  3. Barciur

    Barciur Member+

    Apr 25, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Poland
    Well, had my first batch of games at Hempfield tourney today. 6 games from morning till 4:30 PM. Two of my games had left me wondering why am I even doing this to myself..

    One game in particular I missed a couple of offsides apparently. Which I can believe, because the coach had a better view and it looked fairly level from where I was, but that's the part that I absolutely HATE about solos - offside calls. There is no possible way to catch them all correctly without AR's. None. And yet I go out there and get yelled at when I miss some.. of course, the same coach who was complaining started to complain that I DID give an offside against his team when it was a goal - I disallowed a goal. But I am 100% sure of that, even though he's "100% sure you're blind ref" and that "you're the worst ref to ever ref at this tournament" :rolleyes:

    Other than that, I had some "firsts". Kids who don't know the rules. I have a U9 GK asking me where is the goal kick taken - top of the goal area or the penalty area :D Also had a kid who started dribbling from the goal kick. That was fun. And I had a situation where the keeper picked the ball up twice - I wouldn't normally call those on U9's, but that one was so obvious.. if a case could be made that she accidentally dropped it and then picked it up I'd be OK with it, but this was the case of dropping the ball, looking up and then deciding to pick it up again. I also had a defender who.. caught the ball on the top of the area. :laugh: That was one of those "did that just really happen" moments. And my day ended with a double touch on the kick-off.

    All in all, I really didn't have fun, sadly, mainly due to those offside situations that had two coaches in two games blasting me, which is a shame. I hate doing solos and I don't think I'll ever enjoy them - simply because of offside.
     
  4. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    Iron your shirt before going to the game.
     
  5. DWickham

    DWickham Member

    Dec 26, 2003
    San Diego
    The solo referee needs to make several adjustments.

    1. Let go of your personal expectations. It IS impossible to be in perfect position for every offside decision and to be in perfect position to call fouls. You have to accept that you will not be perfect.

    2. You are faster than they are. You can recover from a bad position.

    3. You will need to recover from bad positions. Your skills at anticipating play need to include all the crazy stuff that might happen when U-little players don't have the skill to move the ball or the experience to choose the right options. But, anticipating allows you to move where the ball should go and let play come to you. U-littles is a great way to become comfortable when positioned ahead of the ball.

    I watch the location and number of attackers. They are likely the ones to be in offside position and if they are slow to get back onside, they probably will repeat the pattern throughout the match. Moreover, if the first close play is determined to be offside, the coaches will likely be telling the forwards to stay back. If the first close play is determined to be not-offside, the players will keep testing. (If the defending coach is playing a trap with a solo referee, the coach deserves the 12 goals that will be scored in the second half.)

    4. They are school age kids. You are big. Even those with discipline issues will hear you when you talk to them. (They don't hear so well when you talk at them.) You should be able to prevent most cautions for reckless behavior by talking to them before they get reckless. The cautions you probably cannot prevent are the tactical fouls they learn from older siblings or coaches.

    5. They change from players to little children again after a red card event. The players who handled the ball to prevent a goal may have been the keeper at the last game or practice. They have to be sent off, but you usually can walk a child to the coach and have the coach explain the offense to the player. You can also be sensitive to how any card is shown. It is not necessary to point to the player. It is not necessary to be near the player. In most cases, a red card raised above the referees head before the restart of play informs everyone that the player has been sentoff and honors TLOG and the GTP. The player probably will still cry.

    6. U-littles want to please their parents. And have snacks.
     
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  6. Barciur

    Barciur Member+

    Apr 25, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Poland
    That's another thing. How would you handle bookings at U-9 and U-10 level? I mean, I know that I have to send off somebody who would stop the ball with their hand on the goal-line.. but other things like tactical fouls etc. would you still caution?

    I assume this topic was touched on about million of times in here before, though.
     
  7. JimEWrld

    JimEWrld Member

    Jun 20, 2012
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    I don't think I have ever seen a "tactical" foul at U9. They have enough issues just trying to kick the ball.
     
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  8. iron81

    iron81 Member+

    Jan 6, 2011
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    I saw one at U10, and I carded it. Tactical fouls are 100% Misconduct, after all. In the middle third, the defender's shoulder was facing toward the attacker. The attacker kicked the ball past the defender's heel and tried to run past the defender's posterior side. The defender stuck his leg behind himself up to the level of the attacker's thigh and sent him flying.

    I think I leaned down to the defender and quietly said something to the effect of "You're not allowed to stop him from running past you like that." I held the card near my forehead which would have been chest level had I been standing upright. The kid took it in stride.
     
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  9. HoustonRef

    HoustonRef Member

    May 23, 2009
    You know, if it weren't for referees drafting parent/club linesmen (as they were known way back then), I wouldn't have been doing this for 30+ years. When my boys were playing I wanted to be involved, but not as a coach. So, "Yes, I line today." Many times. One of my sons coaches, who was a also a ref, asked me if I'd like to become a ref. In my ignorance (?) I said yes. One of the best decisions I've ever made. Met some neat people, kept me in shape, picked up a little spending money, had a lot of fun, contributed to the community, and on and on.
     
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  10. Barciur

    Barciur Member+

    Apr 25, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Poland
    Second day went much better. I really enjoyed myself out there today. All of my 4 games went fairly smoothly. My last game was A U10 final at this tournament, so an interesting situation occured. Between my field and a neighboring field, I saw a ref and a field marshall talking.

    On my way over to the field I stopped by and all of a sudden a golf cart with the assignor and someone else from the ref committee popped up. He asked " so what is the problem?" and I found out that this ref who was close to my age probably had this issue with the coach in one of the earlier games. The coach was very aggressive, questioning a lot of calls, which then transformed to the parents who would question every single call and the kids, 10 year olds may I remind you, who would just be obnoxious. So the whole situation became a mess. I offered to swap games, since it was on the fields next to each other, the assignor said he thought it was a great idea as it would diffuse the situation.

    So I did that game and it happened to be probably the most physical U-10 boys game you'll ever see. Pushing, shoving, hard tackles, and I mean really hard tackles. The team that was most physical ended up losing 4-0, although both teams played really hard. I gave a penalty for basically grabbing a hold with both arms and just holding onto the opponent.. I mean that was just completely obvious. But the coach didn't complain about that, so I thought it was a good sign. Throughout the whole game I could see that he's one of those whiny types, as expected from the stories beforehand, but he didn't get obnoxious with me. Just questioning a couple of throws but the typical questioning, as in "c'mon ref that's our ball" and not a single word about it later. So it was alright.

    So I'm glad the second day was good because I came home with a feel-good factor and the ill-feelings of the first day of the tournament well erased.
     
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  11. DrRefereeMD

    DrRefereeMD Member

    May 5, 2011
    Chicago
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    As a youth ref, younger games are all I do (I once worked an understaffed 3v3 tournament where I got stuck with U19 and adult games as well, but that's another story.). We are lucky enough to have ARs for most of our games from U9 up, however, one club that I work with cannot afford AR's and another does not supply them for U8-U9, So I've had my fair share of solos. Solos have probably been the best games I've done. Because you have no AR's, it forces you to strive to make every call. There is no one to leave a call you did not see to so you have to see it yourself; you have no choice. These games really test your play prediction because even though you can easily correct a bad position in these small games, you had better do it quickly because it's all you out there. You start learning how to adapt your diagonal to what is happening. Rule knowledge is important, too. All of those situations that we say will never come up in an actual game can and will happen here. I've seen it all: handling a backpass, goal kick not leaving PA, not letting the keeper release the ball, everything. One major tip is to stay wide and avoid the middle of the field. One, it is smaller leaving you less room and time to avoid a ball kicked at you. Two, even though the kids tend to chase the ball, things happen all over the field so you need to see it all, plus you can see OS better. Three, from the outside, it is easier to evaluate play and adapt your positioning, and you can quickly run with play without having to dodge the kids running around you, and Four, you have little need to backpedal and trust me: if you ever back over a kid in a game, you won't hear the end of it for a while, especially if the kid cries. Anyways good luck.

    P.S. question I've always had: If a league does not allow send offs for an age group, and instead advises a five minute timeout, what do you do if a kid gets a 2CT? What if a kid commits an obvious sending off offense like VC or SFP? What do you do? you can't just give the timeout and let him back in, can you?
     
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  12. Gary V

    Gary V Member+

    Feb 4, 2003
    SE Mich.
    If that's what the league wants, that's what the league gets. The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again (kind of like those tournaments that don't allow you to add time when the team that's ahead keeps wasting time).

    Your only recourse is to keep sending him for timeouts if his behavior doesn't improve. And write a "game report" to the league describing the bad behavior.
     
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  13. Chas (Psyatika)

    Oct 6, 2005
    USA
    Club:
    Crystal Palace FC
    If the coach wants to put him back in, that's his decision to make.
    If you want to issue a 3CT, 4CT, 19CT on every subsequent foul, funny look, etc, that's your decision to make!
    How do you write up a 2nd red? Do we need to purchase black cards?
     
  14. Bill C

    Bill C Member

    Feb 13, 2007
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    I was really hoping this was going to end like this...
     
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  15. Yale

    Yale Member

    Nov 26, 2012
    I also like to explain that we usually have ARs to judge goals, so if all the players on a team just start running towards the center circle I'll count it.
     
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