Best Story of the Week - 2019

All I know is that it will never be as bad as the regional I was at last year where 2 semi-finals had lightning delays, the other 2 had OT, and both finals were decided in KFTM.

 

After having to turn back my DA games in order to be assessed at a mentoring tournament (which will determine what DA games I get), I just got assigned 3 Girls DA games with my first being a U13G center. Hopefully I can take advantage of this opportunity.

 

Your state does mentoring tournaments to decided where the national assignor will put you?

 

Not sure if this is a "Best Story" or not. Local club tournament scheduled for this weekend just got cancelled. Forecast shows rain off and on today along with thunderstorms tomorrow. I had 8 games. But at least now I don't have to deal with bad weather.

 

The assessment isn’t always done at mentoring tournaments, but for this tourney, yes. There are several of us who want to start doing DA games, so this tournament was the best time to see all of us before the season starts.

 

Interesting how some states have formal processes. Our state has a very informal process. My friend got asked if he could referee a game at 1000am at 700 am Saturday morning. That’s how he got in. I got in with a similar fashion, right before U14s started. My friend asked if I could work some games for him the next weekend. No vetting process or observations. But my friend was a National at the time. Plus my playing background.

Good luck with your mentoring tourney. Hopefully they get you in and your games go well.

 

First games since November 25th, first indoor games, and first TWO instances where an advantage given lead directly to goals. My refereeing style is a bit too stoic to be treating the spectators to the Mike Dean special, but the coach coming over and saying "nice play-on, we don't see many of those here" was a nice surprise.

 

Had my first games of the season today at a tournament. I did four games: U13B AR1, U14G Center, U14B AR2, and U13B AR2.

In the two U13B games, we encountered the same team whose parents and coach would scream and yell about EVERYTHING (including my offside call on a player who was offside by more than 15 feet).

The U14B game was amazing. Both teams were very aggressive and physical, but surprisingly, our crew called maybe two fouls the entire game.

My U15G center went smoothly, although one coach wanted me to call everything (his team was not physical or aggressive).

I realized that my refereeing skills are not as sharp as I thought they were, and I still have a long way to go to get where I want to be.
All in all, it was a good day, and I hope I can improve even more during the coming weeks.

 

I took a couple of games at the WAGS tournament in the fall, which was my first season. Ran the line in front of the parents of a U13 team that, I later discovered, is actually a DA team.

Naturally, the parents knew jack-squat about the sport and griped the whole time about the center ref, who was about two years removed from being All-ACC. It was tempting to turn around and say they should be asking her for development advice after the game.

 

Haha, you find that all the time. Especially since 13s is the entry level and first time exposure to DA for parents. But some clubs are very good at behaving. I think the DA teams that don’t have anything but 12s 13s 14s are the worse. But ymmv

 

I may have said this already in the 2018 thread, but the funniest part was when I heard a parent griping about the ref say, "And this is such an important game!" I was tempted to turn around and say it couldn't be that important if I was running the line.

 

U10 boys rec game, at a complex I have never been to before. I did my usual "I just got certified and this is my first ever game. Please be nice." These parents were nice. Especially after the first foul I called and the fouled player stuck his arms out as I was blowing the whistle. I said with a big smile "I saw it, I called it. I don't need theatrics." The parents laughed.

At halftime, I asked the parents "How did I do?" One guy said "Didn't they teach you in referee school to never ask the parents how you did?" I put on my surprised face and said "Referee school? There is a school for this? I watched my daughter play U6 through U13. I thought that was all I needed to know for me to referee."

That parent laughed...hard. As I walked to get my water, another parent said "That guy you were talking to? He referees everything around here. Rec, club, high school." No wonder he laughed at what I said.

 

I had a Lyft driver on Monday, young woman somewhere in her late twenties. We got to talking about traffic, and I mentioned the challenge of getting to weeknight soccer games in Atlanta rush hour, and that led to her saying she played in HS, and I asked where, and she said "[XYZ]," a prominent private school. I said, "Huh, I'm ref'ing XYZ at [ABC] (another prominent private school) tomorrow night."

She said "ABC? I hate those guys!" I laughed and said "I guess it never really goes away, does it," and she laughed and said, "No, it really doesn't."

I told the story to the XYZ girls coaches (who I've known for 20 years) before the game last night, and they just about fell over laughing.

 

High school just seems impossible to me. I went to a JV game Monday night to see a bunch of kids I've coached, and I sat with a family that I've known for 15 years. Many complaints with the refs, and I actually argued with one obnoxious dude who called for a "penalty" in the middle of the field. (Not only was it not in the box -- it was a textbook clean slide tackle. All ball. No player. He said, "But the foot came up." Yeah, as he skidded across the turf far away from anyone he might hit with that foot.)

That said, I saw why the two-ref, no-AR system is terrible. Team A (featuring the kid from the family with whom I was sitting) was dominating the second half but was kept out by Team B's keeper (whom I also knew). Team B finally got going the other way and earned a PK -- a close call, but fair -- to take a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later, Team A was in the opposing area yet again, and a Team B defender quite obviously shoved the attacker in the back, knocking him down. No call. Completely inconsistent standard.

But then my favorite player on Team B, a wonderfully skilled playmaker I coached in All-Stars, set up a terrific goal.

Unfair result, certainly an indictment on the two-ref system. But also a terrific goalkeeper performance. And it's JV -- everyone played close to half the game, and the quality wasn't bad for high school teams that were just finalized a week ago.

 

Yes and -- you also get claims of inconsistency in the three-man diagonal system. One of the coaches in my varsity boys last night (I was AR1) was screaming about it off and on for most of the second half. Was he right? I don't know as my close attention to a very active offside line kept my focus away from the calls and non-calls he was complaining about, but he thought he was.

Inconsistency is not necessarily inherent in the two-man system if the dual partners can stay more or less on the same page, which with rare exceptions seems to be the case in my games. But it's a LOT more challenging to see everything that needs to be seen.

I will add that I still have a hard time switching my mindset from being the center in the first game to AR in the second. Going the other way is not quite so difficult.

 

I don't get to referee in Atlanta very often. A grand total of four days inside the Perimeter last year. But I am thankful my assignor keeps me at the same complex all day. I can't imagine working two games at Ridgeview, then having to work two games at GSP later that day.

 

Well, I got my game assignments for the mentoring tournament that I am attending next weekend. Two U17B AR, and two U16B (one in the center and one on the line). Unfortunately, the fields are almost two hours from my house. Hopefully the tournament has hotels available.

On another note, I have never been in the center for anything more competitive than a fairly high-level U15B game. What are the challenges and pitfalls that you all experience when reffing U16 boys games?

 

Hmm some challenges and pitfalls I experience is accepting those matches when an assignor gives them to me. . All seriousness aside.

I’d definitely follow the old homage “expected the unexpected” more so in this age group than some of the others. Expect some kids to begin to feel like they can challenge your authority (some of them may have drivers licenses) and feel like their sh** don’t stink attitudes. Misconduct starts to become an issue.

They’ll move a little faster than 15s and have a lot more speed in tackles and challenges. It’s really a matter of getting out there and doing them. Nothing a book or a forum of old referees can tell you other than good luck!

 

More speed, more physicality.
Half the time they just want to play, the other half - who knows whats going to happen.
If they want to be stupid toward you, don't let them.
As noted: strong whistle, proximity. Command presence.
(especially a scrawny young guy, like you)

U16 used to be less complaining compared to U14. But lately I have seen alot of older excessive whiners, too. I attribute this to expansion of DA. So-called top level teams, non-DA, now have medium-low level players, who just don't get it. And, they have fewer real good players with a shut-up-and-play attitude. Nip any whining in the bud.

 

HS boys varsity last night. I gave a yellow to a goalkeeper in the 1st minute of the game for a UC. Ball over the top that didn't run out like the keeper was expecting. He is running out and the attacker is going to get to the ball before it enters the PA. Goalkeeper slides, doesn't get the ball, and clears out the attacker. The attacker was about 10 yards left of center, 1 yard outside the PA, and had a defender on either side so there wasn't anything 'obvious' about it.

I am pretty sure that a first minute card is a first for me.

Also, the clock operator was terrible. The AR overheard the home coach referring to them as a "f***ing moron". It took so long to get the clock started at one point that at the next stoppage, I delayed the restart ~45 seconds to even it out a bit. After half time, I stood there, with everyone ready to go, for close to 3 minutes waiting for the clock to be reset to 40 minutes. After the second goal of the second half, I counted and it took 10-11 seconds for the clock to restart. Apparently I was counting a bit too loud because one of the captains asked what I got to. "Ten or eleven, but that's about how long it took them to stop after the goal so it evens out."

 

For me, it's pretty similar to U15. I think one big difference is that U15 players are like a motorcycle crash and U16 is like a car crash in terms of how some teams want to smash into each other.

I had a U19 match that was trainwreck after trainwreck and after a billion cautions and pissing and moaning they actually, magically started playing actual soccer. They hated me for it, but there was a match soccer was played, nobody was injured. I learned a lot from it. I can let them dictate pace and a certain amount of physical play, but I won't allow them to dictate the laws they're choosing to abide by.

Best of luck, be confident and you'll be fine.

 

How’d it go?

 

NEXT WEEKEND (as in this coming weekend because I said that last week).

 

I centered a U16 girls rec game last night, and my AR1 was the center for the next game, an "adult" men's league championship game. He asked me to AR that game as it was scheduled to be a dual. I politely declined.

When my game was done, one of the coaches for the MBB game came to the CR and said "The other team has players that haven't played all year. Are they on the roster, or are they ringers?" The league director was called, a few tempers were raised, and I eased my way to the parking lot. Thanks but no thanks.